Benefits: Tightening rules does not help people into work, say Scottish researchers

Reforms have increased the requirements for certain people claiming out-of-work benefits, including lone parents and those unemployed due to a health condition or disability.

Professors at the Employment Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Stirling are following dozens of people from across Scotland to see how changes to the system are affecting them.

They interviewed 43 people between September last year and January, with 35 taking part in a second round of in-depth interviews between April and July.

A report on the findings concluded: "Participants with a health condition or a disability, and those who were lone parents, reported that they wanted to be in work but faced considerable barriers to doing so, which were unlikely to be addressed by increasing conditionality.

"According to the views of participants, stronger conditionality is unlikely to get more people into work, due to a lack of suitable work and barriers in the areas of education, skills, employability, childcare and health.

"Positive experiences by some participants suggest that there are a number of interventions, such as targeted employability services, that can help address such barriers to work."

The researchers found that claimants who did not abide by the new conditions faced serious consequences.

"The impact on benefit recipients who fall foul of new rules - or who are affected by a mistake on the part of a benefits agency that is not their fault - can be severe," they said.

The study also raised questions over the effectiveness of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)'s Work Capability Assessment, which is carried out for anyone who claims Employment and Support Allowance and looks at how their illness or condition affects them on a day-to-day basis.

Researchers found that the assessment appeared to have "placed a considerable strain" on some participants.

"There was a general feeling among participants that the process was neither dignified nor fair and that the criteria used in the assessment failed to truly encapsulate a person's ability to work, particularly for those with fluctuating or 'invisible' conditions," they said.

"The process itself, and the time spent waiting for assessments, judgements and tribunals, was also considered very stressful."

Some of the interviewees also reported feeling a lack of support from Jobcentre Plus or Work Programme advisers.

But those who moved into work between the two interviews did feel that they were slightly better off and reported a substantial increase in well-being, the study found.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "The people in this study show that the changes to the current system are not achieving what they set out to do.

"The system is not helping people without work find jobs and it is not making people with work better off in any real sense.

"Penalties in the benefit system, and changes that make it harder to claim, do not help people.

"The people involved also made clear that the support currently on offer is to help them find jobs - such as the Work Programme - is limited and not helpful.

"The only way to increase employment is to address the barriers stopping people from working - that means better childcare, more training and help with any health problems."

A DWP spokesman said: "This report presents a misleading picture when in fact welfare is helping people back to work, we have record levels of employment and have seen the largest drop in long-term unemployment in a generation.

"Last week, we saw how the benefit cap is getting people into work and thanks to the Work Programme around 330,000 long-term unemployed people are now in sustained work.

"Early findings show that Universal Credit is already having a transformative impact by making work pay and will eventually make three million households better off by £177 a week on average."