Good quality, tailor support is needed to help incapacity benefit claimants return to work (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

Good quality, tailor support is needed to help incapacity benefit claimants return to work

February 15, 2006 11:27 AM

Councillor Dennis Hullock, Lib Dem spokes person for health and social care, welcomed the Government's commitment to reduce the number of people on incapacity benefit as new welfare reform are announced.

Councillor Hullock has found out that in Kirklees there are: 16800 people in receipt of incapacity benefit which represents a decrease of 7% since Labour came to power. Worryingly all but 400 have been claiming for at least 2 years. 6100 of these claimants have mental or behavioural disorders, and account for just over a third of all cases. There has been an increase of 30% in the number of people with mental or behavioural disorders on incapacity benefit since Labour came to power .

Councillor Hullock says "Within a year of coming to power, Labour published a Welfare Reform Green Paper, talked about tackling the rising number of people on incapacity benefit and helping the million claimants who said they wanted to work. Eight years on we are in exactly the same position."

"Despite these eight years of failure, the Government are right to go back and look again at tackling a system which is a scandalous waste of human potential and which has condemned a million people who want to work to a lifetime on benefits."

"The strategy set out by the Government today is welcome, but it will not be easy to deliver."

"I will be looking at the proposals in detail in order to make sure that the 16800 incapacity benefit claimants in Kirklees are given good quality support, individually tailored to meet their needs. I will also be looking to make sure that are sufficient safeguards to prevent vulnerable people from being sanctioned because the system is not sophisticated enough to deal with complex conditions."

"There must also be more support to help people retain their jobs when they become ill; more support for employers to take on disabled staff; greater use of voluntary sector expertise; and enough flexibility within the proposed new benefits so that those with fluctuating conditions are not penalised.

"Finally, the increasing incidence of mental health problems requires special attention. The grim statistics show that if you are on the benefit for more than two years, you are more likely to die or retire than return to work. In Kirklees it seems that not only is there an increasing proportion with mental health problems on benefit but over 70 percent of them have been on the benefit for over 2 years."