Emma Lewell-Buck MP: Personal Independence Payments are actually keeping some people in work
This week the Government announced its plans for welfare reform.
Last week I made the case both privately and publicly that previous changes, from 2010 onwards, which restricted eligibility for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions, did not increase employment levels. They also did not make any of the savings that the-then Government predicted.
Those changes did lead to approximately 600 suicides, increased poverty levels, a strain on the NHS and other public services and in the long run, they led to higher welfare spending and reduced growth.
Just last week, the Government made significant and ground-breaking changes to employment rights and announced radical changes to the NHS. Prior to this, we introduced a consultation on getting people back into the workplace. Our industrial strategy is due to report in the Spring. It is right that those who can work do and that those who want to work are supported into employment, but these changes need time to embed before we make cuts to the welfare bill.
The Government said they will be making savings worth £5bn. These savings look likely to be made from tightening eligibility for Personal Independence Payments. PIP is not an ‘out of work’ benefit. For some people it is a payment that actually keeps them in work.
The hated work capability assessments will be scrapped. Incapacity benefits under Universal Credit will be halved for new claimants and legislation is to follow that will ensure that trying work will not lead to automatic PIP or work capability reassessments.
I am working carefully through the detail of this week’s announcement and awaiting the publication of the impact assessment. I am disappointed that the Government did not let our positive reforms take effect before making these further changes and I am disappointed that other options for savings, such as putting an end to the ‘stealth’ subsidy to banks (Which could raise £3-7bn per year), have not been prioritised.
There is now a 12-week consultation on the proposals. I urge everyone to contribute to this. I promise I will use every opportunity I have to make your views known.