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‘Broken’ disability benefits need total overhaul
Latest from the Social Market Foundation thinktank ... this from the Guardian -
Controversial fit-for-work tests should be abandoned and benefit sanctions scrapped for people with chronic illness or a disability, an influential government adviser has said.
The current system disability benefits is “broken” and must be comprehensively overhauled if the government is to meet its target of getting a million sick and disabled people into work, said Matthew Oakley, who is a member of the Department for Work and Pensions’ independent social security advisory committee.
After years of major changes, including the introduction of tighter benefit rules and more stringent assessments, the government should be brave enough to give up on a system that has failed disabled people, he said.
In a report for the Social Market Foundation thinktank, Oakley writes that many disabled people have been driven furtherfrom the job market by “well-intentioned” changes that have not only proved to be ineffectual but are hated and feared by vulnerable claimants.