4 July 2006 - Hutton: Welfare Reform Bill will break down barriers to work
Today’s publication of the Welfare Reform Bill marks the next stage in the Government’s plans to modernise the welfare state and break down the barriers that have prevented people from getting into the workplace and staying in work.
The Bill contains powers to replace incapacity benefits with a new Employment Support Allowance that alongside a new Personal Capability Assessment will help give individuals more relevant support and get them into appropriate work.
It will also provide more power to tackle benefit fraud which will strengthen the “two strikes” rules so that people who commit a second benefit offence within five years of their first one can have their benefit withdrawn.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, John Hutton said:
“For too long people have been written off by the system. This will change. We are putting in place more tailored help and support for individuals to help them get back into work. In exchange for this additional help we will be asking for people to engage with us and take the necessary steps to get back into the work place.
“This is not about forcing people back into work where it is not appropriate. We know that some need the extra help and assistance that only the welfare state can provide and they will continue to receive their benefits without conditionality.”
There will also be a framework to reform and improve the design and administration of Housing Benefit. It will provide for the roll-out of the Local Housing Allowance– a simplified Housing Benefit scheme that is currently being tested in 18 Local Authority areas – across the private sector and measures to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Further steps to increase employment opportunity – such as providing more support to lone parents and breaking down the barriers to work experienced by older people – will be implemented through secondary legislation.
Alongside the Bill’s publication, Minister for Welfare Reform, Jim Murphy announced the national roll-out of Pathways to Work. The pilots have already helped to get 25,000 people back into work and this programme will be available to all new IB claimants by April 2008.
Jim Murphy said:
“Pathways has been a great success in getting people back to work, the facts speak for themselves with 25,000 people in work who would otherwise be on benefits.
“We estimate that the average cost per job through Pathways is £800, with each person who leaves benefits generating over £8,000 in savings to be reinvested in public services.
“Pathways is also representative of the sort of welfare system I want to see – one that is flexible, individual and supportive and above all delivering for the people who need it.”
Pathways already covers some of the most deprived parts of the country and from 30 October 2006 it will be extended to all new IB claimants in Greater Mersey, Staffordshire and the eastern valleys of the South Wales Valleys districts. Pathways will then be rolled out across Britain by April 2008.
Notes to Editors
- The welfare reform Bill was published today and can be read at: www.dwp.gov.uk/aboutus/welfarereform/
- This is the scheduled national roll out for Pathways:
Roll-out will start on 30 October 2006
- Greater Mersey;
- Staffordshire; and
- Eastern Valleys (part of South Wales Valleys).
In December, we will extend the Jobcentre Plus Pathways service to the remaining areas of the five, recently enlarged, existing Pathways districts to give 40% of all new and repeat IB customers access. The areas in the five enlarged districts are:
- Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway;
- Northumbria (other than Gateshead);
- Remaining parts of Highlands, Islands, Clyde Coast & Grampian;
- Dorset and Somerset; and
- Sheffield.
Providers will start delivering the Pathways service to customers in fifteen Jobcentre Plus districts in October 2007. The fifteen districts are:
- Greater Manchester East & West;
- Cardiff & Vale/South East Wales;
- Forth Valley, Fife, Tayside;
- North Wales & Powys;
- Black Country;
- City and East London;
- Birmingham and Solihull;
- Nottinghamshire;
- West Yorkshire;
- Edinburgh, Lothian & Borders;
- Cornwall & Devon;
- Central London;
- Lincolnshire and Rutland;
- Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth; and
- Norfolk
In April 2008, providers will complete the roll-out of the Pathways service to customers in the remaining sixteen Jobcentre Plus districts so that the service is available nationally to all new and repeat IB customers. The final sixteen districts are:
- North and North East London
- Cheshire & Warrington
- West of England
- Coventry & Warwickshire
- North/East Yorkshire and The Humber
- Brent Harrow & Hillingdon West London
- Marches
- Kent
- Leicester/Northants
- South and South East London
- Cambridge and Suffolk
- Gloucestershire Wiltshire & Swindon
- Surrey & Sussex
- Hampshire & Isle of Wight
- Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire
- Berks, Bucks & Oxfordshire.
Jobcentre Plus will continue to deliver the Pathways service in the following 19 districts:
- Derbyshire
- Ayrshire, Dumfries, Galloway & Inverclyde
- Highland, Islands, Clyde Coast & Grampian
- South Wales Valleys
- Northumbria
- South Tyne & Wear Valley
- Essex
- Dorset & Somerset
- Lancashire
- Cumbria
- Glasgow
- Tees Valley
- South Yorkshire
- Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire
- Liverpool and Wirral
- Greater Manchester Central
- South West Wales
- Greater Mersey
- Staffordshire
DWP Press office: 020 7238 0749
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Public enquiries: 020 7712 2171
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk
Prepared by: the Department for Work and Pensions Work Welfare and Equality Directorate