Schedule 4
Welfare Reform Bill
9:15 pm
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendmentNo. 197, in schedule 4, page 65, line 30, leave out paragraph 6.
The purpose of this amendment is to clarify further the Government’s intentions about applying the employment and support allowance regime to existing claimants of incapacity benefit and of income support on incapacity grounds. The Minister made some reference to that matter in replying to a previous debate, but a number of issues could usefully be clarified.
There has been some confusion about the plansto move existing IB and existing income support recipients once employment and support allowance is introduced. The Green Paper indicated that the ESA regime would apply only to new claimants, although the response to the consultation stated that existing claimants would be migrated across to ESA in time. That has been the approach that the Minister has taken in his comments to the Committee.
The amendment proposes to leave out paragraph 6 of schedule 4 to probe the Government’s intentions. That provides for regulations to include the migration of existing recipients on to the ESA regime. According to paragraph 307 of the explanatory notes, migration can be voluntary or mandatory. In Committee, the Minister stated that
“those who are most recent to the benefit should be those most likely to have the opportunity to get back to work”
and that the Government have
“looked for ways in which to migrate the newest ... claimants on to the new ESA.”—[ Official Report, Standing Committee A,17 October 2006; c. 42.]
Can the Minister clarify whether that refers to the approach that has been taken in the existing pathways, where existing claimants are gradually invited to attend pre-mandatory work-focused interviews? Is that what is meant by mandatory migration, where the choice between mandatory and voluntary is spelled out?
The change in regime from either incapacity benefit or income support on grounds of incapacity to employment and support allowance will obviously impact on claimants in a number of different areas: the income they receive, work-related conditions, the access to employment opportunities to which they are subject to and the means by which their continuing entitlement to benefit is assessed and reassessed. There are some points in each of those areas on which I would welcome some clarification from the Minister.
On incomes, the Government’s response to the consultation on the Green Paper stated that
“existing claimants’ benefit levels will be protected.”
Does that refer to when an existing claimant is migrated to ESA? We have not discussed rates in this Committee, for obvious reasons. It has been made clear repeatedly that ESA is likely to be higher than the current long-term rate of incapacity benefit. The Minister might wish to confirm that in his remarks. I do not wish to probe him on how much he expects it to be, because at this stage it is hard to know. A single person over the age of 25 on income support with a disability premium could receive a total of £81.95 a week at the moment. Would the income level of someone receiving more now than they would under ESA—if he can imagine any such cases—be protected?
I will not go into detail about work-related conditions and employment, but there is clearly an issue about people who have been on incapacity benefit for a long period. The Minister referred to the fact that he will be looking to migrate not just new claimants but people with dependent children in the early phase of migration, for the purpose of tackling child poverty—at least I think that that is his intention. That could well include people who have been on incapacity benefit for a considerable period and who have particular issues for personal advisers to deal with. It is important to make it clear that in cases where people who have been on benefit for a very long time are among those being migrated in the early phase, advisers will have support to work with those people, not least those with severe and enduring mental health problems. Will the Minister clarify that?
The Green Paper and the Government’s response to the Select Committee report anticipated a more systematic review of existing claimants through the establishment of a unit to undertake periodic reviews and ad hoc case checks, which might be followed by personal capability assessments where there is doubt about someone’s incapacity for work. Page 48 of the Green Paper said that it was intended to target a minority of claimants who might seek to prolong their time on a protected level of incapacity benefit. Will the Minister enlighten the Committee as to what progress has been made in setting up that process, and what the plans are for random checks and so forth?
To follow through on how a reassessment might take place for someone who has been migrated to the new benefits, can the Minister clarify whether existing claimants will be subject to revised personal capability assessments when their cases come up for review? If someone is currently on benefits and is migrated to the new benefits, will they have to go through the revised PCA when their case comes up for review? Obviously, they got benefits in the first place through the existing PCA with all its inadequacies, which we debated at some length. I should be grateful if he clarified some of those issues in his response.