Fit for Purpose. The reform of incapacity benefit

Article

This report calls for a new benefits framework to create solid foundations for the long term. It sets out practical policies to support people with health problems or disability get back to work and deliver a decent standard of living for those who can't work.

The current system of Incapacity Benefit insists on all-or-nothing divisions into work or inactivity, health or ill-health, lack of disability or disability. Such crude reductionism fails to reflect the reality of health problems, disability or work as they are experienced by claimants.

Incapacity Benefit is failing its claimants on two fronts: It has become a barrier to work as many claimants fear that taking steps towards employment will place their benefits at risk. It also fails to provide a decent income for people who are unable to work because of long-term health problems or disability.

Kate Stanley and Dominic Maxwell call for a new benefits framework to create solid foundations for the long term. They set out practical policies to support people with health problems or disability get back to work and deliver a decent standard of living for those who can't work.

Related items

  1. A group of healthcare professionals sitting in a staff common room in a hospital in Newcastle

    Building a healthier, wealthier Britain: Launching the IPPR Centre for Health and Prosperity

    Following the success of our Commission on Health and Prosperity, IPPR is excited to launch the Centre for Health and Prosperity.
  2. The Home Office building in London

    A ‘paradigm shift’ in asylum and immigration policy?

    In 2019, a package of asylum reforms known as the ‘paradigm shift’ was passed by a broad party consensus in the Danish parliament.
  3. A wide shot of the debating chamber at the Scottish parliament

    A return north: reflections on IPPR Scotland’s tenth anniversary conference

    There’s nothing like moving away from Scotland to remind you just how Scottish you are.