| Contentious plans announced yesterday by Work and Pensions secretary John Hutton MP, which aim to save the taxpayer between £4 billion-£7 billion by clamping down on lifetime benefit claimants, have angered Dundee politicians, with the council’s Liberal Democrat finance convener Fraser Macpherson voicing fears over the threat they pose to thousands of city families.
Cllr Macpherson today called on the Government to avoid the temptation of seeking ‘easy headlines’ at the expense of benefit claimants and instead called for a clear commitment to help and support the 10,900 Dundee people he believes are existing on incapacity benefit.
According to Cllr Macpherson’s figures provided by the National Labour Market Statistics from May 2005 could see the 10,900 people receiving incapacity benefit in Dundee’s two constituencies subjected to tight sanctions, including monetary penalties for failing to attend health assessments.
The situation looks even bleaker for the most deprived areas, with figures released from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) last month highlighting that out of the UK’s 646 constituencies, Dundee West had the joint 54th highest number of people, 6900, living on incapacity benefit.
The figures revealed people claiming benefit in the city were responsible for more than 20,000 people, including claimant’s family members, living in the impoverished conditions.
“Within a year of coming to power, Labour published a Welfare Reform Green Paper, which talked about tackling the rising number of people on incapacity benefit and helping the million claimants who said they wanted to work,” he added.
“Eight years on we are in the same position.”
Cllr Macpherson said he would be looking at the proposals to make sure Dundee’s incapacity benefit claimants were given good quality support.
“I will also be looking to make sure there are sufficient safeguards to prevent vulnerable people from being sanctioned because the system is not sophisticated enough to deal with complex conditions,” he added.
“There must also be more support to help people retain their jobs when they become ill; for employers to take on disabled staff; greater use of voluntary sector expertise; and enough flexibility within the proposed new benefits so that those with fluctuating conditions are not penalised.”
Dundee East’s Nationalist MP Stewart Hosie, who said he would not support any Government sanctions on benefit claimants, echoed Cllr Macpherson’s fears.
Mr Hosie said the Government should focus on establishing the appropriate support structures to get people back to work. He said, “Documentation shows almost 50% of primary or secondary cases of claimants are suffering from some form of mental health illness.
“People claiming benefit need the right kind of help to get them back to work and that is something the Government should focus on instead of treating this as a cost-cutting measure.” |
