Jon Trickett

'Tread Carefully with Incapacity Benefit' says local MP

Jon Trickett MP has met with representatives from the Disability Benefits Coalition which is a coalition that wants the Government to look at its ideas about incapacity benefit and to make sure support is available for people who are thinking about going back to work.

Organisations such as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, Age Concern and the Campaign to End Child Poverty have expressed concerns about how people would be moved from incapacity benefit into work.

Mr Trickett has previously asked questions about this in the House of Commons and has asked the Government to be sensitive to the needs of those people who have been out of the workforce for prolonged periods.

‘If people can work, they should work, there is no doubt about that but there are many people who have been out of work for a long time through no fault of their own. In the 90s when the pits were closing, men were encouraged to go onto incapacity benefit and were not offered any re-training or access to free education. We cannot simply say to these people ‘get back to work or else’’

‘Great care and thought needs to go into helping those who are capable of it, get back to work. There needs to be comprehensive support and advice available as well as decent jobs that pay a fair wage for people to go to’

The move to change incapacity benefit will affect a large number of people. In 2007 there were 2.7 million people claiming Incapacity Benefit, with many former mining and industrial areas having high concentrations of claimants. In November 2007, Hemsworth constituency had almost 6,500 incapacity benefit claimants – many due to the physical strains placed on men who worked in the pits.

Editor’s notes

Photograph attached to email – Jon Trickett MP meeting with Tim Nichols of the Campaign to End Child Poverty

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