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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Work capability issues and ESA  →  Thread

WRAC to be reduced to 50p?

1964
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Deputy Manager, Reading Community Welfare Rights Unit

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Just seen BBC News story indicating the government is considering reducing the WRAC to a grand total of 50p (sorry- am hopeless at links). Just thought I would flag it up….

Edmund Shepherd
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Tenancy Income, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London

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I saw this. I’m not sure how it could be justified, so I’m watching curiously.

benefitsadviser
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The government have said it does not represent their policy. If they could get away with it though….

It fails to recognise the extra costs of illness and disability, but that dont matter as they will all get PIP anyway, so they dont need the extra components (sic)

I remember watching Cameron just before the last election on the Andrew Marr show.

He said “There are well over a million people on incapacity benefit in this country, and if “they” think a conservative government will allow this situation to continue then they have another thing coming”

I thought he meant he would pump billions into the NHS and cure everyone to get them back to work.

Apparently thats not what he meant unfortunately, much cheaper to just redefine everything and move goalposts

linky stuff : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29821696

[ Edited: 30 Oct 2014 at 09:17 am by benefitsadviser ]
Andrew Dutton
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The flying of a kite: a nasty, nasty kite.

From BBC Radio coverage this morning, I noted that someone somewhere is trying to imply that people who are not ill deliberately apply for ESA to get extra money. We all know that there is the assessment period, the need for a ‘fit note’ and the WCA before additional components are payable - but of course yer average punter won’t.  Well done BBC for letting this propaganda slip through unchallenged.

Dan_Manville
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benefitsadviser - 30 October 2014 09:13 AM

The government have said it does not represent their policy. If they could get away with it though….

Pre pay benefit cards weren’t their policy, nor was withdrawing HB from under 25 year olds; IDS apparently fought tooth and claw against it remember?

 

benefitsadviser
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If i told you four years ago that social tenants were being charged for having too many bedrooms, or that DLA would be scrapped, or that Crisis loans/CCgs were to be abolished, millions of JSA sanctions leading to millions using foodbanks, means testing child benefit, housing costs almost halved for homeowners, no full HB until 35 yr old under LHA, scrapping of council tax benefit, 7 days to wait before benefit entitlement and a cap on the amount of benefits people can claim there would be calls to have me sectioned!

I wont put anything past this lot….

1964
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Me neither. It has a horrible, distorted, twisted logic to it doesn’t it? As Benefitsadvisor says, ‘they’ all get PIP anyway so what need ‘they’ of additional ESA?

(And, as Andrew says, the spin will be that ‘they’ only claim ESA because of the financial advantage).

Mairi
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I was shouting at the radio about this on my way to work (I heard it a few times and it annoyed me more every time I heard it).

What the BBC were reporting was that NEW claimants of ESA would be affected by this change.  I couldn’t work out who this affected - unless they were considering raising the level of ESA to 50p per week more than JSA for those in the assessment period.  Or have I missed something and it’s already the case that NEW claimants of ESA receive £102.40 per week in the assessment phase rather than the £72.40 per week they’d receive on JSA (it was stated that claimants received £30 a week more on ESA)?

If so, my books and knowledge are out of date….....

Or do the BBC need to research their lead story a bit better?

Daphne
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My interpretation of NEW was that it would only apply forward and there would be transitional protection for existing claimants. So if it were brought in any new claimants would be on the assessment phase initially as now and then, if put in the WRAG, receive a princely 50p more as opposed to the current £28.75.

John-Paul
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Impressive.

I thought they’d actually run out of ways to kick the poorest in society. Apparently I was wrong.

Mairi
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Thanks Daphne,  seand said he’d interpreted it the same as you (and others earlier in the thread).  It fairly got my dander up at half seven in the morning - and now that it looks like it’s possibly an actual proposed change rather than just misreporting a nothing it’ll not be going down any time soon….....

Pete C
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Maybe I am becoming a touch paranoid but this morning’s news programme was talking about letters from HMRC to every taxpayer showing how their taxes were spent. The first item was ‘benefits’ which on an income of £23K was just over £1000.00 followed by the NHS at under £900.00 - if they really are going to cut the WRA component to 50p this would be a good way to prepare the ground.

BC Welfare Rights
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It could be linked in to when UC includes ESA, which would disguise the cut slightly (spun the normal way) and the LCWRA demonstrates that ‘support is given to those who need it most’. The 50p maybe hints at a Housing Costs implication or DHP type solution to the extra costs of illness and disability? IDS has talked before of abolishing the WRAG, one of his bright ideas. The threat of a rising ESA bill to the Welfare Cap gives it added impetus.

Labour might be keen too because it gives them a leg up with paying more for CB benefits than IR - keep WRAG component for CB ESA (for, say, 13 weeks) but let it go for IR, for example.

The Work Program brings freedom…just not always food or electricity.