Tests on jobless benefit claimants will be changed to reflect the growing impact of stress and mental illness under reforms being unveiled this week.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton will publish his Welfare Reform Bill - aimed at getting a million people off benefit and into work - on Tuesday.
It will include measures to update the so-called personal capability assessment used to decide whether claimants are fit to work.
Under the plans, more severely disabled people would receive a higher rate of benefit and have no obligation to look for work.
But claimants assessed as able to work would have to take part in initiatives designed to help them back into jobs, such as counselling, training and advice.
People who refused to take part in those schemes could lose part of their benefits.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions said that the proportion of people off work due to depression, anxiety and stress had risen significantly since the test was developed more than 20 years ago.
marieann
Under the plans, more severely disabled people would receive a higher rate of benefit and have no obligation to look for work.
This is long overdue in my opinion.
Ken R
Re: Benefits Tests to be changed.
[quote="admin"].......................
A spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions said that the proportion of people off work due to depression, anxiety and stress had risen significantly since the test was developed more than 20 years ago.[/quote]
It makes it sound like the depression,anxiety and stress is all down to the these tests
Sandie Seward
It makes it sound like the depression,anxiety and stress is all down to the these tests "
Actually, Ken, you are not far from the truth. The 'All-Work' test was horrendous, very stressful, and intimidating. I have been a 'victim' of it, so I do know what I'm talking about here. I have had to go through two of them in the past, and the last one, (about five years ago now,) found me 'fit for work', this, despite my G.P. continuing to supply me with six-monthly sick notes!
Try finding a job in your mid fifties, and having to undergo the humiliating rituals of the Job Centre. I did, and it was far from pleasent. I ended up taking a job (that I found myself) just to keep them off my back!
Sandie Seward
Those New Plans Published.
Britain published plans on Tuesday to overhaul its benefits system, get a million sick people back into work and save the government an estimated 7 billion pounds a year in payouts.
The shake-up will offer more generous allowances for those unable to work due to illness or disability but will also introduce a stricter assessment system to keep those who can work from collecting
payments.
"For too long people have been written off by the system. This will change," said Work and Pensions Minister John Hutton in a statement accompanying the planned law.
"We are putting in place more tailored help and support for individuals to help them get back into work."
Studies show only about 20 percent of claimants are incapable of working and the government is keen to encourage the roughly 2.5 million people on incapacity benefit to find a job.
The planned law, to take effect in 2008, is part of a series of reforms from pensions to energy policy which Prime Minister Tony Blair is trying to drive through before he stands down, a move expected by most lawmakers and commentators next year.
Like other European countries, Britain, which pays about 12.5 billion pounds a year in benefits, wants to cut back costly welfare and pensions systems without stifling economic activity.
More than two and a half times as many Britons claim disability benefits as claim traditional unemployment benefits.
SAVINGS
The 7 billion pounds in savings would be equivalent to about one percent of the government's budget, or could pay for a one pence cut in the basic rate of income tax, say economists.
Claimants assessed as able to work would have to take part in counselling and training to help them back into jobs.
But Hutton said the law was not about forcing people back into work where it was not appropriate.
"We know that some need the extra help and assistance that only the welfare state can provide and they will continue to receive their benefits without conditionality."
Campaign group Age Concern said the plans were flawed.
"It will do nothing for millions of people already out of work and risks doing little for the hundreds of thousands who will apply for the new benefit after their 50th birthday," said Gordon Lishman, Age Concern Director General.
Parliament will vote on the plans in coming months and the government said it expects them to be law next spring.
Although some Labour MPs have criticised the reforms, a major rebellion is not expected.
