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Universal Credit will make the benefits system worse for people with mental health issues, charity warns (Independent)
‘Policy experts at Mind say Iain Duncan Smith’s new programme could lead to a “sausage factory” approach in Jobcentres where ill people are deemed “fit-to-work until proven otherwise” and given inappropriate instructions backed by the threat of sanctions.
(…)
But Lord Freud, the Government’s welfare reform minister, said Universal Credit would actually make life easier for mental health problems because generic work advisors would become more adept at dealing with mental health issues.
“With the introduction of the way Universal Credit works, you suddenly see coaches begin to recognise where someone has got that kind of [mental health] problem and of course that’s the first step to helping them to get over it,” he told MPs on the Work and Pensions Select Committee on Wednesday.’
Arrogance and complacency? Surely not.See also Priti Patel’s remarks concerning sanctions.
There’s also this account of Lord Freud in front of the Work and Pensions Committee yesterday, in which he apparently said that:
”....the project was following an “S-curve”, which involved a “careful start, big ramp, and then a tail at the end”.
Asked at what stage the scheme was at, he said: “We are coming up to the approach trajectory.”
So it’s a UC S-curve on an upward trajectory is it? I think I need a lie down….
eta: whoops, forgot the actual link… d’oh Government told Universal Credit roll-out plans are “not credible”
[ Edited: 5 Nov 2015 at 03:39 pm by Paul_Treloar_CPAG ][Universal Credit would actually make life easier for mental health problems because generic work advisors would become more adept at dealing with mental health issues.
“With the introduction of the way Universal Credit works, you suddenly see coaches begin to recognise where someone has got that kind of [mental health] problem and of course that’s the first step to helping them to get over it,” ]
So that’s the end of the mental health services then!!
Here’s the Huffington Post on Lord Freud and the ‘S-curve’ -
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/04/lord-freud-welfare-reform-universal-credit_n_8470992.html
..because generic work advisors would become more adept at dealing with mental health issues.
“With the introduction of the way Universal Credit works, you suddenly see coaches begin to recognise where someone has got that kind of [mental health] problem and of course that’s the first step to helping them to get over it,” he told MPs on the Work and Pensions Select Committee on Wednesday.’
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Ronald Reagan