The DWP published a round-up of responses to the Pathways to Work Green Paper yesterday and also made it clear that the proposed white paper has been dropped, as it moves from an all out assault on benefits to guerrilla warfare tactics.
The Green Paper consultation was heavily criticised at the time because it did not ask questions about some of the most important issues, such as the proposed personal independence payment (PIP) 4 point rule or the abolition of the work capability assessment (WCA)
As a result, of the 47,983 replies received, only 14,763 people responded directly to the DWP’s questions. Instead, 33,200 answered questions not in the consultation, preferring to use surveys produced by three other organisations.
The responses to the consultation were broadly in line with what readers might have expected: opposition to PIP being cut, support for increased funding for the NHS to reduce waiting times, support conversations to be voluntary, opposition to preventing the health element of universal credit being paid to people under 22 years age.
Perhaps the most unexpected part of the government’s response was this statement, under “Next Steps”:
“Work continues to develop policy across the other measures set out in the Green Paper. As part of this work, we are working closely with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts, including through the Timms Review and our Collaboration Committees. We are now carefully considering the responses to the consultation alongside other evidence, and we will share details of our proposals in due course.”
What this very strongly suggests is that Labour have given up on the idea of a White Paper aimed at putting all the proposals into a single piece of legislation. Instead, it appears that they are going to try to get measures through in a piecemeal fashion, possibly sometimes using secondary legislation, which doesn’t require a vote in the Commons but is more vulnerable to legal challenges after it becomes law.
So, it would seem that the backbench rebellion over PIP has put ministers off the idea of launching another full scale attack on benefits. Instead, they are going to switch to guerilla tactics, choosing smaller individual targets which they believe will be easier to achieve.
Whether this strategy will be any more successful is something we will discover over the coming months and years.
You can read the Government response to the Pathways to Work consultation here.
