Jessica Prestidge is Deputy Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice.
As the Shadow Chancellor accepts, those that can work should do so. Work is good for our wallets, but also for our physical and mental health. Facilitating a life on welfare is not the compassionate response some would have us believe.
The Government is right to put employment at heart of its Autumn Statement for Growth. Indeed, the word ‘work’ appears 42 times in the Treasury’s press release. And the Back to Work Plan has something for everyone. Stricter benefit sanctions and mandatory work placement trials to establish a dividing line with Labour, tighter controls on entitlement for the fiscal hawks, and more voluntary employment support for those of us who believe most people want to do the right thing.
The expansion of Universal Support is hugely welcome, as is news of a Chance to Work Guarantee. These are both policies developed at and championed by the Centre for Social Justice.
Seven hundred thousand people in receipt of health and disability benefits want to work and believe they could with the right support. Before the launch of Universal Support earlier this year, they were denied the opportunity to do so. When the Chancellor announced the policy in his Spring Budget, 50,000 people were set to benefit when fully rolled out. Now double that number will receive the bespoke support to secure and sustain employment, delivered by a dedicated keyworker who understands their needs.
To give more people the confidence to take up this newly expanded support offer, the Government will introduce a Chance to Work Guarantee. A longstanding CSJ policy recommendation, this is a cast iron commitment that anyone who tries work out will have their benefit entitlement protected if their employment falls through. It is a simple change, but an important step towards resetting the relationship between claimants and the welfare system, which is too often characterised by distrust.
Stronger employment support, together with the decision to uprate benefits in line with inflation, provides the political cover necessary for Government to push through harder-edged welfare reform.
While some will feel squeamish about tougher sanctions, it is reasonable to expect those in receipt of taxpayer-funded benefits to do what they can to find a job. Indeed, many will think those refusing to undertake suitable work should have their claim closed well before the 18-month mark. The welfare system is a safety net, not a choice, and while vulnerable claimants must be protected, the principle of reciprocity is fundamental to maintaining public consent for the £100 billion working age welfare bill.
The Chancellor’s decision to restrict access to higher rate disability benefits, however, is harder to defend.
At 2.6 million, economic inactivity among those with long term health conditions is at a record high, having risen by over half a million since the pandemic. The proportion of health assessments resulting in higher-rate benefit payments has risen from 21 per cent in 2011 to 65 per cent in 2022. The disability benefit bill is expected to exceed £73 billion by 2027.
These are legitimate concerns, and changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) are expected to save £1 billion annually by 2028. Protecting taxpayer money is important, but attempts to present reforms as motivated by the desire to help workers with health conditions access an increasingly flexible labour market ring hollow. Home working opportunities are skewed towards higher wage jobs inaccessible to the typical claimant currently in receipt of higher rate disability benefits.
Claimants in the Employment Support Allowance Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent found that they are typically older, less qualified and less digitally literate than the general population. Office for National Statistics data, meanwhile, shows that the highest levels of home only or hybrid working are seen among workers earning £50,000 a year or above. Just eight per cent of people earning under £10,000 year work exclusively from home.
The Department for Work and Pensions already has a better answer than crude cuts. Proposals but forward in the recent Health and Disability White Paper would detach means-tested support from the ability to work (assessed via the Work Capability Assessment) and link it to functional capability instead. This would address the perverse incentive for claimants to demonstrate what they can’t do, as opposed to what they can, in order to qualify for welfare top-ups. Under White Paper plans, the Work Capability Assessment will be abolished altogether.
But such complex legislative change is long-term, and whatever the Chancellor said today, Government is under pressure to deliver near-term results – or at least scoreable savings. If you were not already aware, there is a General Election coming.
Jessica Prestidge is Deputy Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice.
As the Shadow Chancellor accepts, those that can work should do so. Work is good for our wallets, but also for our physical and mental health. Facilitating a life on welfare is not the compassionate response some would have us believe.
The Government is right to put employment at heart of its Autumn Statement for Growth. Indeed, the word ‘work’ appears 42 times in the Treasury’s press release. And the Back to Work Plan has something for everyone. Stricter benefit sanctions and mandatory work placement trials to establish a dividing line with Labour, tighter controls on entitlement for the fiscal hawks, and more voluntary employment support for those of us who believe most people want to do the right thing.
The expansion of Universal Support is hugely welcome, as is news of a Chance to Work Guarantee. These are both policies developed at and championed by the Centre for Social Justice.
Seven hundred thousand people in receipt of health and disability benefits want to work and believe they could with the right support. Before the launch of Universal Support earlier this year, they were denied the opportunity to do so. When the Chancellor announced the policy in his Spring Budget, 50,000 people were set to benefit when fully rolled out. Now double that number will receive the bespoke support to secure and sustain employment, delivered by a dedicated keyworker who understands their needs.
To give more people the confidence to take up this newly expanded support offer, the Government will introduce a Chance to Work Guarantee. A longstanding CSJ policy recommendation, this is a cast iron commitment that anyone who tries work out will have their benefit entitlement protected if their employment falls through. It is a simple change, but an important step towards resetting the relationship between claimants and the welfare system, which is too often characterised by distrust.
Stronger employment support, together with the decision to uprate benefits in line with inflation, provides the political cover necessary for Government to push through harder-edged welfare reform.
While some will feel squeamish about tougher sanctions, it is reasonable to expect those in receipt of taxpayer-funded benefits to do what they can to find a job. Indeed, many will think those refusing to undertake suitable work should have their claim closed well before the 18-month mark. The welfare system is a safety net, not a choice, and while vulnerable claimants must be protected, the principle of reciprocity is fundamental to maintaining public consent for the £100 billion working age welfare bill.
The Chancellor’s decision to restrict access to higher rate disability benefits, however, is harder to defend.
At 2.6 million, economic inactivity among those with long term health conditions is at a record high, having risen by over half a million since the pandemic. The proportion of health assessments resulting in higher-rate benefit payments has risen from 21 per cent in 2011 to 65 per cent in 2022. The disability benefit bill is expected to exceed £73 billion by 2027.
These are legitimate concerns, and changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) are expected to save £1 billion annually by 2028. Protecting taxpayer money is important, but attempts to present reforms as motivated by the desire to help workers with health conditions access an increasingly flexible labour market ring hollow. Home working opportunities are skewed towards higher wage jobs inaccessible to the typical claimant currently in receipt of higher rate disability benefits.
Claimants in the Employment Support Allowance Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent found that they are typically older, less qualified and less digitally literate than the general population. Office for National Statistics data, meanwhile, shows that the highest levels of home only or hybrid working are seen among workers earning £50,000 a year or above. Just eight per cent of people earning under £10,000 year work exclusively from home.
The Department for Work and Pensions already has a better answer than crude cuts. Proposals but forward in the recent Health and Disability White Paper would detach means-tested support from the ability to work (assessed via the Work Capability Assessment) and link it to functional capability instead. This would address the perverse incentive for claimants to demonstrate what they can’t do, as opposed to what they can, in order to qualify for welfare top-ups. Under White Paper plans, the Work Capability Assessment will be abolished altogether.
But such complex legislative change is long-term, and whatever the Chancellor said today, Government is under pressure to deliver near-term results – or at least scoreable savings. If you were not already aware, there is a General Election coming.