AMIDST the Government chaos currently at Westminster, an Opposition urgent question has revealed even more chaos, this time regarding the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the underpayment of ESA (Employment Support Allowance) to claimants between 2011 and 2014, affecting in excess of 70,000 claimants; the question was only afforded 25 minutes in the House. This error has occurred as a result of claimants being transferred from Incapacity Benefit to contribution-based ESA. To date £40million in compensation has been paid, but much more is to follow.
The DWP was made aware of this error in 2013, yet took no action. This begs the question, how many had to turn to the Scottish Government's Welfare Fund established to mitigate the effects of welfare reform and austerity cuts?
Time after time Sarah Newton MP (Minister of State at the DWP) assured the House that claimants will get monies owed paid in full with no affect to current benefit claims and any assistance claimants require on this matter can be obtained if they visit there local JobCentres. But one in 10 JobCentres have been closed by the Conservative Government, 13of those in Scotland, including five in Glasgow. The Conservatives' welfare reforms, including the roll-out of Universal Credit, are having devastating effects on those they are meant to assist and this latest error by the DWP merely highlights once again the case for full welfare powers to be devolved to Scotland.
Catriona C Clark,
52 Hawthorn Drive,
Banknock, Falkirk.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel