DWP is employing fewer disabled people than 5 years ago - Alexander

8.53.56pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 3rd Jul 2006

In the week that the bill to reform incapacity benefits is expected to be published research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that:

The DWP is employing fewer disabled people now than 5 years ago - down from 5.99% in 2002 to 5.25% in 2006.

Further research shows that:

The level of funding proposed is too little to fully roll-out pathways to work across the country.

Pathways has failed to boost employment for people with mental health problems, though it has improved chances for other groups, according to the DWP's own analysis.

1 million incapacity benefit recipients will reach retirement age in the next 10 years, so the Government's target is much less ambitious than it seems.

Danny Alexander MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Welfare Reform, said "The DWP's own lamentable performance in employing disabled people shows just how challenging it will be to deliver successful welfare reform.

"The DWP must set an example to employers and show that disabled workers can play a key role.

"The Government must be more radical than it has so far, and more willing to invest in this long-neglected group.

"Pathways to work has worked for some groups, but the funding promised so far will only deliver an inferior 'pathways lite'.

"The Government's incapacity benefit target is more spin than substance, with 1 million people already due to come off benefit in the next 10 years because of retirement.

"We need to hear much more about how employers - including government departments - are to be engaged in this process. There must be a much more central role for the voluntary sector in helping people get back to work."