APPENDIX 29
Memorandum submitted by the Hounslow Welfare
Benefits and
Money Advice Unit (EDP 40)
1. Hounslow Welfare Benefits and Money Advice
Unit is part of the Chief Executives Directorate of the local
authority. We act as a second tier advice unit providing representation
for people with complex benefit needs and those with debts especially
where they are at risk of losing their home due to rent or mortgage
arrears. Additionally we provide telephone advice to the public
and to staff working in Hounslow; training; benefit and tax credit
campaigns; leaflets and information. We also have a social policy
remit and contribute to debates and consultations on the range
of issues impacting on our client group. To achieve this, we maintain
close working links with both local authority staff and community-based
organisations.
Drawing on this background, we wish to make
some brief comments for consideration during your inquiry. We
have also spoken to an established local organization—Leaders
Employment—who have a job broker contract for the New Deal
for Disabled People and who are an arm of Hounslow Social Services
Department.
2. DISABILITY
EMPLOYMENT ADVISERS:
We have raised concerns about the level of resourcing
and training for DEA's within the national BA/DWP forums. Their
role is quite critical in relation to successful and appropriate
preparation and placing of people with chronic health conditions
and disabilities. They also need to be ensuring that local employers
maximise job opportunities for disabled employees including provision
of information on Access to Work. Our concerns are:—
— The inadequacy in the numbers of
DEAs within Jobcentre settings especially in terms of the drive
to persuade more disabled people that work is a viable option
and the New Deal for Disabled People programme. In London Borough
of Hounslow, we have only two DEA's to cover the three Jobcentres.
This underprovision means that the disabled jobseeker is more
likely to be seen by a generalist Jobcentre adviser rather than
a trained and qualified DEA aware of the range of disability needs
and provision.
— We use the term "trained and
qualified DEA". However, our concern is that this may not
generally be the case. We understand that the restructuring around
Jobcentre Plus means that there has been a greater degree of staff
movement than will be the case when the service is more established.
Advisers do not gain the impression that there is a rigorous training
programme for DEA staff which should include disability awareness/understanding
of impact on social security benefits on moving into work/employment
training information. Even to signpost on incapacity benefits
to in-work information requires more knowledge than many DEAs
appear to have. This doesn't diminish the enthusiasm and commitment
to their client group displayed by many DEAs. However, disabled
people looking at returning to work do need benefit/tax credit
information to make a fully informed decision. For example, more
knowledge is needed on Disability Living Allowance entitlement
as an in/out work benefit and the likelihood of this being reviewed
when there is a change of circumstances such as starting work
or a training course—even starting therapeutic work. This
can cause disruption to the disabled person and often results
in them having to turn to an advice organisation to regain their
Disability Living Allowance.
— We also believe that there should
be much greater "marketing" of DEA services within the
local community as well as with employers/employees. However,
this would be contingent on adequate provision of DEAs within
the Jobcentre Plus service.
3. ACCESS TO
WORK
There will be other organisations providing
submissions who will be better placed to comment in greater detail
on this part of the Jobcentre Plus service.
— However, we would suggest that—as
with the DEA service—it too would benefit from a higher
profile amongst potential users whether currently in work or considering
a return to work from being on incapacity or disability related
benefits.
— It is questionable as to the level
of awareness by human resources staff as to the Access to Work
scheme. Better marketing is required for employers so they know
the scope and availability of the scheme.
— Employers should also be encouraged
to look at whether corporate management of Access to Work applications
would make access to and implementation of this support easier
for individual staff to use it. It does seem to be left up to
individuals to make their own arrangements and they may not feel
sufficiently secure and empowered within their employing organization
to do so.
— The Travel to/in Work assistance
is an important element of the scheme. However, the current mechanism
whereby the individual incurs the costs and then has to wait for
reimbursement, can be quite a burden on what may be a relatively
low income employee. This arrangement mechanism needs to be reconsidered.
4. NEW DEAL
FOR DISABLED
PEOPLE
We have discussed with Leaders Employment their
experience of being job brokers as part of the New Deal for Disabled
People. As we said, they are a long established arm of Hounslow
Social Services Department with a remit of providing into work
preparation and assistance for people with learning disabilities
and mental health needs. They are a Charter Mark organisation.
Since September 2001 they have had a total of 105 people registered
through the NDDP with 10 currently in full time work and seven
on a part time option (eight hours +). Their comments on the NDDP
scheme are:—
— There is a lack of publicity/awareness
about the NDDP and employers need much more information about
the programme.
— The Jobcentre Plus extranet website
which job brokers and others working with the NDDP would use suffers
from lack of regular updating. This reduces its effectiveness
as a tool.
— The DEAs are overburdened and suffer
from a lack of benefit knowledge and knowledge of financial help.
— There are not enough job opportunities
for Leaders locally to place their main client group (people with
a history of mental illness).
— There needs to be a more realistic
timescale than the current one of 12 weeks from initial meeting
between client/job broker and getting that person into paid work.
This is tight even for the relatively job-ready and too tight
for their main client group.
— There need to be more milestone opportunities
within the NDDP rather than the existing limitation.
— More thought needs to be given to
reassuring the NDDP client group about the bridges between benefit
and work and the return to this if work fails as an option. (Leaders
has set up work focused groups to try and provide this information
to their users. They also stressed—as would most advisers—that
Disability Living Allowance plays an important role for people
moving from incapacity based support into work as it gives them
a sense of financial security.
5. TAX CREDITS
AND BENEFITS
Our final comments are reserved for tax credits
and benefits.
— We don't know what the impact of
the new working tax credit will be upon encouraging more disabled
people back into work. We are moving from a six monthly award
to an annual tax year basis.
— Although the new working tax credit
for disabled people will be a little more generous than WFTC,
it remains targeted at a very low income range. It does not really
offer much to those disabled people with professional and specialist
backgrounds who have to accept much lower incomes with no recognition
of their previous earning power reflected in the tax credits.
— The threshold of 16 hours to trigger
entitlement to the DPTC/WTC also presents a barrier to getting
more disabled people into work. We would suggest that there should
be a lower threshold say of six-eight hours which would bring
in more people and achieve the Governments aim of experiencing
life in paid work again rather than on benefits alone. This would
assist those who could not sustain work of 16 hours minimum due
to the nature of their disability/illness but who may find it
financially viable to work if they have an earning partner or
are professional self employed with higher earning but low hours
potential.
— We remain concerned as to the usefulness
to disabled people and potential employers of the time limited
permitted work rules. The impact of this is not likely to be obvious
until the transitional rules move pre-existing therapeutic earnings
customers into the new system and we can see how many disabled
people abandon the attempt to keep themselves in the job market—albeit
in a limited way.
— Disability Living Allowance—or
the operation of this—is also problematic for disabled people
trying to move off benefit and into work. This is because a change
of circumstances such as this will often lead to the person's
Disability Living Allowance being reviewed and often removed or
reduced—even though their disability needs have not altered.
Our Unit conducts a large number of Disability Living Allowance
appeals where they have been altered on review and has a significant
success rate in presenting the evidence which enables the disabled
person to regain their Disability Living Allowance. There is a
need for better training of staff who assess Disability Living
Allowance claims and of the medical advisers they work with.
We are pleased to see ongoing initiatives from
the DWP targeted at encouraging disabled people back to work—such
as the proposed return to work credit and the extension to them
of the housing benefit run-on.
However, more resources probably need to be
committed to enable those disabled people who may gain socially—if
not too much financially—to have genuine opportunities of
returning to some level of paid work. At the moment there is probably
more rhetoric than adequate resourcing if more disabled people
are to feel welcomed and secure in trying the world of paid work.
Legislation as well as marketing and persuasion may be needed
for the employers as without their cooperation, success is likely
to be limited.
We hope that our comments will assist the committee.
Theresa Rowe
Senior Adviser
January 2003
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