Recently the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) commissioned a survey looking at what people thought about the benefits system and the amounts of money that various groups received. Seven workshops were held with 21 people in each who were then asked a range of searching questions about the benefits system and the groups that ought to be given special attention.
Such a small group cannot be regarded as representative and the results should be regarded with some suspicion as the exercise was initiated and funded by the DWP but some of the consensus views are heartening for those of us who have been advocating a better deal for disabled people and their carers. 70% of participants felt that unemployed disabled people should be paid more money than they are now. Only 4% felt that disabled people should be paid less than they are now.
Given the extent of disability poverty in the UK (as reported in the Leonard Cheshire Review ) this finding adds to the case for a substantial across the board increase of disability benefits. Participants also felt that benefits for disabled people should cover their wants (such as social activities and holidays) as well as their needs. The report quotes a number of participants on this subject:
- "Disabled people who can't work are just living on the bare minimum. It's not right. They're not choosing to live like that - it's not their fault. They need more so they can pay for some treats. It's about quality of life."
- "The chance to participate in society has been taken away from them. Government needs to recognise this.
- "The extra money could be used for taxis, swimming, going to the pub.... it's their only way of interacting with people. If you take away that then they may as well not exist".
With regard to carers, 88% per cent of participants felt that carers should be paid more and expressed surprise that the level of Carers' Allowance is set at a level below that of either Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Incapacity Benefit (IB). They felt that carers are at least as deserving as those receiving IB or JSA and that they are saving the government money by providing care that would otherwise have to be provided by the state. It was felt that state-funded respite care should be provided so that carers can have (as a minimum) the holiday entitlement that employers provide to their employees.
Participants felt that both Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Carers' Allowance (CA) should be increased, DLA to reflect more adequately the costs of having a disability and CA to compensate for loss of future earnings and to compensate for work that otherwise would need to be done by the state. It appears that they weren't asked about Attendance Allowance that is the disability benefit for those over pensionable age.
Participants were also asked to rank those welfare recipients deemed to be "deserving". Unsurprisingly, the most deserving were considered to be the disabled and carers. The report states that people's views very much reflected the John Rawls' view that "social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least advantaged members of society".
None of these clear and unequivocal findings are mentioned in the survey's concluding chapter "Considerations for the DWP", instead we have presented a statement of support for the use of sanctions and workfare together with the advocacy of a broad range of training and other measures to get people back into work.
No doubt the government will use this survey to further justify the extension of sanctions and the deployment of workfare schemes. What it should be doing is raising disability and carer benefits across the board and removing the use of sanctions from Employment and Support Allowance.
This article was take from the BenefitsNow 12th newsletter 22/02/2009
Benefitsnow February 2009 Newsletter
Hello,
This is our twelfth newsletter which aims to bring news stories of interest to people with disabilities and their carers. We hope you find the information below to be useful. If you have any comments please e-mail john@benefitsnowshop.co.uk .
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