Editorial 59

Incapacity Benefit reform: the devil is in the detail

Les Allamby, Director, Law centre (NI)

The government has finally published its much trailed Green Paper ‘A new deal for welfare: empowering people to work’. The primary focus is on Incapacity Benefit reform and getting those on the benefit into work. There was a delay in publication while the document disappeared into the Cabinet Office. An initial read suggests that the final document emerged relatively unscathed.

The centrepiece is the new approach to dealing with long-term ill-health within the social security system. Drawing on the now widespread approach adopted by employers, the social security system will be much more pro-active in dealing with people who are unable to work and claiming benefit. From 2008, a new Employment and Support Allowance will be introduced to replace Incapacity Benefit and Income Support when paid on the basis of incapacity. The new benefit will commence with an assessment phase of three months with benefit payable at Jobseeker’s Allowance basic rate. On assessment, a person will then move in one of two directions. If it is considered feasible that a person may be able to return to work then an additional employment support component will be paid. The payment will be conditional on the person agreeing a personal action plan concentrating on rehabilitation and work related activity. Others who have serious disabilities and health conditions will not be required to go through the action plan process (except on a voluntary basis). This approach will be supported with other initiatives, including improved occupational health advice and support and a greater role for GPs and other health care professionals.

The government has set itself a target of reducing the number of claimants by one million over ten years. Many existing claimants will come off Incapacity Benefit due to reaching pensionable age so the target is not quite as radical as it initially sounds.
The principle of greater engagement with claimants is a sound one. Nonetheless, the devil is in the detail and the Green Paper is light on how this might work in practice. In fact, the Green Paper raises more questions than it answers. How will the assessment at thirteen weeks be managed – will it entail a new or modified test from the current personal capability assessment? Will the new approach be deft enough to cope with ill health which fluctuates and with people with mental health conditions? Both issues are raised but the Green Paper stops short of offering detailed proposals. Further, what sanctions will be applied to those who do not respond in the way the government envisages? The current legal position in Pathways to Work pilot areas in Britain is that agreeing an action plan is compulsory, yet carrying out what is agreed within it is voluntary. Such an approach lacks logical consistency and is unlikely to be the approach adopted in the new reforms. Implementing the new proposals will be staff intensive and require a sophisticated mix of skills – this has to happen during a period of substantial staff and financial cutbacks at the Social Security Agency alongside transfer of functions to the Department of Employment and Learning. Squaring this particular circle will not be easy. In addition, doctors will be expected to play a more active role in getting people back to work with specific measures incorporated into primary care contracts. This will entail an interesting cultural change.

New Pathways to Work pilots have just commenced in three Jobs and Benefits offices in Northern Ireland with seven more due to commence this year. The timetable to move from a little more intervention to a completely new scheme is very tight.

Sadly, the Green Paper misses one golden opportunity. The rules around trying work while on Incapacity Benefit have been relaxed in recent years. However, they remain incredibly complex, difficult to understand and as a result under-utilised. Sweeping away these provisions and allowing people on Incapacity Benefit to try work for a period and retain benefit or go back to benefit without hurdles would encourage a return to work as effectively as many of the proposals contained in the Green Paper.

© Law Centre (NI) March 2006