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Benefits

Answer

The Government are determined to reform the welfare system to support employment and earnings and to tackle welfare dependency. A reformed system will make it easier to ensure that drug and alcohol users receive the help and support they need to overcome their dependency and get back to work. Drug and alcohol addiction is one of the most damaging root causes of poverty. Helping people who are trapped on benefits through drug and alcohol addiction so that they can recover and find employment is a top priority for the Government. It is estimated that 80 per cent of problem drug users—those using heroin or crack cocaine—are on working-age benefits, including jobseeker’s allowance and disability-related benefits, often for many years¹. Receipt of disability-related benefits is not dependent on the basis of a diagnosis or condition, but rather the effect that the diagnosis or condition has upon a person. For instance entitlement to disability living allowance is not dependent on a diagnosis or condition but relies instead on the care and/or mobility needs arising. Drug or alcohol dependency does not of itself confer entitlement to incapacity benefits. To qualify for incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, claimants have to undertake a medical assessment of incapacity for work which is called the personal capability assessment. This assesses the effects of a person’s condition on their ability to carry out a number of everyday activities relevant to work. People with a recorded diagnosis of alcohol or drug dependency may have other diagnoses, for example mental illness, which result in their incapacity for work. For those customers who are claiming the employment and support allowance, this is not paid on the basis of a specific medical condition. It is paid at different rates depending on an individual’s circumstances and where they are in the claim process. Claimants undergo a work capability assessment to ascertain their capacity for work. "¹ Population estimates of problematic drug users in England who access Department for Work and Pensions benefits: A feasibility study, Working Paper No.46, Hay, G. & Bauld, L. 2008."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

1715; 720 c358-9WA

Session

2010-12

Related items

Benefits
Monday, 1 November 2010
Written questions
House of Lords

Subjects

Alcoholic drinks Drugs Misuse Social security benefits Single people

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk