The Coalition Government has made firm our commitment to equality for disabled people.

We have been absolutely clear that the changes announced during the Spending Review are designed to support disabled people into work while providing unconditional support to disabled people who have the highest support needs.

We want to ensure that support is targeted at people who need it and that this support is sustainable and affordable long term.  Work Choice is expected to support more disabled people into employment each year than any of its predecessor government programmes.

Below is a summary of the changes in the Spending Review that affect disabled people.  We will continue to update the details here as policy progresses.

On this page:

• Benefit Cap – updated 2 February 2011
• Housing: Reform of Support for Housing Costs – updated 2 February 2011
• Universal Credit – updated 18 November 2010
• Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance – Care Homes – updated 26 November 2010
• Time limiting the contributory ESA to one year for those in the Work Related Activity Group
• Cold Weather Payments
• The Civil Society Transition Fund
• Social Care
• Psychological Talking Therapies – updated 18 November 2010
• Disabled Facilities Grant
• Disability Living Allowance 2010 – updated 28 February 2011
• Employment Programmes – previous announcements – updated 28 February 2011

Benefit Cap – updated 2 February 2011

• From 2013 the Government will introduce a cap on the total amount of benefits that working-age people can receive so that workless households can no longer receive more in benefits than the average family earns.
• The cap will be based on the median earnings after tax and National Insurance contributions for working households from 2013, which we expect to be around £500 for couples and lone parent households and £350 per week for single adults.
• War widows and all households with someone entitled to Disability Living Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance paid as a component to Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit or Working Tax Credit will be exempt from the cap.
• The Government will introduce legislation in the Welfare Reform Bill and work with Local Authorities to implement the cap from April 2013.

Housing: Reform of Support for Housing Costs – updated 2 February 2011

• Expenditure on working age Housing Benefit has increased by £5 billion in just five years to £15 billion in real terms, and unreformed is set to increase by a further billion by 2015. The current system is unfair and unsustainable, and in need of urgent reform.

Reform of Housing Benefit

• From April 2011 we will start making a number of changes to Local Housing Allowance. These reforms will not affect social housing tenants, who account for 69 per cent of the housing benefit caseload. The reforms include:
  • restricting the maximum Local Housing Allowance level to the four bedroom rate and applying overall weekly caps to the rates as follows:
  • £250 for a one bedroom property
  • £290 for two bedrooms
  • £340 for three bedrooms and
  • £400 for a four bedroom property
  • setting Local Housing Allowance rates so that 3 in 10 properties are affordable to Housing Benefit customers rather than 5 in 10 as is currently the case.
  • Removing the up to £15 weekly Housing Benefit excess that some customers can receive under the Local Housing Allowance arrangements.
• To help those in the most vulnerable circumstances who could be affected by these changes we are tripling expenditure on Discretionary Housing Payments. This budget will be increased by an additional £10 million in 2011/12 and then £40 million per year from 2012/13 giving a total of £60 million.
• Existing customers will also be protected for a period or nine months from the date their claim is reviewed on or after 1 April 2011. But people who receive more – up to £15 – Housing Benefit than their rent will lose the extra amount from the review date.
• From April 2012 the shared room rate will apply to customers under 35 years instead of under 25 years as now. But we will keep the current exemptions for those in shared accommodation, so that people aged between 25 and 34 who need care will not be affected by the extension of the shared room rate.
• People will see reductions in their Housing Benefit from April 2011 onwards, but the purpose of reform is to influence rent levels and housing choices so that Housing Benefit tenants have to make the same choices about their housing that people who manage without make. We want people to continue to have access to decent housing but the support we provide needs to be founded on principles of fairness, affordability and making work pay.
• We recognise the important work done by carers up and down the country and so we will put in an extra £60 million by 2015 to help fund an additional room for disabled people who have live-in but non-resident carers.

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Universal Credit – updated 18 November 2010

• The Coalition Government is committed to reforming the benefits system. The Spending Review set aside over £2 billion to invest in building a welfare system that is fit for the 21st century.
• On 11 November 2010 the Government published its Welfare Reform White Paper Universal Credit: welfare that works, which paves the way for the introduction of the Universal Credit.
• Universal Credit will replace current working age means tested benefits – Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, and income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
• Universal Credit will improve incentives to work (especially for low earners) by a combination of earnings disregards and a single withdrawal rate to reduce the Credit when earnings exceed the disregard. This will make the benefits of work clearer and simpler, encouraging people to move into work and see the financial benefits of increasing the number of hours they work.
• The Government intends to introduce a Welfare Reform Bill in January 2011 to give effect to these changes. We will then adopt a phased approach to the introduction of Universal Credit with the first individuals expected to enter the new system from 2013, followed by the gradual closure of existing benefits and Tax Credits claims and their transfer to the new system.

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Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance – Care Homes – updated 26 November 2010

• The proposed measure will end payment of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance for all state funded residents in care homes after 28 days. While these residents will not be paid Disability Living Allowance, they will retain an underlying entitlement to the benefit and payment will be reinstated if they leave the care home providing they continue to satisfy eligibility conditions. The planned implementation date for this measure is October 2012.
• Local Authorities contracts with care homes will cover services to meet a resident's assessed needs. These will cover activities of daily living which may include providing access to doctors, dentists and local services such as libraries and banks. In addition care homes should help residents pursue their individual religious beliefs. Our commitment to increasing the take up of personal budgets in Adult Social Care will give disabled people more choice and control over their care – including accessing transport that suits them.
• Local Authorities and residential care homes have a duty to meet the needs of their local population and those they provide services to. This includes children and adults.
• It will end the anomaly whereby two state funded residents placed in the same care home, with similar needs, can be treated differently according to whether they are funded through the NHS or Local Authority.
• The measure will not apply to residents who meet the full costs of the care home themselves and they will continue to be paid both the care and mobility components of Disability Living Allowance they may be entitled to.

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Time limiting the contributory ESA to one year for those in the Work Related Activity Group

• The Coalition Government is committed to supporting people back to work. Over the course of this parliament we are investing billions in back to work support, including through Work Choice and the Work Programme. The Work Programme will provide personalised support to a wide range of customers – from Jobseeker’s Allowance recipients who have been out of work for some time, to customers who may previously have been receiving incapacity benefits for many years. It is important that people who are capable of moving towards employment are not left to spend years written-off by the benefit system.
• From April 2012 time limiting will affect all those who receive contributory ESA and who are placed in the Work Related Activity Group. People in the ESA Support Group will be unaffected by the change, as will anyone receiving income-related ESA regardless of which group they are assigned to.
• After a year, those people who have no other means of supporting themselves may qualify for income-related benefits – there will always be a safety net for those who need it. Of those affected by time limiting contributory ESA, we estimate that 60 per cent will be able to claim some income related ESA.

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Cold Weather Payments

• The previous administration temporarily increased cold weather payments to £25 per payment. We recognise the importance of this additional money to vulnerable groups and will therefore put this increase on a permanent footing.
• Around 4.2 million people are currently eligible for Cold Weather Payments to help meet heating costs every time the average temperature in the local area falls or is forecast to fall below zero degrees centigrade for seven consecutive days between 1 November and 31 March. Jobcentre Plus makes payments automatically to older people who receive Pension Credit and disabled people and families with children (who are under five years) who receive an income-related benefit.

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The Civil Society Transition Fund

• The Civil Society Transition Fund will provide grant funding to voluntary and community organisations, charities and social enterprises to give them breathing space to enable them to manage the transition to a tighter funding environment and to take advantage of future opportunities presented by increased public service delivery:
  • new fund of £100 million
  • available over 2 years – £10 million in 2010-11 and £90 million in 2011-12
  • delivered by the Office for Civil Society and a national delivery partner to be appointed soon
  • applications will open as soon as possible.

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Social Care

• There is an additional investment to support social care reaching £2 billion per year by 2014-15. £1 billion of this will go through local government and £1 billion will be made available within the NHS to break down the barriers between health and social care.
• There will be continued support for elderly, disabled and vulnerable people through Supporting People Programme, which is £6.5 billion over the next 4 years.

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Psychological Talking Therapies – updated 18 November 2010

• By 2014, nearly a million people a year with depression or anxiety disorders will have access to psychological therapies, delivering the commitment made in the Coalition Agreement.
• The programme’s services offer effective evidence-based intervention and treatment choice to people with depression and anxiety disorders. The nationwide roll-out of these services will be completed in 2014/15 and the benefits will be broadened to support children and young people, older people and those with serious mental illness or long-term physical conditions.

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Disabled Facilities Grant

• The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) has been protected within the Spending Review and increased in line with inflation. The allocation to Local Authorities for the DFG will increase from £169 million in 2010-11 to £185 million in 2014-15.

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Disability Living Allowance 2010 – updated 28 February 2011

• On 6 December 2010 the Coalition Government published “Disability Living Allowance reform”, a formal public consultation on our proposed reforms to Disability Living Allowance. This document sets out the Government's plans to replace Disability Living Allowance with a new cash benefit, called the Personal Independence Payment, which will contribute to the extra costs of overcoming the barriers faced by disabled people to leading full and active independent lives.
• The Personal Independence Payment will continue to be a non-means tested, extra costs cash benefit. It will be introduced in 2013/14.
• The consultation ran until 18 February 2011 and sought views on our proposed reforms to DLA and on a new, fairer and more objective assessment.
• We have received a large number of responses from a broad range of disability organisations and disabled people.
• The Coalition Government will publish its response to the public consultation in the Spring.

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Employment Programmes – previous announcements – updated 28 February 2011

• We know that disabled people want the chance to compete in the labour market. DWP Employment Programmes can provide the support and training to enable them to get and keep those jobs.

The key employment programmes are:

Pre-Work Programme

• From April 2011, Jobcentre Plus managers and advisers will have the flexibility to focus on helping people rather than on completing activity and processes, and will have more discretion to tailor support for customers according to their individual needs.

Work Programme

• The Government is committed to fighting poverty, supporting the most vulnerable and helping people break the cycle of benefit dependency. As a result we are making significant reforms to the welfare-to-work programmes currently available to Jobcentre Plus customers.
• The Spending Review 2010, announced on 20 October 2010, confirmed the Department's commitment to reform and the introduction of the Work Programme.
• The Work Programme represents a step change for Welfare to Work in this country, creating a structure that treats people as individuals and allows providers greater freedom to tailor the right support to the individual needs of each customer.
• It will replace much of the confusing array of existing programmes for unemployed people.
• The Work Programme will also ensure good value for money for the taxpayer by basing payments largely on results, and paying providers from the benefits saved from getting people into work. It is very much a partnership between Government and providers from across the public, private and third sectors – including social enterprises.
• The Government aims to have the new Work Programme in place nationally from the summer of 2011
• For those customers who require further support as they reach the end of the Work Programme without moving into sustained employment, we are currently developing proposals for a programme of post-Work Programme support which we aim to have in place from 2013

• Work Programme invitation to tender documents

Work Choice

• Work Choice is an important part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to disabled people – ensuring they have the same opportunities and chances as everyone else.
• It will run alongside the Work Programme and Pre-Work Programme Jobcentre Plus offer, including “Get Britain Working” employment initiatives.
• Work Choice provides disabled people with complex barriers to employment and more intensive support needs with:
  • a seamless service covering all stages of the journey into work
  • support to enable them to stay in work where the other DWP employment provision might not be suitable – including support for those who wish to move into self-employment.
• Work Choice is voluntary and available regardless of any benefits being claimed and provides support based on individual needs, rather than a “one size fits all” approach.
• Access to Work Choice is usually via the Disability Employment Adviser in Jobcentre Plus offices.
• We expect Work Choice will help around 9,000 disabled people into work a year. This is more than its predecessor employment programmes.
• We know the success of Work Choice will depend on effective working with employers to help disabled people access work opportunities and gain the right level of support – from both their employer and ourselves – to achieve their full potential in work.
• Work Choice has a modular approach to helping people find and stay in suitable employment:
  Module 1 – Work Entry Support
  • All about finding a job and preparing to enter work.
  • This module can last for up to six months.

  Module 2 – Short to Medium-Term In-Work Support

  • Once an individual has found paid employment the service provider will work with the employer and customer to identify the support required for the disabled customer to start work.
  • This module can last for up to two years, although we expect that the majority of people will remain on the module for a shorter period.

  Module 3 – Longer-Term In-Work Support

  • Longer-term supported employment module focuses on helping provide a stable working environment and helping people develop their career.
  • There is still some focus to help people move into unsupported employment, where it is appropriate for the individual.
  • There is no time limit on this module and so it recognises that, for some people, there will always be a need for them to be supported in the workplace.

• Work Choice (Directgov)

Access to Work

• Access to Work has an important role to play in supporting disabled people to get and keep jobs. The programme has been through a reshaping exercise, to improve its focus and value. This included:
  • asking larger employers to make a more substantial contribution towards aids or equipment This will free up resources to go to those working for smaller employers, and
  • enabling customers to have an even more personalised package of support, with an individual development plan, more frequent reviews, and more intensive discussion about building independence and self-reliance.
• The change to employer contributions took effect from April 2010 and the other changes will be progressively brought in over the course of 2010/11.
• The Coalition Agreement states that: "We will reform Access to Work, so disabled people can apply for jobs with funding already secured for any adaptations and equipment they will need." The “Pre-Employment Eligibility Letter" was announced by Government on 9 December. Disabled jobseekers will be able to find out immediately if they are eligible to apply for Access to Work support. If eligible they will be able to print off the "Pre-Employment Letter" from the Directgov site.
• We are continuing to look at ways of making the programme more efficient and effective, so the maximum number of disabled people can be helped to get and keep jobs. This will include ensuring that employers are meeting their duty to make reasonable adjustments to support their employees. Access to Work is available to support costs faced by a disabled person, or their employer, beyond what is reasonable for an employer to meet.

Residential Training

• Residential Training is a pan-disability DWP programme that delivers vocational training to unemployed disabled adults whose needs cannot be met through any other government funded programmes.
• There are currently nine Residential Training providers. Courses are tailored to each individual and duration varies to ensure customer needs are met. Maximum length of stay on a course is 52 weeks and the average is around 35 weeks. There are approximately 500 people currently on this provision. The majority of people who take part in Residential Training are referred via the Disability Employment Adviser service in Jobcentre Plus.

Remploy

• Remploy are in the third year of their five year modernisation plan. Following the government’s review of Non Departmental Public Bodies and the spending review settlement, the budget for Remploy Limited during the five year modernisation period remains unchanged at £555 million.
• Remploy supported around 10,600 disabled and disadvantaged people into work last year. We will continue to look at how we ensure continued improvements in the service provided by Remploy and to maximise the number disabled people supported into sustainable employment.

• Remploy website

Sayce Review of Specialist Disability Employment Programmes:

• In December 2010 the government announced an independent review of specialist disability employment programmes, to be led by Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of RADAR.
• The purpose of the review is to:
  • examine DWP’s current specialist employment support for people with disability-related barriers to work
  • make recommendations about how DWP can provide more personalised employment support to disabled customers
  • improve value for money
• We have published a call for evidence to help inform the review. This invites people and organisations to submit evidence to help inform the development of our future strategy. This call for evidence will close on 28 February 2011, and we expect to publish the outcome of the review by summer 2011.

• Specialist disability employment programmes review more information and details of how to respond to the call for evidence.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/adviser/updates/spending-review-2010/