house_of_lordsOn Wednesday 27th January the House of Lords debated the Welfare and Work Bill during which they voted against government proposals to cut Employment Support Alowance (ESA) for new claimants.

The cut of £30 per week would affect any sick or disabled person who is placed in the “Work Related Activity Group”, which includes people who although unable to work at the present time are considered likely to be able to undertake some work in the near future as determined by a “Work Capability Assessment”.
The problem for many learning disabled adults is that although they would love to be able to have paid employment and be fully included in society, the opportunities are just not there, indeed the latest employment figure for learning disabled adults is just 6%. It seems to me that the Government should be looking to provide opportunities for people who want to have meaningful occupation to be able to do so, that is inclusion. Pushing more people into abject poverty is not the answer, you cannot treat the learning disabled as though they are refusing to work because this is not the case, sort the access to work problem before penalising the disabled!
Lets hope the Government takes some note of what has happened in the House of Lords and puts a permanent halt to this very unfair cut.

HF