Andrew Smith, the Work and Pension Secretary, has responded positively to Government proposals to assist incapacity benefit claimants back into work. The proposals aim to provide personal support to claimants by advisers skilled in work interviews and will assist in putting action plans together. There will be a work credit available at a rate of £40 per week and this would be paid for a year. However, this would only be available to people that find a job paying less than £15,000 per year. There should also be another one of benefit of upto £300 that aims to assist people when looking for work. We assume this could help with the cost of travel and making applications.
Our View:
Anything that offers a helping hand back to work is a benefit. We believe that if people want to work they should be given the assistance they need and these new proposals could do just that. For people claiming benefits, the additional costs associated with finding work can mean a financial struggle. The Government seem to have addressed this issue and the issue of finances could now be removed or lessened. This might now give people wanting to work the means to do it.