Incapacity benefit reforms spoiled by delay in implementation

The reform of Incapacity Benefit announced today by Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson represents a major step forward for the welfare system - but delaying full introduction of the proposals until 2008 means they will have little impact on current labour market pressures, according to Dr John Philpott, Chief Economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Dr Philpott said:
The Government is right to distinguish between the most severely disabled and claimants capable of work. The proposed Rehabilitation Support Allowance represents an ideal mechanism for providing support to people with disabilities who might return to work while providing incentives to make use of that support.

There will be understandable concern that the reform package ípunishesí disabled people. But the cost and waste associated with the current incapacity benefit system, and the obvious reality that at least 1 in 3 claimants could work, means that it is those who oppose reform that do the greatest disservice to the disabled jobless.

The new package will help alleviate welfare dependency and bring more people into a labour market starved of people willing and able to work. And it will put pressure on employers to change their working practices to accommodate people with disabilities, people who at present lose out to those easier to recruit and deal with, such as immigrant workers.

Given the slow pace of reform the government is open to the charge that it is íall talk and no actioní on this issue. However, Mr Johnson appears to be a minister who knows how to combine tough rhetoric with what is practical. His reform package makes sticks sound like carrots - which is precisely how ítough loveí welfare reform should be presented. The disabled jobless need to be convinced that work makes best sense for them, by highlighting what they can do to help themselves.

The only obvious downside to the reform package is that the new measures will not be fully operational until 2008. This is too long a delay - it means that the reforms will be slow to reduce welfare dependency and make no difference to employers desperate to fill job vacancies today.