HC Deb 23 April 2001 vol 367 cc147-8W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the extent to which the benefits system discourages people with disabilities from taking up work. [158087]

Mr. Bayley

We know that many disabled people would like to return to work if they are given the right assistance. They may, however, be discouraged from taking up work by lack of awareness of the benefits system, by difficulty in finding suitable employment, and by the fear that they will not be able to return to benefit if their attempt at work is unsuccessful.

We are determined to help people with an illness or disability who want to work to do so. We have put a number of measures in place to remove barriers to work for disabled people. These include higher earnings disregards in the Independent Living Funds and improvements to the linking rules in incapacity benefits. We have extended the linking period from eight to 52 weeks for people who leave Incapacity Benefit to go into paid work or training. From April 2002 we are replacing the therapeutic work rules with new permitted work provisions which will allow all people in receipt of incapacity benefits to try a small amount of work without the fear of losing their benefit entitlement. We have abolished the limit on the number of hours of unpaid voluntary work that can be undertaken. We are also piloting Capability Reports as part of the Personal Capability Assessment, which we introduced in April 2000.

We are extending the New Deal for Disabled People across Great Britain From July 2001 a national network of Job Brokers will be rolled out jointly by the Department of Social Security and the Department for Education and Employment to offer people receiving incapacity benefits the support, guidance and preparation they need to find paid work and move off benefit dependence, continuing to test and assess what works best.

Alongside the national extension, in early 2002 we will be starting New Deal for Disabled People Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilots jointly with the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Health. These pilots will test the relative effectiveness of different employment and health interventions in reducing the number of people forced to give up work through prolonged illness or disability.

The national extension and Job Retention and Rehabilitation pilots draw on lessons learned from the pilot phase of the New Deal for Disabled People which, by the end of February 2001, had helped over 6,800 people into work.

We have also introduced the Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) to help make work pay. In the Budget the Chancellor announced an increase in DPTC from June and this, combined with increases in the National Minimum Wage in October, will raise the guaranteed minimum income for a disabled person moving into work of 35 hours per week or more to £170 a week for a single person, and £257 a week for a couple with one child.