division_name: Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit
motion: <p class="indent" pid="b413.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House notes the Government&#8217;s plans to reduce the Employment and Support Allowance work-related activity component and the corresponding limited capability for work component in universal credit in April 2017; further notes that this measure will cut the weekly amount received by recipients with long-term health conditions or disabilities by &#163;30 and that these cuts are due to take place before the promised Work and Health programme Green Paper can be considered or implemented; and therefore calls on the Government to use the upcoming Autumn Statement to postpone the cuts to Employment and Support Allowance work-related activity component and the corresponding limited capability for work component in universal credit until appropriate alternative measures to progress the commitment to halve the disability employment gap have been considered, in order to secure support for current and future claimants so that sick and disabled people are supported adequately when they are unable to work.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b413.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;new funding for additional support to help claimants return to work.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-07-08">8 July</phrase> 2015; Vol. 598, c. 333.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b425.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The Government&#8230;aims to halve the gap between the disabled employment rate and the overall employment rate by 2020.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b434.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I recognise that the WRAG is not fit for purpose, as only 1% are getting into work, but it does have a purpose. It has a purpose for the most vulnerable individuals, for whom the financial element of &#163;30 really matters...As we move towards 2017, with the flow of new applicants, we must do all we can to reassure everyone that we are in the business of reform&#8230;I will support the Government tonight, but we must get the White Paper out and show our practical support in meaningful ways before 2017.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-02-23">23 February</phrase> 2016; Vol. 606, c. 235.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b434.0/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We want our jobseekers to focus on getting into work and enjoying the dignity and security of a good job.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b440.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;we are proposing to recycle some of the money currently spent on cash payments&#8230;into practical support&#8221;.&#8212;[Official Report, House of Lords, <phrase class="date" code="2016-01-27">27 January</phrase> 2016; Vol. 768, c. 1316.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b440.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The original commitment in the manifesto did not have an end date&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-10-31">31 October</phrase> 2016; Vol. 616, c. 678.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b440.0/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The gap between the disabled unemployment rate and the unemployment rate for the whole country is still too big. I want to see that cut in half over the next five years.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b440.0/13" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The UK Government has made a very welcome pledge to halve the disability employment gap by the end of this Parliament, meaning they have to shift the disability employment rate from 47% to 64%.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b440.0/15" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a 2015 general election manifesto commitment by the Conservative Party to halve the disability employment gap by 2020&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b444.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;welfare clauses of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill as initially introduced at Westminster&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b445.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;There have been times in the past when the House has sought to speak with one voice, and no more so than in the area of disability.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2016-06-08">8 June</phrase> 2016; Vol. 611, c. 1265.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b445.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;otherwise discourage claimants from taking steps back to work&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b447.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;country that works for everyone&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b447.0/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the Work Related Activity Group is not comprised of people who are fit and healthy to work. It is made up of people who the Government has found to be currently unable to work due to   illness or disability. It is illogical and medically impossible to incentivise a group of people to recover their health by reducing the amount they have to live on&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b453.4/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;remove the financial incentives that could otherwise discourage claimants from taking steps back to work.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b453.4/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The notional loss to each family is expected to be around &#163;28 a week, which represents around a 10 per cent notional change in net income, presented in 2019/20 prices. Someone moving into work could, by working around 4-5 hours a week at National Living Wage, recoup the notional loss of the Work-Related Activity component or the Limited Capability for Work element.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b453.4/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;new funding for additional support to help claimants return to work&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b456.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;country that works for everyone&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b460.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;When I was ill, I had to give up work for a year. I couldn&#8217;t work&#8212;the chemotherapy knocked me for six and I just wanted to sleep all day. It was horrendous. I couldn&#8217;t pay my mortgage, my council tax. I thought I was going to lose my house. Then I got Employment Support Allowance. If they cut the ESA that would just be absolutely horrendous. I would hate to have had that done to me. Without it, we would have been homeless.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="b465.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="b465.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 127, Noes 0.</p>