New Clause 14
Welfare Reform Bill
9:45 pm
Jeremy Hunt (Shadow Minister (the Disabled), Work & Pensions; South West Surrey, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
I appreciate that we are getting to the end of a long day and hope that I might be able to persuade Ministers to consider the new clause. Let me explain it briefly: it asks the Secretary of State to set up a pilot whereby people in the support group should not be subject to the restrictions that currently exist on permitted hours. The thinking is that people in the support group will have been objectively assessed as having the most severe disabilities according to the 46 descriptors that the Minister has explained to us. Many of them are unlikely ever to be off the support element for the length of their lives. Therefore, for those people, breaking down any barriers that could prevent them from taking steps towards the world of work not only would be beneficial, but might not, I suggest to the Committee, cost the taxpayer any money at all. Because of the nature of the disabilities that those people have they are unlikely to move out of the support group. It may happen, but for many it is unlikely.
Will the Minister consider the fact that for people in the support group, particularly those subject to the lower £20 earnings disregard limit, it is unlikely that they will be able to move from just three and a half hours work at the minimum wage to full-time employment, but they may be able to manage part-time employment. If they are concerned about losing their benefits package, which is vital for the independence it gives them, they are unlikely to want to make that transition.
I have tabled the new clause providing for a pilot because I recognise that we are in uncharted territory and that it is possible that there could be public spending commitments because we are talking about relaxing the permitted hours for a significant number of people. It depends slightly on what proportion of people are actually put in the support group.