Session 2015-16
Welfare Reform and Work Bill
Written evidence submitted by Scope (WRW 19)
1. About Scope:
Scope is a UK wide, pan-disability charity. Scope exists to make this country a place where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. Until then, we’ll be here. We provide support, information and advice to more than a quarter of a million disabled people and their families every year. We raise awareness of the issues that matter.
Scope is a member of the Disability Charity Consortium (DCC) and the Disability Benefit Consortium (DBC).
2. Summary:
Reporting on halving disability employment gap
2.1. Scope warmly welcomes the Government’s bold and ambitious manifesto commitment to halving the disability employment gap, directly taking forward Scope’s policy recommendation. [1]
The Work and Welfare Reform Bill contains measures to support the Government’s ambition of full employment. Halving the gap between the disability employment rate and the employment rate of non-disabled people is essential to achieving the Government’s broader aim of full employment.
2.2. Scope therefore believes that the Bill should include a requirement for reporting on progress made towards halving the disability employment gap in the context of full employment. It is critical that the reporting duty included in the Bill (Clause 1) is extended to include the progress made towards halving the disability employment gap.
Reduction of ESA WRAG Component
2.3. Scope opposes the proposed reduction in support provided to disabled people through the Employment and Support Allowance Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) set out in Clause 13. Disabled people placed in ESA WRAG have been found ‘unfit for work’ by the independent Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The proposed change will not incentivise disabled people to find work.
Specialist disability employment support
2.4. It is crucial that the Welfare Reform and Work Bill includes a commitment to improved specialist employment support for disabled people. This should be included in a New Clause after Clause 13.
Triple locking of DLA/PIP
2.5. Scope welcomes the recognition contained in the Bill of the importance of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in meeting the extra costs of disability. Scope believes it’s critical the Government builds on this commitment by triple locking the payments so that their value rises by the higher of CPI inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent (Clause 7 and introduce a New Clause after 15).
3. Clause 1 - Full Employment: reporting obligation:
3.1. Clause 1 of the Bill introduces a reporting requirement on the Government’s progress towards achieving full employment. This is welcome and will ensure that both politicians and the public can be kept informed as to the progress towards this target. [2] It is important that this reporting is extended to include the progress made towards halving the disability employment gap in the context of full employment.
3.2. The current disability employment rate is 48 per cent. [3] The gap between disabled people’s employment rate and the rest of the population remains static at around 30 per cent, and has remained stagnant for over a decade. It now sits at 31.5 per cent. [4]
3.3. The commitment to halve this gap has the potential to positively transform the role that disabled people can play in the workplace and in the country’s economic growth. Disabled people are already part of this picture; 3.7 million disabled people work in the UK [5] and nine out of ten disabled people are in work or have worked in the past. [6] Furthermore, research for Scope shows that a 10 percentage point increase in the disability employment would increase GDP by £45 billion by 2030. [7]
3.4 With the overall rate of unemployment falling, it is more likely that people will be out of work as a result of structural or societal barriers than as result of lack of labour market demand. Scope analysis of the Labour Force Survey indicates that between July - September 2011, 18.5 per cent of the total number of unemployed people were disabled people. The latest statistics from April – June 2015 indicate that disabled people now make up 26 per cent of the total number of unemployed people. [8]
3.5. Reporting annually on the progress being made towards halving the disability employment gap will greatly help to deliver this vital Government priority.
Suggested amendment to Clause 1 which will introduce reporting of progress towards halving the disability employment gap:
Full employment: disability employment reporting information At Clause 1, page 1, line 6 insert
(1A)
(1) The Secretary of State must, in the report laid before Parliament under Section (1) above, set out the progress which has been made towards halving the gap between the rates of employment of disabled and non-disabled people.
(2) (a) This report must set out how the Secretary of State has interpreted "halving the disability employment gap" and progress against this objective.
(b) In this report the Secretary of State must consider if progress has been sufficient and set out the factors which have been used in determining whether progress has been sufficient. These factors must include both the extent to which the gap has been reduced and the speed at which the gap is being reduced.
(c) The Secretary of State must, if progress under s1A(2)(b) is insufficient, set out in this report what remedial steps will be taken.
(3) (a) The Secretary of State must in this report include further information as to
(i) the overall rates of employment and
(ii) the progress of these rates of employment
In the groups of disabled people set out in section (1A)(3)(b) below.
(b) These groups of disabled people are working age people with:
(i) a learning disability
(ii) autism
(iii) mental health problems
(iv) Regulations may set out other groups of disabled people which are currently marginalised within the labour force and require a specific focus.
4. Clause 7- Benefit Cap
4.1. Many disabled people face significant extra costs relating to their impairment. [9] On average disabled people spend £550 a month on disability-related extra costs, but only receive an average of £360 a month from DLA or PIP. [10]
4.2. Extra costs impact upon disabled people’s financial resilience and make it harder to access opportunities to learn, work and participate in society, as well as save and contribute to pensions. [11]
4.3. DLA, and its replacement PIP, were introduced to cover the extra costs of disability. Scope welcomes the commitment from the Chancellor in the Summer Budget 2015 to protect DLA and PIP from taxation and means-testing. [12] This follows the Prime Minister’s recognition of the importance of PIP in calling for the payment to be ‘safeguarded’ and ‘enhanced.’ [13]
4.4. The Chancellor announced in the Autumn Statement 2014 that total welfare spending will be capped at £119.7 billion (with the exemption of the state pension and automatic stabilisers) within Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). [14] Unlike other types of social security such as tax credits and Housing Benefit, spending on DLA and PIP is not dictated by changes in the employment rate or the economy. As such, there is a risk that the cap could be breached by spending elsewhere on social security.
4.5. Scope recommends that DLA and PIP are protected within the cap on AME, by either removing them from the cap or ring-fencing them within it.
5. Clause 8 – Review of benefit cap
5.1. The Government has recognised the significant role that DLA and PIP play in supporting disabled people to build their financial resilience by exempting these payments from the Benefit Cap. [15] It is essential that these extra costs payments continue to be protected in any future reviews of the Cap.
6. Clause 13 – Employment and support allowance: work related activity component
6.1. Scope opposes the reduction in support provided to disabled people in the ESA Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) as set out in Clause 13 of the Bill. [16] Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) supports disabled people who have been found ‘unfit for work’ by the independent Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Scope is concerned that reducing the financial support available for disabled people on ESA WRAG will serve as a barrier, rather than incentive, to entering the workplace.
6.2. The proposed changes to Employment and Support Allowance will disincentivise disabled people from finding work:
Despite the arguments set out within the Impact Assessment of the Bill, there is no evidence to show that reducing the rate of support to disabled people in ESA WRAG will incentivise disabled people. [17]
Reducing the financial support available through the WRAG will create a bigger distinction between the support received by JSA claimants and those placed on the ESA Support Group. This will create a greater incentive for claimants to want to be placed on the ESA Support Group [18] . Given the limited support available to disabled people in the Support Group, this will have the effect of moving people further away from the workplace.
Furthermore, it will act as a disincentive for disabled people in the ESA Support Group to seek employment. Claimants are likely to be concerned that should they subsequently fall out of work they will be re-assessed and placed in the WRAG, which would represent a significant drop in their income.
6.3. Disabled people take longer to get back into work and the reduction will mean disabled people on ESA WRAG will have very low incomes for a long period of time:
Disabled people trying to find, enter and stay in work face a number of barriers. This can include a lack of suitable and available jobs, poor attitudes from potential employers towards hiring disabled people, and a lack of appropriate support to enter the workplace.
Once out of the workplace, disabled people can find it much more difficult to return. 10 per cent of unemployed disabled people have been out of work for five years or more, compared with just 3 per cent of the non-disabled population. [19] Almost 60 per cent of people on JSA move off the benefit within 6 months, while almost 60 per cent of people in the WRAG need this support for at least two years. [20]
This means that disabled people are typically more likely to be out of work for a longer period of time, the reduction of the ESA WRAG component will mean that unemployed disabled people in this group are likely to have a very low income for a long period of time.
6.4. Disabled people have fewer savings and assets than non-disabled people and have less financial resilience to deal with long periods of time with very low income. This is likely to place them further from the work place:
Disabled people have lower financial resilience than non-disabled people.
Disabled people possess an average of £108,000 fewer savings and assets than non-disabled people [21] . Households containing a disabled person are twice (16 per cent) as likely as households without a disabled member (8 per cent) to have unsecured debt totalling more than half their household income [22] .
Scope has significant concern reducing the financial support available for disabled people on the ESA WRAG will have a significant detrimental impact on their financial wellbeing.
Unemployed disabled people are already less likely to be financially resilient as a result of being out of work for longer. Finding and entering work costs money - from transport to the interview, to paying for an internet connection, through to check job search websites to appropriate work clothing. Reducing the amount of money available to disabled people to meet these costs will create an additional and unnecessary barrier to work.
6.5. The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) doesn’t accurately determine the support disabled people need:
As the WCA doesn’t assess employment support needs, the level of financial support a disabled person receives also determines the employment support they receive. This is unhelpful because these two things are not related.
The WCA is too medically-focused and does not relate to disabled people’s experience of trying to find work. Evidence from Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) [23] and official reviews [24] have all highlighted the inaccuracies of the assessment.
Given the inaccuracies of the WCA, and the high level of appeal rates [25] it is likely that disabled people who should be placed in the Support Group will be placed in the WRAG. This will result in them being subject not only to inappropriate sanctions but also a lower level of financial support. This will almost certainly increase the number of appeals against WCA decisions and create further pressure on the backlog of assessments.
Suggested amendment:
‘Page 14, line 1, leave out Clause 13’
7. New Clause after Clause 13 – Specialist Employment Support
7.1. Disabled people face a range of barriers entering and staying in work. The Government must bring forward detailed plans for the development of improved employment support for disabled people in order to achieve its aim of halving the disability employment gap.
7.2. In his Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Government will provide new funding for additional support to help claimants return to work. [26] It is essential that this investment is used to develop specialist employment support.
7.3. Scope proposes a new Clause which calls for investment in personalised, tailored employment support that effectively enables disabled people to get and stay in work.
7.4. Current back-to-work support for disabled people is ineffective. Job outcomes for disabled people on the Work Programme are low at only 8.7 percent for new ESA customers, and 4.3 percent for other ESA/Incapacity Benefit customers. [27]
7.5. Future employment support provision should take in to account the systematic and structural barriers disabled face in entering and staying work. Ensuring that all disabled people have access to specialist employment support will be vital in achieving the Government’s commitment to halving the disability employment gap.
7.6. Specialist providers have the expertise and ability to respond directly to specific barriers to work that disabled people experience. Examples of the services that specialist providers can deliver include:
- peer-to-peer sessions;
- interview and CV preparation;
- support focused around managing specific impairments and conditions within the workplace.
Smaller providers embedded in the community may also find it easier to informally link up public services for disabled people and reflect local labour markets than larger national prime providers. Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) are particularly well placed to do this as they have the lived experience and expertise to implement the most relevant form of support.
7.7 Work Choice - the Government’s specialist disability employment support programme - demonstrates many of these qualities, delivering voluntary, personalised and flexible support which takes into account all the barriers to work that a disabled person may face. However, Work Choice is small in scale and is poorly targeted to disabled people on ESA. Only 86,000 people have started Work Choice since 2010. Just 14,090 of who were ESA recipients, representing 17 per cent of referred customers. This compares to 305,000 ESA customers on the Work Programme since 2011. [28]
However, the success of Work Choice in supporting disabled people back in to work should not be ignored. With both the Work Programme and Work Choice due to end within the next two years Scope recommends that the Government builds on the success of Work Choice to create a new programme of specialist support open to all disabled people.
7.8. Scope recommends the introduction of Pilot personal budgets for employment support:
· Personal budgets for employment support services would enable disabled people to have much greater control over the type of employment support they receive.
· There is already considerable evidence showing how personal budgets could work in practice, including international examples, and the considerable lessons learnt from the introduction of personal budgets in social care. [29] [30]
Specialist back to work support (New Clause)
Page 14, line 23 to insert a new clause
XXClause: Personalised and Specialist Employment Support
(1) The Secretary of State must make provision for additional personalised and specialist employment support in connection with (1)–(3)
(2) The forms of personalised and specialist employment support may be specified in guidance
(3) (a) The Secretary of State may make provision under subsection (1) to cities and local areas seeking to improve local disability employment rates
(b) Provision for this must be set out in guidance.
(4) The Secretary of State must issue guidance to support the shaping of a market amongst suppliers and with the purpose of encouraging diversity amongst suppliers in terms of expertise, size, locality and encouraging both profit and not-for-profit organisations.
8. New Clause after Clause 15 – Triple locking extra costs payments
8.1. It is critical that the Government builds on the commitment to enhance the value of PIP with a triple lock, so that the value of this payment rises by the higher of CPI inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent, similar to the basic state pension. [31] Scope is therefore calling for the introduction of a new Clause 16 within the Bill to this effect.
8.2. DLA and PIP are currently uprated by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is based on a basket of general consumer goods and services and is therefore discordant with the extra costs which these payments are intended to offset, as these are often for expensive, specialised items, e.g. a mobility scooter. Disabled people also use their DLA or PIP to pay for a number of costly services - Demos survey data showed disabled people spend an average of nearly £65 a month on household tasks, and over £40 a month on therapy. [32]
8.3. A triple lock on PIP is therefore more likely to be aligned with the value of these goods and services because it provides a wider range of inflation measures.
8.4. Protecting and enhancing the value of PIP through a triple lock would have a major beneficial impact in supporting disabled people to meet disability-related costs more effectively and establish a stronger sense of financial stability. This will enable individuals to overcome financial barriers to accessing employment, pay more into savings and pensions and exert consumer spending power. This is essential to raising the living standards of a growing disabled population, a key element to establishing a thriving economy.
At page 14 paragraph 44 of the Bill, insert:
16. Annual Uprating of Personal Independence Payment
(1) Part 4 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Personal Independence Payment) is amended as follows
(2) After section 87 insert
Section 87A: Annual Uprating of Personal Independence Payment
(1) The Secretary of State shall in each tax year review the effect on the value of the amount referred in section 77 subsection 1 if it is increased by each of
a. The percentage increase in the general level of earnings at the end of the period
b. The percentage increase in the general level of prices for goods and services, as measured by the Consumer Price Index or by any measurement formally replacing the Consumer Price Index
c. 2.5 per cent
(2) The Secretary of State shall following this review in the same tax year lay before Parliament a draft order which increases the value of the amount referred to in section 77 subsection 1 by the greatest of the three amounts calculated under section 1 subsections (a)-(c) above.
(3) The review and order in subsections (1) – (2) above will include all components and levels of the award referred to in section 77 subsection 1.
September 2015
Annex
Key Statistics:
· There are nearly 12 million disabled people in the UK, and more than 6 million are of working age. 3.7 million disabled people work in the UK. [33]
· Nine out of ten disabled people are in work or have worked in the past. [34]
· The gap between disabled people’s employment rate and the rest of the population has remained largely static, at around 30 per cent. [35]
· A 10 percentage point increase in the disability employment would increase GDP by £45 billion by 2030. [36]
· A 10 percentage point increase in the disability employment rate would also result in a £12 billion gain to the Exchequer. [37]
· A 5 or 10 point rise in the disability employment rate would reduce absolute poverty by either two or three percentage points, and relative poverty by either two or three percentage points, and relative poverty by three or five points. [38]
· Once out of work, disabled people face considerable barriers to returning: 10 per cent of unemployed disabled people have been out of work for five years or more, compared with just 3 per cent of the non-disabled population. [39]
· Disabled people spend on average £550 a month on costs associated with their disability. [1] DLA/PIP currently covers around £360 of these costs.
· On average, disabled people have £108,000 fewer savings and assets than non-disabled people, and are three times more likely to draw on doorstep loans. [2] Forty-nine per cent of disabled people use credit cards or loans to pay for everyday items including clothing and food. [3] This all serves to undermine financial security and reduce the ability to save or build financial resilience, leading to debt and poverty.
· 386,000 (21 per cent) of DLA claimants are in work [4] and 36,990 (2.7 per cent) of Jobseekers Allowance claimants who are actively seeking work claim DLA. [5]
· A survey of over 1,000 disabled people has found that over half of DLA claimants in work said they would not be able to work without it. [6] This means that nearly 200,000 people need DLA to get to work. [7]
· There are 54,500 working age DLA recipients in full-time or part-time education. [8]
Additional recommendations to support legislation:
Improve flexible working opportunities for disabled people:
· Reducing the number of people unnecessarily leaving the labour market is an important part of increasing the employment rate amongst disabled people.
· Alongside employer attitudes, flexible working is critical for many disabled people to remain in work: 48 per cent of disabled people who responded to a Scope survey said they would benefit from modified hours in the workplace. [9]
· Scope is calling for the introduction of flexible adjustment leave which would give disabled people the option of part time sickness absence when adjusting to changes, or fluctuations, in their conditions. Flexible adjustment leave would also mean employers are able retain the networks and experience of staff.
Employment support measures at local level:
· Local areas are being given greater control and say over their growth and employment strategies through the development of City Growth Deals, the introduction of Local Enterprise Partnerships, legislation currently going through Parliament on cities and local government devolution and the recent Greater Manchester combined authority devolution agreement.
· National and local government should use existing and future devolution initiatives to ensure that local employment support measures are put in place to connect disabled people with local job markets and growth.
Reform of the WCA:
· The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is the gateway to employment support services, making it an essential first step in ensuring that disabled people receive the right support to return to work.
· The WCA is too medically-focused and does not relate to disabled people’s experience of trying to find work. Evidence from Disabled People’s Organisations [10] and official reviews [11] have all highlighted the inaccuracies of the assessment. The WCA and does not look at the wider factors – such as skills – which determine prospects of obtaining and sustaining work. The outcomes of the assessment do not currently help to determine the package of support which someone receives.
· Scope recommends transforming the WCA into a passport for support. The assessment should consider social, educational and environmental factors and determine "distance from" work rather than consider capability on a "yes or no" basis. One outcome of the Assessment should be a decision about the overall package of back-to-work support which an individual would receive. Assessing obstacles to work at the same time as support needs would encourage greater join up between the identification of barriers to work and the implementation of support.
For further information on Scope’s policy recommendations, please see:
Enabling Work: disabled people, employment and the UK economy
http://www.scope.org.uk/publications/enabling-work
A M illion Futures: H alving the disability employment gap http://www.scope.org.uk/publications/million-futures
Priced Out: Ending the financial penalty of disability by 2020 http://www.scope.org.uk/Scope/media/Images/Publication%20Directory/Priced-out.pdf
[1] Scope (2014) A Million Futures http://www.scope.org.uk/publications/million-futures
[2] Welfare Reform and Work Bill (2015): http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2015-2016/0051/cbill_2015-20160051_en_2.htm
[3] Scope analysis ONS (August 2015) Labour Force Survey. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/august-2015/table-a08.xls
[4] Ibid.
[5] Scope analysis ONS (August 2015) Labour Force Survey. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/august-2015/table-a08.xls
[6] Office for Disability Issues, 2012/13
[7] Gulliford, Jenny. (2015), Enabling work: disabled people, employment and the UK economy. Landman Economics, commissioned by Scope as part of the Enabling Work report, used the government’s Family Resources Survey to model the economic impact of increasing the disability employment rate, as the most appropriate data set for this model. The rest of the statistics in this submission are based on a different government dataset - the Labour Force Survey. This measures income differently than the Family Resources Survey, therefore, its findings cannot be used to carry out a similar economic analysis.
[8] July- September 2011: 502,000 unemployed disabled people [All people with a long-term health problem or disability] and 2,206,000 unemployed non-disabled people. April- June 2015: 470,000 unemployed disabled people [Classified as Equality Act core disabled and/or work-limiting disabled only] and 1,311,000 unemployed non-disabled people. Whilst definition of disability used by the Labour Force Survey has changed over this period, the figures are the most reliable available. Source: Scope analysis of Labour Force Survey (2015).
[9] For details on specific types of extra costs see: Scope (2014) Priced Out, pg. 8-9: www.scope.org.uk/publications/priced-out
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] HM Treasury (2015) Budget 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-july-2015
[13] More information can be found here: https://www.politicshome.com/economy-and-work/articles/story/david-cameron-tories-will-not-undermine-disability-benefits
[14] HM Treasury (2014) Autumn Statement 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/autumn-statement-2014
[15] HM Treasury (2015) Benefit Cap: https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap
[16] Scope’s position also applies to Clause 14 of the Bill when ESA is moved into Universal Credit.
[17] Welfare Reform and Work Bill: Impact Assessment to remove the ESA Work-Related Activity Component and the UC Limited Capability for Work Element for new claims. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006B.pdf
[18] DWP Tabulation Tool - ESA http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/esa/tabtool_esa.html
[19] Scope analysis of Labour Force Survey 2012/13 contained in A Million Futures, Scope (2014) http://www.scope.org.uk/publications/million-futures
[20] Budget benefit cut ‘insulting and misguided’, Mind press release, 8 July 2015 http://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/budget-benefit-cut-insulting-and-misguided/#.Velau9JVhHw
[21] McKnight A. (2014). Disabled people’s financial histories: uncovering the disability wealth penalty, CASE paper 18.1
[22] Scope (2013). Disabled people and financial well-being - credit and debt.
[23] The People’s Review of the WCA: Further evidence, available online: http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/by-date/peoples-review-of-wca-further-evidence.html
[24] "The Review highlights areas for improvement, particularly ensuring that people are treated with dignity and respect and that communications are improved." Litchfield (2013), An Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment – Year Four: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265351/work-capability-assessment-year-4-paul-litchfield.pdf
[25] Currently there are more people waiting for the assessment or appealing the decision (over 514,000 as of February this year) than in the Work Related Activity Group (483,000)DWP Employment and Support Allowance Caseload (Thousands) : Phase of ESA claim by IB reassessment claim http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/esa/esa_phase/ib_mig/a_carate_r_esa_phase_c_ib_mig_feb15.html
[26] HM Treasury (2015) Budget 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-july-2015
[27] ‘Other’ represents ex Incapacity Benefit claimants and those who have voluntarily attended ESA WRAG. Work Programme statistical summary: data to March 2015 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/436513/work-programe-statistics-to-mar-2015-v2.pdf
[28] Scope analysis of DWP (May 2015) Work Choice statistics: number of starts, referrals and job outcomes to March 2015. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-choice-statistics-number-of-starts-and-referrals--2/
[29] Scope (2014) A Million Futures http://www.scope.org.uk/publications/million-futures
[30] Tarr, A. (2011), Personalising welfare-to-work: The case for personal welfare budgets, Centre for Social Inclusion: http://cesi.org.uk/publications/personalising-welfare-work-case-personal-welfare-budgets
[31] Scope (2014) Priced Out. Scope, p.23: www.scope.org.uk/publications/priced-out
[32] Calculation using survey data from Demos (2010) Counting the Costs http://www.demos.co.uk/files/Counting_the_Cost_-_web.pdf?1292598960
[32]
[33] Scope analysis of ONS (2015), Quarterly Labour Force Survey, October – December 2014
[34] Office for Disability Issues, 2012/13
[35] Berthoud, R. (2011), Trends in the employment of disabled people in Britain: Institute of Social and Economic Research.
[36] Gulliford, Jenny. (2015), Enabling work: disabled people, employment and the UK economy. See footnote 5 for an explanation of the data sets used in this modelling.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Scope analysis of Labour Force Survey 2012/13 contained in A Million Futures, Scope (2014) http://www.scope.org . uk/publications/million-futures
[1] Scope (2014) Priced Out. Scope: www.scope.org.uk/publications/priced-out
[2] P.6 Ibid.
[3] All stats taken from ‘Priced Out: Ending the Financial Penalty of Disability by 2020 , Scope (2014)
[4] Freedom of Information request 2013-3438, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/227185/foi-3438-2013.pdf
[5] DWP Information Governance and Security: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.
[6] Disability Benefits Consortium (2013) £145m mobility cut for disabled people may cost £464m, http://disabilitybenefitsconsortium.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/click-here.pdf)
[7] 386,000 DLA claimants are in work. In a survey by the Disability Benefits Consortium over half of DLA claimants in work said they would not be able to work without it, meaning around 193 000 disabled people rely on DLA to work
[8] Scope analysis of the Family Resources Survey 2011-12. Estimates have a percentage error of +/- 5 per cent
[9] Scope Living Standards Survey, 2013
[10] The People’s Review of the WCA: Further evidence, available online: http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/by-date/peoples-review-of-wca-further-evidence.html
[11] "The Review highlights areas for improvement, particularly ensuring that people are treated with dignity and respect and that communications are improved." Litchfield (2013), An Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment – Year Four: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265351/work-capability-assessment-year-4-paul-litchfield.pdf