Total reform to welfare system needed

The Government’s Health and Work Green Paper will be published this afternoon and will outline proposals to reform the benefits and back-to-work system for people with disabilities. We will be supporting people with mental health problems to feed into the consultation between now and February 2017.

Ahead of its publication, Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said:

“Mind has been campaigning for many years to highlight how inadequate and often damaging the current out-of-work support system is for people with mental health problems. The forthcoming Green Paper is a welcome opportunity for the Government to overhaul the welfare system. At the moment, the punitive approach which sees people having their benefits cut for failing to do certain activities, simply doesn’t work, and can make people’s mental health worse."

“It’s really important that those who are unable to work due to debilitating mental health problems are properly supported. For some people, work may be possible with the right support, but they must be enabled to take steps towards work without being hounded continually, which only pushes them further from the workplace. Now is the chance to develop a system which provides more personalised, tailored support that takes into account an individuals’ needs, ambitions, skills, and helps them overcome their individual barriers to employment."

“We await to see the full consultation paper with interest. We will be going through it with a fine tooth comb to ensure the views and concerns of the hundreds of thousands of people with mental health problems affected are heard.”

The Government have announced that the full Green Paper will be released later today. We expect it around 4.30pm.