Disabled People (Hansard, 29 January 2001)

§ 27. Helen Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what support his Department is giving to help those with disabilities to return to work. [145986]

§ Mr. Browne
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about his Department's involvement in the new deal for disabled people. [145983]

§ Mr. Bayley
We are committed to helping disabled people who want to work, to do so. The New Deal for Disabled People is a joint initiative of the Department of Social Security and the Department for Education and Employment.
We are setting up a national network of Job Brokers to explore ways of giving those on incapacity benefits the support, guidance and preparation they need to find paid work and move off benefit dependence.
We are also starting job retention and rehabilitation pilots to help people who become ill in work. These pilots will test the effectiveness of early work-focused help, involving health, social security, employment and other services.

§ Mr. Andrew George
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the opportunities available to disabled people who are in 85W receipt of (a) Severe Disability Allowance, (b) Income Support and (c) both, to make appropriate provision for their retirement. [146737]

§ Mr. Bayley
Up to now, disabled people whose working lives have been interrupted lose the opportunity to contribute to a pension scheme as well as the opportunity to work and are often therefore unable to build up a decent pension for retirement. That is one of the main reasons we are reforming the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) with the State Second Pension.
People getting Severe Disablement Allowance, and those on Income Support with an underlying entitlement to long-term Incapacity Benefit, will be able to build up entitlement to State Second Pension provided at state pension age they have worked and paid (or have been treated as having paid) Class 1 employee National Insurance contributions for at least one tenth of their working life since 1978 (when SERPS was introduced).
Every qualifying year will be worth £1 a week additional pension at today's rates.
In addition, the majority of these people are likely to qualify for top-up payments through the Pension Credit, on which the Government are now consulting.
Those disabled people unable to qualify for State Second Pension may benefit from the Minimum Income Guarantee from age 60.