Leech: Tailored support needed to help incapacity benefit claimants return to work.

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 31st Jan 2006

Withington Liberal Democrat MP John Leech has called for good quality, tailored support to be given to help people come off Incapacity Benefit following the Government's new welfare reform proposals announced last week.

Latest government figures show that there are some 4,400 people in Withington constituency on Incapacity Benefits, the vast majority of whom have been claiming for over two years. The number on incapacity benefits have fallen by just 400 (or 9%) since 1997.

John Leech MP said:

"When Labour came to power, they talked about about tackling the rising number of people on incapacity benefit and helping the million claimants who said they wanted to work. Eight years on virtually nothing has changed."

"Despite eight years of failure, the Government are right to try again to tackle a system which is a scandalous waste of human potential and which has condemned a million people who want to work to a lifetime on benefits.

"The sentiments set out by the Government are welcome, but it will take more than soundbites to deliver this change."

"I will be looking at the proposals in detail in order to make sure that the 4,400 incapacity benefit claimants in Withington are given good quality support, individually tailored to meet their needs. I will also be looking to make sure that are sufficient safeguards to prevent vulnerable people from being sanctioned because the system is not sophisticated enough to deal with complex conditions.

"There must also be more support to help people retain their jobs when they become ill; more support 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."

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The Welfare Reform Green Paper was published on 24th January 2006 and is available via the Department for Work and Pensions website - www.dwp.gov.uk