Roger has tabled
an Early Day Motion which severely criticises plans by the Department of Work
and Pensions to introduce a period of ‘mandatory reconsideration’ as an
intermediate stage for claimants who wish to appeal the decision not to award Employment
and Support Allowance, during which time ill and disabled people would receive
no money to live on.
He also tabled a
number of questions for written answer from the DWP, asking how long the mandatory
reconsideration of ESA decisions would take and if a maximum time limit for the
process would be introduced. In response, Minister of State for Employment
Esther McVey said: "There are no plans to introduce a timescale for the
completion of the mandatory
reconsideration process, however, the process will be monitored to avoid any
unnecessary delays". The DWP expects the process to take around 14 days
for straightforward cases but “the time it takes to complete will vary
depending on the circumstances of the case”.
For people who are
already living on the breadline, even two weeks without any income at all is
far too long. The only good news was that claimants who successfully appealed
would be entitled to have their award backdated, but this is yet another hurdle
that the most vulnerable have to face simply to survive.
Commenting on the
Government’s response, Roger said: “The Secretary of State for Work and
Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, is constantly on the lookout for ways to pare back
the benefits bill and shoehorn claimants into non-existent jobs regardless of
their circumstances. The introduction of a punitive sanctions regime was never
going to satisfy him in his undeclared aim to punish the ‘undeserving poor’ and
pick off the easy targets. This is a clear and unequivocal attack on the most
vulnerable, such as disabled people, who have a right to state support.”
However, Roger
believes that Iain Duncan Smith has bigger headaches on the horizon than
pinching pennies from the pockets of those unable to work. On the day of the
Autumn Statement, DWP tried to sneak under the radar news that it will miss the
deadline of getting all benefit claimants on to Universal Credit by the end of
2017. It also announce that it will have to start the IT system again from
scratch, at a cost estimated to be at least £140m of taxpayers’ hard-earned
money. Roger said: “I am happy for my taxes to support ill and disabled people
who cannot work, but I do not see why I or my constituents should pay for yet
another Government IT mess-up.”
You can read the
EDM here: www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/815
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