Welfare Reform Green Paper Empowering people to work

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Welfare Reform Green PaperEmpowering people
to work

• Summary of proposals and key issues for Glasgow

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Context

• Human rights includes right to work
• Work the best route out of poverty
• Society has a responsibility to support those
  unable to support themselves
• Demography

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Aspiration 80 employment rate

• 1 million fewer people on incapacity benefit
• Help 300,000 lone parents into work
• Increase number of older workers by 1 million
• Proposals in each of these areas

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Incapacity Benefit

• Currently, 90 of new claimants intend to return
  to work, and 60 do within 1st year
• Reduce numbers going on to IB
• Increase numbers leaving
• New Employment and Support Allowance (new
  claimants only)
• Existing IB claimants more pro-active
• Cities Pilots

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Lone Parents

• Intensify support
• Increase childcare provision
• WRAP (work-related activity premium)
• Older Workers
• Increase average age of retirement
• Extend New Deal 25 to 50-59s
• Equalise state pension age upwards
• And Housing Benefit to be simplified

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Delivery

• More involvement of private and voluntary sectors
• Focus on retention as well as job entry
• Personal advisers, early intervention
• Cities priority city pilots
• Local area consortia, aligning budgets, robust
  accountability

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Reducing IB claimants by 1 million- Prevention

• Healthy workplaces
• Reducing sickness absence (12 billion/yr to
  business)
• Q1 what other incentives to employers to
  increase health support?

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Prevention Role of Health Sector

• GPs to understand role of work in recuperation
• Reward primary care staff for work referrals
• Employment advice via surgeries for those on
  sick pay and IB
• Q2 how best to share evidence of work-health
  link

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Prevention Reform Statutory Sick Pay

• Simplify easier for employers to administer
• Reduce compensation to some employers for high
  level of sickness absence
• and reallocate to SMEs to help manage sickness
  absence
• Q3 does package incentivise absence management?
  How best to use redirected funds?

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Transform Gateway

• Personal Capability Assessment to be developed
  with DRC etc to ensure fairness
• If severe functional limitations Support
  Allowance, no conditionality but able to get
  work-related support if they wish
• Individually assessed no blanket exclusions

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Personal Capability Assessment

• Medical assessment re eligibility
• Other health professionals re capability for
  work
• Assessment includes estimated time for review,
  including anticipated time for improvement in
  functional capability
• Mental health training for PAs. Expert group
  still to make recommendations.

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New Employment and Support Allowance

• Not labelling people as incapable of work.
• At JSA level during 3 month assessment phase
• All claimants WFI at 8 weeks.
• PCA if eligible, onto ESA main phase

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ESA main phase

• More than JSA
• PAs and private / voluntary expertise
• Expectation most claimants will benefit from
  some work-related activity / employment
• Personal action plans, WFIs, work-related
  activity
• Q4 does Green Paper show sensible range of
  Suitable activity?

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ESA

• If individual does not participate, benefit
  reduced in slices to JSA level.
• Fluctuating health conditions recognised
  appropriate actions to be agreed with PA
• DLA still available, tax free, on top, if
  eligible.
• Q5 right way to target support to people with
  the greatest needs?

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ESA (continued)

• Wont rise with age
• Wont increase for adult dependants
• Q6 are these changes appropriate to our modern
  society?

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ESA continued

• Linking period doubled to 2 years from October
  06
• Encourage voluntary work and part-time work
  before leaving ESA
• Test-trading for self-employment
• Extension of Return to Work credit as part of
  Pathways roll-out
• Q7 adequate incentives to progress towards /
  return to work?

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Existing IB Claimants

• Remain on current benefit level
• More pro-active work (inf, review)
• Pathways pilots to cover more of caseload on
  mandatory basis
• Encourage to volunteer for Pathways help
• Increased frequency of assessment, WFI (consider
  as resources allow)
• New ad hoc review team
• And the cities pilot.

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Cities Pilots

• Local partners economic regeneration through
  skills, employment and health
• Help to find and stay in work
• and progress via skills
• Consortia taking account of local partnership
  structures
• and using PVS providers via DWP contracts
• And setting out expected outcomes.
• Proposals considered to trial conditionality /
  incentive structures for existing claimants.
• Maximum local flexibility
• Q 11 Does pilot provide effective mechanism to
  join up work of different agencies, make better
  use of existing funding?

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And finally

• Skills
• Support low-skilled adults (universal entitlement
  to Level 2 VQ)
• Leitch report UK needs to be far more
  ambitious
• Fraud
• Expand data matching
• New technology, ID card
• Detect and correct low-level fraud

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Some issues for Glasgow for discussion

• Glasgows agenda already 30-40,000 who want to
  work many on health-related benefits
• Experience and commitment of health sector
• Big social issues GP doesnt recognise
• Is conditionality helpful or necessary need
  more carrots, creative motivation
• Employer engagement
• Need first-rate PAs!
• City pilot needs to go beyond current targets
  (30,000 into work by 2010)