Government plans for benefits 'alarming'

Government plans to give charities and private companies the power to cut benefits have "set alarm bells ringing" across the disability world.

The Welfare Reform Bill's draft regulations*, published last month as DN went to press, have done little to soothe fears about how the government will protect disabled people as it carries out its reforms.

Paul Treloar, director of policy and services for Disability Alliance (DA), said the regulations "set even more alarm bells ringing" than before.

He said the regulations "play down" the fact that private and voluntary sector organisations will have the power to cut benefits where previously only Job centre Plus could do so. And he said the regulations fail to properly address the standard of decision making by those who carry out assessments.

He said: "Unless some attention is paid to the standard of decision making, it doesn't matter what you do around the edges. They're still going to get things wrong."

Danny Alexander, disability spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: "One of the strengths of the voluntary sector is that [disabled] people know they are not mixed up with decision-making. If these are joined up, it could be harder for charities to engage with disabled people."

Mr Alexander also criticised the regulations for not being clear on who would qualify for the new support and work-related benefits. Jeremy Hunt, disability spokesman for the Conservatives, said that he was aware of many voluntary organisations that have said they don't want to be involved with benefits sanctions.

He added that it was "disgraceful" that the regulations had not been made available in accessible formats.

He said: "If you want the feedback of disabled people, you obviously need to make it available [for everybody]."

Simone Aspis, parliamentary officer for the British Council of Disabled People, said: "We don't think the regulations have enough safeguards to protect disabled people. They contain a lot of unknowns Ð we still have questions."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said any private or voluntary sector organisations that might make sanction decisions would be subject to the same standards Job centre Jobcentre Plus decision makers.

He could not comment on the assessment process, as it was being debated in committee as DN went to press.

Meanwhile, a new three-year government initiative, Action on Stigma, has been launched to improve the way employers handle employees with mental health issues.

Just before the regulations were published, the government announced there would be changes to the proposed Personal Capacity Assessment (PCA) to give more consideration to people with mental health conditions.

A taskforce, including RADAR, has found more people with learning difficulties and mental health conditions could work if the government tailored specific programmes for them. And a Disability Rights Commission (DRC) poll by GfK NOP found two thirds of small and medium businesses surveyed had no procedures in place for managing staff with mental health problems.

The DRC said the findings were "a wake-up call" for the government as it tried to get one million Incapacity Benefit claimants back to work.