A THREE strikes rule would protect vulnerable Brits from unfair benefit sanctions, experts have recommended.
Policy wonks at think tank Demos said the Department for Work and Pension’s trial of a “yellow card” system for benefit penalties didn’t work because claimants who made an error were “guilty until proven innocent”.
In damning report on support for ill and disabled Brits, it said there was an “extremely strong case” for stripping the Department from their responsibility to help them into work too.
Instead devolved assemblies should be in charge of helping them find a job, working with local authorities and NHS trusts for a trial period.
Around 30 per cent of disabled people in the UK are living in poverty, the report claims, and too many are unable to find work that isn’t low-paid or insecure.
It also claimed that a survey of the public found that the DWP is deeply distrusted – in particular ill and disabled people.
Just one in ten think the DWP has a good reputation amongst the people they know and only a fifth think that it understands their needs.
The report claims the Department is risk-averse and seen as hostile by claimants.
“After years of failings, ill and disabled people have lost all faith in the DWP. This demands a radical rethink of the department’s responsibilities,” said the report’s author, the Demos researcher Ben Glover.
But the Department has “made efforts” to change its approach and improve the benefits system, it says.
Amber Rudd, who took over as the head of the Department at the end of last year has made a series of changes to the benefits programme – especially the flagship Universal Credit programme.
Last month she said disabled pensioners will no longer have to go through repeated tests to get the PIP benefits.
The DWP dismissed the report and said all work coaches received training specifically in working with people with disabilities or ongoing health conditions.
Around three per cent of all claimants are under sanction, the DWP claims, and only when they haven’t met their commitments without good reason.
The number of disabled people in work has increased by nearly a million in the last five years.
A DWP spokesperson said of the report: “This survey of random members of the public, many of whom may never have claimed benefits or interacted with DWP, compares poorly with our most recent survey of actual claimants which found that 80% of disabled people were satisfied with DWP’s services.
“Four out of five claimants who had face to face interactions with DWP reported that staff were knowledgeable, helpful, polite and understanding of their particular circumstances.”
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