The promise of the British government of 1 billion additional sterling pounds to help people with disabilities at work is not equaled by new treasure money, casting a doubt about the ability of ministers to issue social protection reforms that attack other priorities such as unemployment of young people.
The ministers have supervised unpopular Reduction of disease and disability benefits As a “moral mission” to help people do work rather than to record them in a life on the advantages.
They say that by 2029-30, there will be 1 billion pounds sterling of new funds per year to guarantee support for all the services of applicants with a state of health who wish to help enter or return to work.
But only 400 million pounds sterling will be underway by 2028-29-last year covered by the ministerial budgets set out in the expenditure examination earlier this month. Expenditure is then supposed to jump to reach 1 billion pounds of sterling promised during the last year of Parliament.
“Our objective is to combine this new investment with the existing capacity to establish an important, clear and simple offer of support for work, health and skills to people with disabilities and people with a state of health,” the Ministry of Labor and Pensions said in its evaluation of government reforms.
But the overall DWP budget for the daily operation of the social protection system will only increase 0.4% per year in real terms in the three years when it aims to deploy this additional support – and will not develop at all on a basis per capita after having taken into account the growth of the British population.
“The revolution in employment support … has promised to sweeten the reductions in net disability benefits will now have to be funded from daily budgets essentially frozen by person,” noted analysts of the Resolution Foundation reflection group.
Thursday, Vicky Foxcroft MP resigned as a work whip To protest the government's plans to reduce disability benefits. She said that the fight against the rise in social protection “could and should be done by supporting more people with disabilities at work” rather than reducing advantages.
More than 100 labor deputies have expressed their concerns about reforms, although it is not clear how many people will vote against the bill next month.
DWP has not yet stated which form will take its new professional support. In the fall, he hoped to persuade the fiscal responsibility office that the new support will lead to big job gains, which gives billions of well-being savings and wider advantages to society.
OBR officials are skeptical about the big gains in return to work programs and said in March that they could not cost the proposals without further details.
“The past experience is that it is quite difficult to obtain very large results from employment support programs,” said Tom Josephs, a member of the OBR budget liability committee, deputies earlier this year.
Meanwhile, analysts claim that commitment to additional support for those who suffer from health problems will limit DWP's ability to combat other priorities – in particular its “youth guarantee” for help for 18 to 21 years to access learning, training and support for work.
“I think other things will be in a hurry,” said Stephen Evans, director general of the Reflection Group on Learning & Work Institute, adding that support for long -term unemployed and the funding of the youth guarantee could be at risk.
The DWP refused to say if other services would be reduced to respect the engagement of 1 billion pounds sterling. He said that efficiency gains would allow him to “prioritize funding for employment support”.
The department currently spends 275 million pounds sterling per year in professional assistance for patients and disabled. An increase of 1 billion pounds sterling would consume a tenth of its global daily expenses in terms of services and almost a third of its expenses in support of employment – which should reach 3.5 billion sterling books by 2028-2010.
DWP has refused to say how much it spends at present, or if support for other groups would be reduced in order to respect the engagement of 1 billion pounds sterling. He said that the efficiency gains would allow him to “prioritize funding for employment support” and that eight local youth guarantee pilots, funded with 45 million pounds Sterling during their first year, would continue.
The DWP said it was “determined to create a social protection system that supports people at work and poverty”.
