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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BENEFITS
Will Universal Credit

work for people with

learning disabilities?

It is yet to be seen whether Universal Credit will make work

pay for our client group, says Charlie Callanan

he government introduced Universal a claimant without a disability, The claimant can earn up to the
T Credit in 2013 promising to reform or any other restriction on her ability to threshold of the work allowance
and unify the welfare benefits system. work, is usually expected to seek work of applicable in their circumstances,
An important attraction of the new 35 hours per week. and their Universal Credit payment
benefit is supposed to be that it is a will then go down by 63p for every
system designed to “make work pay”. The ‘carrot’ of the work-related activity £1 they earn above this threshold.
component top-up – available to This is called the ‘earnings taper’.
The work conditions within Universal existing disabled people who claimed ESA Claimants who don’t qualify for the
Credit continue a theme introduced with or Universal Credit before 3 April 2017 work allowance will see their payment
employment and support allowance – has been removed for new claimants. go down by 63p for every £1 on all
(ESA), that people with a disability or Their basic rate of benefit will be the their earnings.
illness who have the potential to work in same as the rate for jobseekers.
the future must be helped to move closer But the ‘stick’ of the threat of sanctions Reporting earnings should be
to the employment market. remains for those disabled people who straightforward, at least for claimants
fail to take part in work-related activity. being employed and paid under PAYE.
All claimants of Universal Credit must Universal Credit is quite different to the This is because the employer will use
accept a ‘claimant commitment’. legacy benefits in how work and earnings ‘real time information’ to regularly
This includes any work-related are dealt with. There are no permitted inform Revenue and Customs of the
requirements applicable to the claimant work rules and there is no ‘cliff-edge’ employee’s earnings, which is then
they must meet. For people with a where the claimant must come off the passed to the Department for
learning disability who have ‘limited benefit once they start to work a certain Work and Pensions.
capability for work’ the requirements number of hours, or earn a fixed wage.
are to take part both in work-focused It should be more flexible in dealing REGISTERED CHILDCARE
interviews and in work preparation, with the fluctuations of people doing Helpfully, people in work who are
eg. participating in training, part-time, temporary or freelance work. responsible for children can get
an employment programme or assistance with the costs of registered
work experience. childcare. The level of help with childcare
is 85 per cent of eligible costs, up to a
WORK-RELATED COMMITMENTS The threat of sanctions maximum of £646.35 per month for
People with a disability who are found to one child and £1,108.04 for two or
have both limited capability for work and “ remains for those more children.
limited capability for work-related disabled people who
activity are allowed to get Universal fail to take part in The government has been evangelical
Credit without meeting any work-related in proclaiming the benefits of
requirements. If a learning disabled work-related activity. Universal Credit for people who are
claimant is working part-time, and their able and willing to work. This includes
average weekly earnings are at least at Put simply, within Universal Credit the ” disabled people who, it says,
their ‘individual earnings threshold’, have frequently been excluded from
no work-related requirements job opportunities. It is yet to be seen,
can be imposed on them to make amount of the award reduces as earnings however, whether or not the
them seek additional work and/or rise. Fortunately, for certain claimants, combination of the Universal Credit
working hours. some earnings are disregarded in the and earnings will truly make work pay
benefit calculation. This is called the for our client group.
The individual earnings threshold is the work allowance and is the amount of
hourly national minimum wage multiplied money a claimant may earn before their
by the claimant’s ‘relevant’ number of Universal Credit payment is affected. LINKS:
hours. This is 16 hours a week if the However, the claimant is entitled to a https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/
claimant would otherwise be someone work allowance only if they: universal-credit-uc
who only has to meet a work-focused
interview requirement and a work l have limited capability for work and/or www.gov.uk/government/
preparation requirement, ie. has limited publications/universal-credit-and-you
capability for work. In contrast, l are responsible for dependent children.

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 31 No 1 | Autumn 2017 7