Welfare Reform and Work Bill 2015-16: Lords amendments

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Angela Raynor was Shadow W&P Minister in 2015 😠

Lord Low concluded: Our review contained 11 recommendations, chief of which were to reverse the cut of the ESA WRAG component and the equivalent payment under universal credit, and to conduct a thorough impact assessment of the proposed changes to ESA WRAG…this is at the cost of considerable further hardship for disabled people who are already poor and, by definition, unable to work. Furthermore, no assessment has been made of the additional costs to the NHS and social care services as a result of these changes, as well as other DWP benefits. Clauses 13 and 14 are all about making savings for the Treasury and have nothing to do with the interests of disabled people. They should be resisted.

28 Responding for the Government, the Minister for Welfare Reform, Lord Freud, mentioned additional funding being made available to help claimants return to work: Currently, those in the WRAG are given additional cash payments but very little employment support. As the Prime Minister recently stated, this fixation on welfare treats the symptoms and not the causes of poverty. Over time, it traps people in dependency. That is why we are proposing to recycle some of the money currently spent on cash payments, which are not achieving the desired effect of helping people to move closer to the labour market, into practical support that will make a genuine difference to people in these groups. The new work and health programme will provide specialist support for the very long-term unemployed. We are committed to supporting everyone who is able to work to do so. The forthcoming White Paper is aimed at ensuring that we offer the best possible support to those with health conditions or disabilities.

30 Lord Freud also reiterated the Government’s view that, in some cases, acts as a financial incentive to remain on benefit.

31 He also said that the absence of hours rules in UC would encourage people to enter the labour market and make smaller, regular hours pay, thereby helping more people than the disability element of Working Tax Credit.

33 In light of contributions to the debate and the Minister’s response, Lord Low said that he was “…left feeling that the case for the amendment is even stronger than when I moved it, and that it has not really been answered by the Minister, or anyone who has spoken against it.”

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I'm wondering when did this change? the absence of hours rules in UC

When were 'hours rules' introduced?

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2. Child poverty and life chances Clauses 4-6 of the Bill remove most duties and provisions set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010, in particular four measures and targets for child poverty that were to be met by 2020/21. Instead, the Bill introduces anew duty for the Secretary of State to report annually on two “life chances” measures: the proportion of children living in workless households and educational attainment at age 16.

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A report, Halving The Gap? A Review into the Government’s proposed reduction to Employment and Support Allowance and its impact on halving the disability employment gap, was published on 8 December.

22 The main findings were: There is no relevant research setting out a convincing case that the £30 a week ESA WRAG payment acts as a financial disincentive to claimants moving towards work; claimants and organisations are deeply concerned by the notion that ESA WRAG claimants could be incentivised to go into work when many are too ill to work;