Five ways to reform benefits – from insiders who know its failings ...Middle East

Keir Starmer’s Government has been urged to listen to frontline workers on reforming benefits as insiders say planned changes could cost more money while harming claimants in the long-run.

Frontline staff told The i Paper that spending more money in the short-term – on better mental health support and fixing harsh “cliff edges” in the system – could lead to savings in the long run.

Labour ministers are currently drawing up plans to slash the welfare bill and control the rising sickness and disability benefit caseload.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is said to be considering tightening up eligibility for incapacity benefits and the personal independent payment (PIP) claimed by disabled people for their daily needs.

Kendall – who recently said some people on benefits are “taking the mickey” – has promised radical reforms in the spring.

The i Paper asked benefit claimants, former assessors and welfare experts how they would go about changing the system for the better.

Yolanda Barker, who has secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), relies on £138 a week in incapacity benefit as part of universal credit and £150 a week in PIP.

The 53-year-old from Kent said a big expansion in NHS mental health support would “make a real difference” to boosting the number of people able to work.

“Where is the mental health support? People who want to work have to get the right kind of support in place,” said Ms Barker. “You can’t just take money away.”

Yolanda Barker from Kent has multiple sclerosis and relies on PIP and incapacity benefit (Photo: Supplied)

More funding for job schemes

Carol Vickers, who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), severe osteoarthritis and ADHD and gets around £300 in PIP, is worried that disabled people are not getting enough job opportunities.

The 47-year-old operations manager, who is in full-time work, said Labour must invest more in job coaches who specialise in disabilities.

“You need to improve the systems to help disabled people into work as a first step. I’m not seeing that. I’m seeing the Government think, ‘Let’s slash the welfare bill’. Help take down the barriers to work – not just cut people’s income.”

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) last week released a survey suggesting that around 200,000 people on health-related benefits would be ready to work if appropriate support was available.

The Government has promised the “biggest reforms to employment support for a generation”. A review into how employers can be better supported to employ people with disabilities and health conditions is under way.

But Mikey Erhardt, campaigns and policy officer at Disability Rights UK, said “not enough is being done to increase funding” for existing employment schemes.

Improve benefit assessments

Ms Vickers also wants the Government to improve the assessments used to decide PIP claims and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), used to decide whether someone is eligible for incapacity benefit.

“The problem with face-to-face assessments is not a fair process – it’s one assessor’s perception of your condition based on one day,” she said. “They need to take the time to consult doctors. They need to better acknowledge variable conditions.”

Former PIP and WCA assessors previously told The i Paper of a culture of trying to “catch people out” at assessments. Whistleblowers said the lack of training in complex health conditions made it difficult to write fair reports.

Disability charities have urged the UK Government to consider copying the assessment used in Scotland for the Scottish equivalent of PIP. They said fewer face-to-face assessments and more emphasis on specialist medical advice had led to greater “trust” in the system.

Disability benefits claims are about to get quicker using AI

Labour Science Secretary Peter Kyle said AI tools would be used to help speed up benefit claims.

Craig, who did not wish to use his real name, was an incapacity benefit assessor for a Government contractor for four months in 2018 before he “burned out”.

He said reforming assessments along the lines wanted by disability charities could prevent thousands of time-consuming appeals ending up in court each year.

The whistleblower said he fears a focus on cutting the benefits bill will put disabled people “under financial strain and under huge psychological strain” which could see “a greater strain on the social care system and the NHS”.

Craig added: “I agree with the idea that people who can get into work should work. But how? You have to listen to disabled people on what the barriers are.”

Ayla Ozmen, policy director at the Z2K charity which works with people struggling with benefit issues, said investing more money in the benefit system in short-term could help more people into work.

Ms Ozmen said there was glaring “cliff edge” between the £311 a single person gets from the standard allowance part of universal credit and the extra £416 you get from being on the highest rate of incapacity benefit in universal credit.

While the standard allowance requires the claimant to look for a job, the highest rate of incapacity benefit does not require a job search.

The “huge gap” means some people on the highest rate are too scared to leave the group and be made to look for work, said the Z2K expert. “There’s a need to increase the standard allowance – it would lessen the risk [in looking for work],” said Ms Ozmen.

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Spending on health-related benefits will increase from £65bn to more than £100bn in 2030, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast.

Ed Davies, policy director at the Centre for Social Justice (CJS) think tank, is sympathetic to the Government’s aim of cutting the bill. “It’s not compassionate to leave people [who might be able to work] on benefits for the rest of their lives.”

However, Davies also suggested there were potential gains from softening the harsh cliff edges involved in moving off benefits and into work.

He said increasing the current “work allowance” – the £404 a month limit someone can earn before universal credit begin to be taken away – could incentivise more people to start part-time work.

“It’s always worth looking at [the work allowance], if you want to get people to take that first step back into work,” said the policy expert.

Fix underlying causes of rise in ill-health

Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, warned that cutting benefits could leave some people with disabilities and health conditions needing extra help from the NHS or from their council in the form of hardship funds.

“Looking at underlying reason for the rise in people in ill-health is bigger than tweaking the benefit system. It will involve the NHS and employers, as well as the Government,” she said.

She warned: “There is a risk in rushing into cuts that then backfire. We’ve seen reforms before that led to increased spending.”

The Government has been approached for comment.

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