An article examined the government's Green Paper on welfare reform. Rather than empowering disabled people to work, the proposals were likely to have a limited impact – due to weaknesses in the assumptions made regarding the reasons why people claimed incapacity benefit; and regarding the relationships between disability, paid work, and family structure.
Source: Chris Grover and Linda Piggott, 'Social security, employment and incapacity benefit: critical reflections on "A New Deal For Welfare"', Disability & Society, Volume 22 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Dec
A think-tank report said that carer's allowance should be abolished. The complexity of the allowance made it difficult to claim, and the system needed to be much more flexible in order to provide the right support and help to people who combined care and paid work. The allowance should be replaced by a single benefit for all people who were out of work – replacing not only carer's allowance but also income support, jobseeker's allowance, and employment and support allowance (the benefit due to replace incapacity benefit).
Source: Sophie Moullin, Care in a New Welfare Society: Unpaid care, welfare and employment, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | IPPR press release | Counsel and Care press release | Carers UK press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Dec
The government announced (following a review) details of a new medical test that would score a person's capability to work. It said that 50 per cent of those who took the new assessment would not pass it, meaning that 20,000 fewer people each year would enter 'sickness' benefits as a result, and would instead be given the support and skills they needed to get a job. The 'work capability assessment' would be introduced in October 2008 alongside the new employment and support allowance, and would be applicable for all those people claiming the new allowance. It would replace the existing personal capability assessment, which was weighted more towards a person's physical disability and incapability for work.
Source: Press release 19 November 2007, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171) | Moira Henderson, Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment: Technical working group's phase 2 evaluation report, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: DWP press release | Report | Mind press release | CPAG press release | Shaw Trust press release | CIPD press release | REC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report | Community Care report | FT report
Date: 2007-Nov
Adult 'customers' were surveyed in the first seven 'Pathways to Work' pilot areas. The characteristic found to be most strongly related to finding work was the self-assessed trajectory of health from the time of the claim for benefit, which was consistent with what customers said about their situations. Health conditions and disabilities, or at least the way that these were perceived and managed, dominated the likelihood of being in work.
Source: Rossy Bailey, Jon Hales, Oliver Hayllar and Martin Wood, Pathways to Work: Customer Experience and Outcomes – Findings from a survey of new and repeat incapacity benefits customers in the first seven pilot areas, Research Report 456, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined the changing profile of men on incapacity benefit in one town (Barrow in Furness) where the claimant rate was especially high. Although the overall numbers had declined only modestly between 1999 and 2007, the characteristics of the stock had altered radically. The proportion with no formal qualification had increased, and far fewer expressed an interest in returning to work.
Source: Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill, 'Changes in the profile of men claiming incapacity benefit: a case study', People, Place & Policy, Volume 1 Issue 3
Links: Article
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined the extent to which the government's aspiration to reduce the number of incapacity benefit claimants by one million within 10 years was deliverable. Without an accelerated revival in the economies of the North, Scotland and Wales, Labour looked set to fall short of the target.
Source: Steve Fothergill and Ian Wilson, 'A million off incapacity benefit: how achievable is Labour's target?', Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 31 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined patterns of receipt of, and issues of access to, disability living allowance across four ethnic groups. DLA receipt among individuals reporting long-term health conditions was low: but Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Black African individuals had significantly lower levels of receipt than white British respondents with comparable health and socio-economic characteristics.
Source: Sarah Salway, Lucinda Platt, Kaveri Harriss and and Punita Chowbey, 'Long-term health conditions and disability living allowance: exploring ethnic differences and similarities in access', Sociology of Health & Illness, Volume 29 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
A report called for the benefits system to be reformed so that when people reached pension age they still had access to carer's allowance. The government should increase the carer's allowance to equal the national minimum wage, and increase the carer's premium in income support or pension credit.
Source: Caroline Bernard, A New Strategy for Carers: Better support for families and carers of older people, Counsel and Care (020 7241 8555)
Links: Report | Counsel and Care press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Oct
An article examined the socio-economic circumstances faced by families supporting a child at risk of disability, and the extent to which disability was associated with hardship. Families supporting a child at risk of disability were significantly more disadvantaged across a wide range of indicators of socio-economic position. The hardship experienced by these families was only partly accounted for by between group differences in income, debt, and savings. Children who were already at risk of disability as a result of a range of physical and cognitive impairments were more likely than other children to live under conditions that impeded development, increased the risk of poor health and (additional) disability, and increase the risk of social exclusion.
Source: Eric Emerson and Chris Hatton, 'The socio-economic circumstances of children at risk of disability in Britain', Disability & Society, Volume 22 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
The final report was published of an official review of statutory sick pay (in response to the failure to achieve consensus on proposals to simplify the scheme in the 2006 Green Paper). It concluded that the reform of policy was less critical than effective attendance management. The government should concentrate on helping employers to manage attendance more effectively, supporting this with modernization of medical certification arrangements and by facilitating vocational rehabilitation.
Source: Report of the Statutory Sick Pay Review Working Group, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the 'stock' of incapacity benefit claimants in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland, and the 'on' and 'off' flow. Glasgow had a particular problem in terms of the absolute size of its IB claimant population (61,850 in 2005), and the fact that this population represented such a high proportion of the working-age population (16.4 per cent in 2005).
Source: Judith Brown et al., Turning the Tap Off! Incapacity benefit in Glasgow and Scotland – Trends over the past five years, Glasgow Centre for Population Health (0141 221 9439)
Links: Report | Appendices | Briefing paper
Date: 2007-Aug
Researchers examined the feasibility of estimating the take-up rate of disability living allowance and attendance allowance.
Source: Diana Kasparova, Alan Marsh and David Wilkinson, The Take-up Rate of Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance: Feasibility study, Research Report 442, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined the experiences of Disability and Carers? Service customers. Customers found claim forms to be lengthy and confusing. Once an application had been made, customers often did not know whether or not they would receive the award. The disability claims process was dramatically eased with the intervention of a professional adviser.
Source: Janine Hawkins, Carol Goldstone and Meena Bhagat, Knowing and Understanding Disability and Carers Service Customers, Research Report 439, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jul
The Concessionary Bus Travel Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to provide free off-peak local bus travel for pensioners and disabled people.
Source: Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL], Department for Transport, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 28 June 2007, columns 510-564, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that it was essential that incapacity benefits programmes took into account gender differences in their design and delivery.
Source: Sarah Deacon, Pamela Fitzpatrick, Marilyn Howard and Hilary Land, Women and Incapacity Benefits, Women's Budget Group (020 7253 2598)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A Member of Parliament introduced a Bill designed to introduce a single assessment system for disability benefits; and to thereby prevent unnecessary repetition, frustration, and wasted resources.
Source: Disability Benefits (Single Assessment) Bill, Jeremy Hunt MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | EDCM press release
Date: 2007-Jun
Researchers examined the validity and reliability of existing large-scale datasets on statutory sick pay. Organizations had widely varying structures, systems, policies, and processes for the collection, recording, and management of sickness absence data.
Source: Susan Woolf, Anne-Marie Martindale, Debbi Stanistreet and Mark Gabbay with David Sapsford, DWP Project on the Feasibility of SSP Data Collection, Research Report 427, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-May
A study found that incapacity benefit claimants who had made a claim prior to the start of the Pathways to Work pilots were generally considered to have more severe barriers to work in comparison to new and repeat claimants. There was a need for greater clarity concerning the role of the personal adviser in such cases; and on what constituted legitimate outcomes when working with claimants who were far from the job market.
Source: Josie Dixon, Martin Mitchell and Sarah Dickens, Pathways to Work: Extension to Existing Customers (Matched Case Study), Research Report 418, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Mar
A report said that VAT law should be amended to introduce a reduced rate on goods used exclusively by disabled people, whether or not they were designed solely for this purpose. VAT reliefs should also be available equally to people with mental disabilities. There was a need for better administration of the reliefs to make them easier to obtain.
Source: VAT and Disabled People: The case for removing the barriers, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group/Chartered Institute of Taxation (020 7245 4122)
Links: Report | LITRG press release
Date: 2007-Jan
The government began consultation on a review of the industrial injuries disablement benefit scheme (which since 1948 had provided compensation and benefits for people who were injured or made ill through work).
Source: Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Scheme: A consultation paper, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Consultation document | DWP press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jan