£760m project to cut benefits slated
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A flagship £760m programme to reduce the number of people on incapacity benefits only had "limited effect" and was not well implemented says a critical report published today.
The Pathways to Work programme contracted work to private providers who "seriously underperformed" and had lower success rates than Jobcentre Plus, the Commons Public Accounts Committee found. Between 2005 and 2009 the number of people on incapacity benefits reduced by just 125,000 and the committee said it could not be clear how many of these were due to the Pathways project.
The programme, launched nationally between 2005 and 2008, was aimed at cutting the number of claimants, which has remained stubbornly high at more than 2.5 million for more than a decade. In 2008-09, the benefits bill for the 2.6 million people on incapacity benefits was £12.6bn. But the Committee's Labour chairwoman Margaret Hodge dis praise the Department for Work and Pensions for trying to tackle "the intractable problem".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments