Clause 16
Welfare Reform Bill
4:45 pm
Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Stirling, Labour)
I am delighted to see you back in your Chair, Mr. Hood. I have missed you.
I can allay the fears of the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, who is in danger of confusing two issues. One is voluntary work, and we have said more than once that volunteering is a stepping stone along the pathway to work. There is a major difference if someone is working in a commercial environment and appears not to be declaring any income from that job. As a Member of Parliament I have known circumstances in which someone has worked full-time in a business and has been astonished to find out that the DWP thought they might be earning some money when they were also claiming benefit. That scenario will be covered rather than the type that the hon. Gentleman painted.
On capital, perhaps I can highlight another scenario. To circumvent the capital limits, a person might put all their capital in the name of a trusted friend—it would need to be a pretty trusted friend—or a family member. They might effectively dispose of capital so as to come under the threshold. The clause will deal with such scenarios.