03 January 2006

Hutton seeks support for welfare reform

Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has made a new attempt to gain the support of MPs for planned welfare reforms.

Mr Hutton released new figures showing a clear link between high numbers of people claiming incapacity benefit and deprivation.

He has written to MPs in the 100 areas with the highest number of claimants, ahead of the publication of the government’s Green Paper on welfare reforms later this month, in an attempt to win support for the proposals.

The letter said that, on average, a third of people in the 100 constituencies with the highest number of incapacity benefit claimants were living among the most severe pockets of deprivation in Britain. Mr Hutton said that this meant they were five times more likely to live in pockets of severe deprivation than people in the rest of the country.

Mr Hutton’s own constituency of Barrow and Furness is included in the list of 100 constituencies.

Mr Hutton said: "I do not believe we should accept a system that perpetuates hardship and denies people the opportunity to better their lives by accessing the world of work. The vast majority of people who start receiving incapacity benefit want to go back into work, but the system currently provides them with little help in doing so.

"The welfare reform green paper will break down the remaining barriers people face when seeking to enter the world of work.”

Mr Hutton added: “Getting people onto incapacity benefit - and its predecessors invalidity benefit and sickness benefit - was seen as a way to mask soaring levels of unemployment. Our constituencies have paid a heavy price for this policy failure over the years."

Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Philip Hammond said that the Conservatives would support “sensible” government measures to encourage recipients of incapacity benefit back into work.

However, he warned that Mr Hutton faced a “very tough job” convincing Labour backbenchers of the need for reform. He said: “It is therefore surprising that he has left his consensus-building until now, with the Green Paper due in a matter of days. This is a process that he and his predecessors should have started a long time ago."

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson David Laws said that the proposals could not be judged on “good intentions alone”.

He said: "Incapacity Benefit needs to be restructured and made more flexible, and the Government must provide the staff and resources to help people back into employment."

(KMcA)