Why does the amount paid for incapacity benefit not equal the minimum wage?
” I really don’t know how the levels of earnings replacement benefits are set, but I suspect that the low level at which the benefit is currently payable can be traced back to “reforms” of the 1980s and 1995, both of which appear to have been intended to reduce the levels of claiming of incapacity benefits. Nowadays, compared with the early days of the welfare state in this country, far fewer people can qualify for contribution-based benefits like incapacity benefit because the claiming criteria have been tightened and they have to claim means-tested benefits instead. And those who can qualify for these earnings-replacement benefits have to claim means-tested benefits to top them up, as they are not enough to live on. I guess the policymakers would say that if levels of benefits are set too high, there is a disincentive to work. Maggie Wilson from Herts says: “My husband receives a state pension of 58 a week. Our council tax is 33 a week and we have to use our savings for bills. “The b
