Jul 11 2006
The government target of a one million reduction in the number of people on Incapacity Benefit (IB) within 10 years may be far too ambitious, according to an independent report.
The report shows that, based on current performance, rolling out the Government's Pathways to Work initiative across the whole country might reduce the number of IB claimants by no more than half a million, well short of the intended target.
The report's authors also explain that there would have to be significant growth in the number of jobs available if large numbers of IB claimants were to return to work rather than merely join the ranks of the unemployed or displace other jobseekers.
The study, commissioned by Scope, the national disability organisation, and led by Professor Steve Fothergill of Sheffield Hallam University, explains that Britain's 2.7 million IB claimants are disproportionately concentrated in the older industrial areas of the North, Scotland and Wales. In these parts of Britain, firms' demand for workers is still much weaker than in most parts of the South.
The report shows that to hit the Government's one million target, the reduction in IB numbers in the North, Scotland and Wales would have to be larger than the reductions in claimant unemployment that Labour has delivered since 1997. The report also shows that the Government would need to double the effectiveness of its back-to-work package.
Professor Fothergill, of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, explains, "Unless there are much stronger efforts to increase the number of jobs in the North, there seems little prospect of bringing IB numbers down by as much as one million. Men and women with health problems or impairments are rarely employers' first choice. If they are to find work they will often need help, for example with new skills, but the Government will not get very far unless there are also plenty of jobs available in the right parts of the country."
Andy Rickell, Executive Director for Diversity, Politics and Planning at Scope, adds, "We applaud the Government's aspiration to move IB claimants into work, but the policy needs to be implemented with realism and compassion. There are large numbers of IB claimants who will never find it easy to return to work, either because of discrimination or personal barriers, or because they live in areas where appropriate jobs are still hard to find. The figures in Professor Fothergill's report show why the Government should look carefully at introducing wider exemptions to the new requirement on claimants to engage in ‘return to work' activity."