Post by nickd on Jan 11, 2012 21:33:01 GMT 1
Lord Freud is unlikely to be feeling too pleased this evening
Things will get worse in the morning when he has to go and tell George Osborne what's gone wrong
Tonight social welfare campaigners are justified in sensing a victory as the coalition's plans for drastic welfare reform took a bit of a hammering. There's still a lot more campaigning needed as other parts of the bill remain fundamentally flawed. Government was defeated in the House of Lords over three parts of the welfare reform bill, the three areas in which government has been knocked back are (1) in protecting young claimants to a contribution based entitlement (2) controversial Employment & Support Allowance was going to be limited to a maximum of one year for contribution based claims but the lords voted for two years instead and finally (3) cancer sufferers have been protected from some of the restrictions imposed upon other claimant groups.
The opposition in the Lords is definitely a step in the right direction, but more amendments are needed before this becomes a bill which satisfies those that it is intended to protect.
Lord Freud will be presenting George Osborne with something of a headache when the inevitable post mortem takes place as to what went wrong. Government continually reminds us how it has no money, each element of these reforms has been carefully worked out to deliver substantial cash savings on the benefit spending figures. Government is now going to have to recalculate its figures. Osborne originally hoped to shave around £2 billion pounds off the benefit bill per year year with the implementation of some of this particular raft of reforms (the £2 billion is part of a much greater 'projected' savings figure). The figures were originally announced in the October 2010 Comprehensive Spending Reviews, but went on to be reworked in subsequent impact assessments. It's fair to say government has been far from consistent on any of its projected savings and this latest knock-back will mean Osborne has to get his calculator out and do some drastic re-working.
The danger is that government could ramp up their efforts even further in reducing a greater number of claimants still on incapacity benefit and ensure they get pushed on to the much cheaper Jobseeker's Allowance. A drop in savings brought about the Lords changes tonight will almost certainly mean Osborne will be asking the DWP to make savings elsewhere.
Whichever way you look at it Osborne has got an almighty headache as he struggles to find the savings he's effectively lost as the Lords voted with a conscience tonight. I'll bet you any money we see a renewed vigour as the DWP are targeted to get more people off other benefits and back to work; - work which seems to be distinctly thin on the ground as our economy struggles to show any appreciable sign of economic growth.
It could mean we see even more appeals as we see people take on the state in tribunals which are currently working flat out to process cases. The other side to this is Osborne now has even less money to pay the Work contractors who'll be queuing up at some stage to get their 'payment by result'. Quite how he'll find the money and quite how the contractors will get the results remains to be seen.
Oh and as the carnage continues. let's not forget the other debate still going on in the Lords tonight; - sooner or later they'll be voting over whether to remove all legal aid for anyone with a welfare benefit problem. For goodness sake, let's see some common sense and see the crazy social welfare legal aid reforms well and truly relegated to the bin!
Reference sources
I made fair mention over these savings on the welfare reform car crash post last summer. You can revisit them at post 49 (on pages 2 and 3) using the following link (takes you to page 3)...
mylegal.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=frontline&action=display&thread=405&page=3
Another useful source is to be found at fullfact.org here..
fullfact.org/factcheck/400,000_loose_disability_benefits-2996
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More on how Government was defeated tonight in the following BBC press release...
"Government suffers Lords defeats over welfare cuts"
"The government has lost three votes in the House of Lords over its plans to cut the welfare bill."
Peers voted by 260 to 216 to protect up to 15,000 young disabled people from cuts to employment support allowance.
They voted 234 to 186 for a two-year limit on claims, rather than the proposed one year, and by 222 to 166 to exempt cancer sufferers from a limit.
Employment support allowance (ESA) has replaced incapacity benefit.
Ministers also suffered a defeat last month over elements of their plans to overhaul housing benefit.
As part of their drive to cut spending on welfare, the government wants to remove the so-called "youth provision" that allows some young people to receive contributory employment and support allowance (ESA) even though - due to disability or illness - they have not been able to work and build up National Insurance.
Opponents of the coalition's plans said they would mean disabled children who could never work would never be entitled to the benefit.
Baroness Meacher
Welfare Minister Lord Freud said it was unfair for a young person to continue to get a contributory benefit without having "paid in" - even if they were to inherit a lot of money.
He estimated that 90% of those affected by the change would still get the income-related part of ESA.
But peers, led by crossbencher Baroness Meacher, argued it would have a "devastating" effect on young people with disabilities or long-term illnesses, depriving them of £25 a week.
She told the Lords: "These young people have conditions so severe that they are entitled to be supported.
See link to story...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16515414
The battle goes on; - the car crash continues
