§ 32. Mr. MillerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase the financial benefits of work for disabled people and their families. [121403]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe Government have set aside £195 million from the receipts of the Windfall Tax specifically to assist people with disabilities. The New Deal for disabled people has been testing a range of approaches—personal advisers, innovative schemes and benefit changes—to find out what helps people return to work. To date, over 2,500 people have been helped into work by the New Deal pilots. The Government are currently developing plans for extending the New Deal for disabled people nationwide and introducing rehabilitation and retention pilots to test different ways to help disabled people move into, and remain in, work.
In October last year, the Government introduced the Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) to replace Disability Working Allowance (DWA). The new tax credit, which is intended to help people with an illness or disability to return to, or take up, work by topping up income, was more generous than DWA and changes since October have improved it further. This April, the under-11 child tax credit in the Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) was increased by £1.10 a week over and above indexation, and from June this year, the under-16 child tax credit in DPTC will be further increased by £4.35 a 260W week. And from October 2000, a new Fast Track gateway to the Disabled Person's Tax Credit will be introduced to help people who become sick and disabled while working, remain in work.
The numbers on DPTC have increased when compared with the Disability Working Allowance (DWA). At the end of March 2000, there were 21,800 awards of DPTC, compared with 18,500 awards of DWA at the end of July 1999. The average award of DPTC at the end of March 2000 was £70 a week compared to an average £60.50 a week under DWA.