The government said that the annual spending power of disabled people was estimated at around 80 billion (compared to a previous estimate of 50 billion). The new figure was estimated using Family Resources data for 2002-03, and was defined as annual spending power summed across all adults identified as disabled using the Disability Discrimination Act measure of disability.
Source: Press release 3 December 2004, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: DWP press release
Date: 2004-Dec
The government announced (in the Pre-Budget Report 2004) a major extension of incapacity benefit reform pilots ('Pathways to Work'). The scheme would be extended to a third of the country, covering the most disadvantaged areas and local authority areas with the greatest concentration of incapacity benefit claimants, starting from October 2005. Including existing pilots, the total area covered would have 900,000 incapacity benefit claimants. The seven existing pilots would continue beyond 2006. From October 2005 all new incapacity benefit claimants nationally would be required to attend a work-focused interview after eight weeks of their claim. It was also made mandatory for them to complete an action plan to keep them in touch with work opportunities. The disability rights watchdog supported the extension of the pilots, saying that more disabled people would be able to work if they were given the support to do so. A government minister reportedly said that nearly two-thirds of the 2.7 million people who claimed incapacity benefit were capable of work.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2004: Opportunity for All - The strength to take the long-term decisions for Britain, Cm 6408, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 2 December 2004, columns 781-804, TSO | Press release 2 December 2004, Disability Rights Commission (08457 622633) | The Guardian, 15 December 2004
Links: Report (pdf) | Report (pdf links) | Hansard | HMT press release | DWP press release | DRC press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Dec
A research report described the characteristics and experiences of people who had used new permitted work rules. There was clear evidence that, for 24 per cent of clients, the rules had acted as a stepping stone to employment, and as a shift away from benefits. But awareness and understanding of the new rules was generally low among the client group. (The permitted work rules were introduced in April 2002, allowing incapacity benefit recipients to earn up to 78 a week for a period of up to 52 weeks while continuing to receive benefit.)
Source: Sara Dewson, Sara Davis and George Loukas, A Stepping-Stone to Employment?: An evaluation of the permitted work rules Wave 2, W214, Department for Work and Pensions (0114 209 8299)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | DWP press release (1) | DWP press release (2)
Date: 2004-Dec
A think-tank report said that incapacity benefit had become a barrier to work, and needed to be reformed if the government were to achieve its full employment and social justice goals. It recommended that incapacity benefit be replaced by: a flat-rate earnings replacement allowance ; mandatory action agreements negotiated between personal advisers and claimants; and an enhanced disability living allowance.
Source: Kate Stanley with Dominic Maxwell, Fit for Purpose: The reform of incapacity benefit, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary (pdf) | IPPR press release
Date: 2004-Dec
A report examined patterns of income and expenditure among families with severely disabled or seriously ill children. It was found that these families had low incomes relative to average family income, and were forced into higher expenditure due to the nature of the additional needs of their children. In many cases, this extra expenditure exceeded the family income by a significant margin. Many families struggled on a daily basis to fulfil the needs of their children, and used a variety of methods, including credit, to overcome their immediate financial hurdles.
Source: Mark Woolley, How do They Manage?: Income and expenditure of families with severely disabled children, Family Fund (mailto:info@familyfund.org.uk)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Nov
A report examined the experiences of debt of families with disabled children. Mortgage/rent arrears and credit card usage were much higher than in the general population; families with disabled children spent much more than other families servicing their debts; pension payments were much lower than in the general population; and many families reported being in very serious financial difficulties.
Source: Jill Harrison and Mark Woolley, Debt and Disability: The impact of debt on families with disabled children, Family Fund (mailto:info@familyfund.org.uk) and Contact a Family
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Nov
The Disability and Carers Service was launched on 1 November 2004 as an agency of the Department for Work and Pensions. Its role was to support disabled people and carers by providing a customer-focused service that delivered disability and carer benefits efficiently.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 1 November 2004, column 4WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2004-Nov
The government said that seven pilots to help people on incapacity benefits into work had achieved early success. The number of people getting jobs through Jobcentre Plus had doubled compared to the previous year. There had been an 8-10 per cent increase in the rate of people coming off incapacity benefits after four months of their claim, compared to non-pilot areas. Five times as many people in pilot areas were joining New Deal for Disabled People compared to old-style Jobcentres.
Source: Press release 30 November 2004, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: DWP press release
Date: 2004-Nov
Qualitative research examined the role of incapacity benefit personal advisers within the incapacity benefit reform pilots ( Pathways to Work ).
Source: Sarah Dickens, Alice Mowlam and Kandy Woodfield, Incapacity Benefit Reforms - The Personal Adviser Role and Practices, W212, Department for Work and Pensions (0114 209 8274)
Links: Report (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Nov
A paper used official administrative data to analyse the chances of claimants leaving incapacity-related benefits, focusing on variations in the rate of outflow as the duration of the spell increased. Exit rates fell steadily and steeply from month 1 to month 12; steadily again, but less steeply, from quarter 5 to quarter 12; and less steeply again from year 4 to year 10. The rate was very low by year 10, but probably did not decline after that. The probability of leaving in the first month was, at annualized rate, more than 25 times as high as the probability of leaving in any particular year after ten years.
Source: Richard Berthoud, The Profile of Exits from Incapacity-related Benefits over Time, Working Paper 17, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper (pdf)
Date: 2004-Nov
A report presented budget standards for groups of disabled people in an attempt to establish the extent of additional costs which disabled people faced. Disabled people who relied on state benefits, or worked for the national minimum wage, had weekly incomes that were far below the amount they needed for an acceptable quality of life.
Source: Noel Smith, Sue Middleton, Kate Ashton-Brooks, Lynne Cox and Barbara Dobson (with Lorna Reith), Disabled People s Costs of Living: More than you would think , York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report (pdf) | JRF Findings 054 | JRF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Oct
The Prime Minister said that increased spending on pensions could be partly offset by making people who were 'languishing' on incapacity benefits get jobs.
Source: Speech by Tony Blair MP (Prime Minister) to Progressive Governance Conference, 14 October 2004
Links: Guardian report | BBC report | DBC press release
Date: 2004-Oct
Researchers reported the early findings from qualitative research into incapacity benefit reforms in three pilot areas. Personal advisers were broadly supportive of the reforms.
Source: Sarah Dickens, Alice Mowlam and Kandy Woodfield, Incapacity Benefit Reforms: Early findings from qualitative research, W202, Department for Work and Pensions (0114 209 8274)
Links: No link
Date: 2004-Sep
The government announced the beginning of pilot projects, from 6 April 2004, designed to induce people on incapacity benefits into employment through a return-to-work credit of 40 a week lasting for a year.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 1 April 2004, columns 105-106WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A report by a committee of MPs said that thousands of disabled people were having their benefit claims unfairly rejected each month because of 'apparently rushed and inadequate' medical examinations. It said that it was 'a matter of concern' that more than 40 per cent of the 35,000 subsequent appeals lodged over initial benefit decisions were being overturned each quarter.
Source: Progress in Improving the Medical Assessment of Incapacity and Disability Benefits, Sixteenth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 120, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A report said that thousands of older people were being left to cope alone when their sight failed, and were at an increased risk of accidents, poverty and social exclusion.
Source: Dan Vale, Unseen: Neglect, isolation and household poverty amongst older people with sight loss, Royal National Institute of the Blind (020 7388 1266) and British Gas
Links: Report (txt) | Summary
Date: 2004-Mar
The government announced an increase in the maximum sums payable by the Independent Living Funds from 1 April 2004. The maximum weekly payment from the Independent Living (1993) Fund would increase from 395 per week to 420 per week ( 21,840 per year), and for the Independent Living (Extension) Fund from 665 per week to 715 per week ( 37,180 per year).
Source: Press release 9 March 2004, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: DWP press release
Date: 2004-Mar
A report presented findings from the final element of the evaluation of a pilot (conducted in Sheffield and Rotherham in 2002) aimed at testing an alternative method of collecting medical evidence for the 'personal capability assessment' for incapacity benefit claims. The evaluation showed that the alternative arrangements for obtaining information from family doctors for benefit assessment purposes contributed little to people s decisions about whether to appeal against benefit disallowance decisions.
Source: Roy Sainsbury and Anne Corden, Medical Evidence and Incapacity Benefit Appeals: Evaluation of a pilot study, In-House Report 129, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Feb