There are many things to despair of in George Osborne’s Summer Budget but the one that makes my heart sink most is proposed changes to the Employment Support Allowance (ESA).
There are many things to despair of in George Osborne’s Summer Budget but the one that makes my heart sink most is proposed changes to the Employment Support Allowance (ESA).
These were trailed in advance of the budget – the abolition of the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) and the reduction of ESA by £30 a week for people in that group. Yesterday’s announcement slightly refined this. There will be no new WRAG claimants and reduction of existing claimants’ benefits over time, which effectively ends WRAG by the back door.
So what is WRAG and why does its abolition matter?
There are three possible outcomes to a work capability assessment:
• Fit for work – placed on Job Seeker’s Allowance.
• Unfit for work at present – placed in WRAG.
• Unfit for work – placed in the Support Group.
According to the DWP “The ESA work-related activity group is for claimants the DWP consider will be capable of work in the future and who are capable of taking steps towards moving into work (work-related activities) immediately.” In other words, the WRAG is the place for people who have the potential to get back to work at some point. The group includes people who are recovering from a major accident, a serious illness such as cancer, a fluctuating condition such as Crohn’s Disease, or a disability which might requires a workplace to make significant adjustment.
The WRAG is important because it enables claimants a small measure of financial security as they are recovering or sorting out accessibility issues. My colleague Simon Barrow’s assessment of the budget also notes, that it enables people with degenerative illnesses some income security at the point where they are unable to work, but not sick enough for the support group.
The WRAG is necessary because as any health professional will tell you, if an unhealthy person isn’t given sufficient time to recover they will relapse, needing further treatment and welfare support. Similarly, if a disabled person doesn’t have the right adjustments at work (eg a computer with adaptations for someone with limited ability to use their hands), they will not be able to do their job, and could end up losing it and requiring benefits again. So getting rid of the WRAG is likely to increase the number of people claiming benefits in the long run. Like many of Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare policies, this cut is not only inhumane, it is illogical.
The thinking behind the change seems to have come from Reform’s Charlotte Pickles (formerly of the Centre for Social Justice) who recently stated:
The Government should start by reducing the rate of the Work Related Activity Group within ESA to that of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). Set 40 per cent higher than JSA, it is incentivising people to ‘fail’ the Work Capability Assessment. They should also address the inadequate levels of conditionality applied to claimants.
This is a staggeringly ignorant statement from someone who clearly has never had to support a friend or family member through a period of ill health. No wonder Rosie Fletcher responded in this excellent New Statesman article “I already have the best incentive to stop being ill and get back to work. It’s called “being ill.”
And strangely, despite all this incentivisation to get sick and disabled people working, the government’s previous welfare reforms have made it much harder for them to get back to work. The Access to Work scheme which enables employers to make adjustments in the workplace is being reduced., Whilst the chaotic transition from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independent Payments means many people are losing income that enabled them to work.
The irony of course is that when Iain Duncan Smith’s own wife was ill with cancer a few years ago, he took time off work to help her recover. It was the right thing to do, and something he and she could manage without recourse to the state because they have independent income. But it seems that sick and disabled people with no private means will not be afforded such luxuries. And all to make £640 million savings, a mere five per cent of the £12 billion budget target.
As my colleague Jon Bartley said on twitter last night, “Worst cut? £30pw for those in Work Related Activity Group (sick/disabled who ‘may be able to work sometime in the future’). Absolutely vile.”
I couldn’t agree more.
* Full 2015 budget coverage and commentary from Ekklesia at: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2015
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© Virginia Moffatt is the Chief Operating Officer of Ekklesia.