As already identified disabled people are seen as one of the groups that still live in poverty in Britain today. Government figures show that there are approximately 6 million people living in the UK with some form of disability, over 4 million of these people live in poverty, as they are dependant on state benefits as their main source of income. Disabled people do not merely have lower incomes than non-disabled people; they also have extra costs associated with their disability. They often need to spend more on heating, transport, aids and equipment, special diets and other costs.
The New Labour Government is strongly committed to the idea that people who can escape poverty by their own efforts should do so; they call this the ‘new balance of right’s and responsibilities’. The phrase the Government uses to express both ideas together is ‘work for those who can, security for those who cannot’.
So what is the New Labour Government doing to help lift disabled people out of poverty? Supporting people with disabilities say the Labour Party is not simply a case of providing handouts; they want everyone to be able to fulfil their full potential and be able to make the fullest contribution to society. The Government are therefore committed in helping disabled people into work.
The largest employment programme for disabled people is Workstep, what used to be known as sheltered factories and workshops. Workstep includes Remploy and other factories and altogether there are about 22,000 participants, which accounts for more than 70% of Government spending on employment programmes for disabled people. Since the mid-1990’s though funding has been frozen even though there are an estimated 100,000-disabled people who are unlikely to enter employment but who could get and keep a job through Workstep.
However, the most widely known about Government programme to help disabled people into jobs is the New Deal for disabled people. It is a voluntary programme and open to people who are entitled to a disability benefit such as Incapacity Benefit or Income Support with a disability premium. The main features of the New Deal for disabled people is the national network of ‘job brokers’ mainly provided by private and voluntary organisations. Job brokers have a similar role to personal assistants in the other New Deals though they work even more closely with employers. There is also a greater emphasis on helping their clients understand the demands of today’s labour market and to keep their jobs when they get them.
The New labour Government have also acknowledged the fact that a lot of disabled people face discrimination on a daily basis; they are therefore committed in abolishing discrimination in the workplace and extending basic rights and opportunities. Discrimination against disabled people is well established and has not yet been successfully eliminated completely. Over half of the people claiming disability benefits have said that disability discrimination was one of the main problems they faced when looking for work. Hopefully when the new Disability Bill comes into effect in October 2004 it will include new laws to overcome this discrimination.
All these new ideas to help disabled people into employment are a good thing in general but what about people who are genuinely to ill or disabled to enter into employment, what is being done for them. As committed as they are in helping disabled people into work, they also know that they have a responsibility to give disabled people the security they need if they are unable to work. There are currently over 35 different types of benefits available for people with disabilities, and although they each have complicated criteria they do insure only genuine applicants receive them. They include Incapacity Benefit, Income Support with a disability premium and Disability Living allowance for care and mobility. The Disability Living Allowance gives a disabled person up to £390 a month, which is not means tested so doesn’t affect any other benefit they are entitled to. Although disability benefits do offer a substantial amount of money many disabled people claim that they aren’t sufficient enough for them to live on, and in no way do they reflect the average wage of a non-disabled person. They say that benefit levels do not take into account the extra costs incurred by having a disability.
After looking closely at all the information available I have come to the conclusion that the New Labour Government are working hard to improve the lives of disabled people and help them out of poverty. Their social policy theory of ‘work for those who can, security for those who can’t seems on the whole to be working quite well. They have over the last 6 years helped 1,000’s of disabled people into employment when it was possible to do so but have also made it clear that disabled people should not be required to seek employment, but helping them to do so is worthwhile. If they could help a substantial proportion of disabled people who are still on benefits who do want a job, find one, they will have taken a major step towards reducing poverty in disabled people. However, they could possibly look into increasing the levels of disability benefits for those people who are to severely disabled to enter employment to take account of the extra costs involved in living with a disability, as it is these people who still seem to be suffering from the effects of poverty. If they could manage to achieve this they could at last lay to rest the fact that having a disability sentences you to a life of living in poverty.