Hiccups for the Welfare Reform Bill

On Wednesday this week the Government's Welfare Reform Bill took a kicking in the House of Lords from crossbenchers and Labour peers.

There were three amendments that were passed AGAINST Government proposals. The Welfare Reform Bill is a huge piece of legislation and there is more of it to come. The Government are looking to cut payments of Employment Support Allowance. ESA used to be known as sickness benefit.

This is your caring-sharing coalition government, how could any of us forget - "we are all in this together."? Lady Meacher, the crossbench peer describes the proposals as "crossing the line of British decency."

ESA is a contribution-based benefit. So if you are young and disabled and haven't beeen paying in, ie too young or too disabled to work, the Government are suggesting you won't be entitled to claim ESA because you haven't been paying National Insurance contributions. So an amendment was proposed saying this was wrong and unfair and that young people should still be able to claim ESA regardless. This amendment was passed.

The Government were further proposing that you would only be able to claim ESA for one year and then be means tested as to further entitlement. An amendment was proposed that the time limit should be two years. This amendment was passed.

Under Government proposals relating to ESA, the same rules were to be applied to cancer patients. This was rejected by the Lords and cancer sufferers and stroke victims are to exempted from the time limit altogether to be means tested as to further entitlement.

ESA is subject to what are called Work Capability Assessments - this is essentially a fit-for-work test. These have long been criticised - even by those who devised them.

Here's what one woman, Chris Linacre, had to say to the Guardian when she was turned down for sickness benefits and passed fit for work, in spite of the fact she suffers long-standing spinal problems and arthritis: " I think they (the assessors) expect you to be a Beano cartoon character, complete with ouch bubbles above your head, but people tend to be stoic. I try not to labour the fact that I'm in pain. I wasn't going to tell them that some days I can't even put my knickers on I'm in so much pain." Ms Linacre is now appealing against the decision.

The Government has already said it is to continue with its plans when the bill returns to the Commons in spite of major misgivings expressed in the Lords this week. That remains to be seen as opposition to their plans is growing - people are beginning to see their plans for what they really are: cruel and attacking the rights of people who are not in a position to fight back.

The Children's Commissioner - Maggie Atkinson, has published an assessment of the impact of the Welfare Reform Bill on children's rights. This report says: "We have identified groups of children whose rights may be breached by the implementation of the Bill." The report goes on to say that "there are many areas of risks that are of real concern."

So that's what the Government's Welfare Reform Bill means to two groups of our population: the disabled and children - an attack on their living standards.