Who benefits?

After I broke my back in 2005, I spent three and a half months in hospital learning to live with paraplegia. When I was discharged, I claimed incapacity benefit. Hardly surprising. About a year after my accident, I began writing an account of my experience. This eventually became a memoir, which was published in 2008. On the back of the book I began writing occasional articles for different publications.

The decision to cease claiming Incapacity Benefit was a hard one to make. The financial case was not emphatic, as freelancing in a very competitive industry makes income unpredictable. On top of this, I suffer with chronic neuropathic pain caused by the nerve damage in my back. This too is unpredictable and on a bad day, I can barely get up and dressed, let alone be productive.

I did come off Incapacity Benefit, and while my financial situation hasn't changed significantly, I feel it was the right decision for me. But I have the confidence to feel that in the event of my pain worsening or my mobility deteriorating, I would be able to convince the relevant authorities that I would be entitled to claim IB again.

Not everyone on Incapacity Benefit is in the same position. Few part-time jobs pay anywhere near enough to make the switch financially prudent, and in a time of retrenchment and cuts in services, job security is at rock bottom. For anyone who is on the margins between limited work and incapacity coming off benefits could be described as risky at best.

I certainly agree that the benefits system needs looking at, especially as consecutive Governments have 'encouraged people onto IB as a way of massaging the Unemployment figures. But if reform begins with the objective of getting a set percentage of claimants off Incapacity Benefit, it is not taking each case on merit, but rather following a 'pass curve' approach. The danger is that people who are already marginalised (especially those who do not have the confidence to fight their corner) could end up being bullied off benefits and falling through the cracks. Especially at a time when funding for the usual social safety nets is also being cut.

The measure of how civilised a society we live in should be how we protect the disadvantaged and vulnerable. I suspect the shrill screeching sound you can hear (and read in certain newspapers) may well be the barbarians at the gate.