Welfare reform: deserved defeats

Submitted by Helen Crowther on Fri, 13/01/2012 - 1:20pm

This week the government has faced a number of defeats for proposals for welfare reform linked to disability. These have included:

  • Plans to limit contributory ESA for the Work-Related Activity Group to 12 months. The Lords wish for this to be ammended to 24 months the means-testing would apply irrespective of the amount paid into the system. 
  • Plans to time-limit ESA for cancer patients undergoing treatment.
  • Plans restricting ESA access to young people with disabilities based on incomes of their parents, potentially restricting independence of disabled young people.

There are also other potential divisions regarding welfare reform that may arise, including:

  • Charges for lone parents to come to informal arrangements for Child Maintenance.
  • Overall benefit caps- for the Children's Commissioner, Maggie Atkinson has argued this will excacerbate child poverty for those in larger families. Many large families may be at risk of homelessness as housing becomes unaffordable.

At last people are recognising that welfare cuts are impacting disproportionately on the vulnerable, espcially vulnerable families and the disabled. For more information visit The Guardian website.