We respond to the government's announcement on reform of the welfare system

The government has today made its long-awaited announcement on its plans to reform the benefits system, alongside the publication of a green paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working.

Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: 

“Amid the whirlwind of speculation leading up to this announcement, people experiencing severe mental illness have grown increasingly anxious and despairing. We do agree with the government's assessment that the social security system is broken, because for too long people living with mental illness have come to serious harm and even lost their lives due to the failures and punitive approach of the Department for Work and Pensions, and we are incredibly concerned that these reforms could trigger hardship and suffering for many. Our own research has found that people already face an uphill battle to access benefits such as Personal Independence Payments (PIP), with claims often rejected because assessors do not adequately take account of mental illness. Removing financial support without a clear plan to address the drivers of mental illness and bring down lengthy waiting lists for treatment will not boost the number of people in work, but instead risk deepening the mental health crisis facing the nation. 

“We recognise the scale of the challenge for the government as an increasing number of people are not working due to ill-health. There were some welcome measures in today’s announcement, such as providing a guarantee that people will not face a PIP award review or WCA reassessment if attempts to return to work prove unsuccessful, alongside the significant investment of £1 billion in employment support. That there will be a renewed focus on safeguarding within the DWP is also welcome, although we are uncertain how the government squares this with the potentially harmful changes to PIP it plans to introduce. Its promise to protect the most vulnerable rings hollow, especially given that people living with severe mental illness might not factor into the government's definition of this. 

“Though we recognise these changes will not be immediate, the people we support face an even more uncertain future which will only compound their distress and make life even harder.”