Clause 4
Welfare Reform Bill
9:10 am
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 151, in clause 4, page 4, line 15, after ‘prescribed’, insert
‘including such premiums as are applicable under paragraphs 11 and 12 of Schedule 2 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987’.
Again, I will be brief. I tabled the amendment in order to probe some significant issues of principle and some practical issues which relate to the implications of the proposed abolition of the disability premium for income support. First, I want to clarify the Government’s rationale for abolishing the disability premium and, secondly, to clarify the implications of that abolition for people who may receive it on grounds that are not related to incapacity.
As I understand it, the disability premium for income support that was introduced in 1987 will be absorbed into either the support or the work-related activity components of the employment and support allowance. In a previous Committee sitting we talked briefly about questions arising from benefits implications, about the implications of moving towards a single working-age benefit and about the distinction between benefits that are designed to meet people’s extra costs and those that are designed to compensate for lost income.
My understanding is that the disability premium for income support was, at least in part, designed to help to meet the extra costs faced by people with disabilities. However, the implication of the change proposed in the Bill is that for the vast majority of recipients it will be replaced with a payment that will be conditional on work-related activity, as it will be a work-related activity premium in respect of the employment and support allowance. I should be grateful if the Minister set out, briefly but clearly, the Government’s rationale for making such a significant conceptual change in the purpose of the payment.