Browse content similar to Off the Sick. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Life on sickness benefit is changing. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:07 | |
They know there is no work around, so what are we going to work at -- | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
to live on? It will affect more than 180,000 | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
people here. We are tried to steer them into a | 0:00:14 | 0:00:21 | |
different direction, and some people will feel uncomfortable. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:25 | |
Medically, he has been proven unfit to work, but they say he is fit. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
Most are being told to get ready to work. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:35 | |
You are not good at turning double. It the Catt just take anybody. -- | 0:00:35 | 0:00:43 | |
we just cannot take anybody. Who is too sick to do it? | 0:00:43 | 0:00:49 | |
Imagine me and a telephone on a bad day. -- on a telephone. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
With unemployment at a 17 year high, what chance of getting a job in | 0:00:54 | 0:00:58 | |
Wales? If it works, it works. If not, I | 0:00:58 | 0:01:08 | |
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Phillips town, home to the Harris family. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:25 | |
I have got a big family, a lot of them are out of work. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
Joan Harris has spent her life bringing up children and | 0:01:28 | 0:01:36 | |
grandchildren. I have not worked since I was 17. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
Now they are sending me to job interviews, what chance have I got? | 0:01:40 | 0:01:42 | |
There is nothing there for youngsters. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:48 | |
Among them, her son Tommy, he is 20, with two kids, a little education | 0:01:48 | 0:01:57 | |
and a prison record. I want something in my life. I do | 0:01:57 | 0:02:02 | |
not want to be in and out of prison all my life. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:07 | |
Grandson Ricky left school at 13. But there is nothing about, so why | 0:02:07 | 0:02:14 | |
chill-out and have a drink every day. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:24 | |
0:02:24 | 0:02:31 | ||
Here, four out of 10 on benefits. Half of those on the sick. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:40 | |
I was honoured for anxiety and depression. The schmuck I was on it. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:45 | |
Why are so many people on the sick? There is nothing about. I could not | 0:02:45 | 0:02:51 | |
tell you. The UK government wants to know. It is extending regular | 0:02:51 | 0:02:55 | |
independent medical assessments to everyone on sickness benefits, so | 0:02:55 | 0:03:02 | |
it can decide who is fit enough to work. Tommy's mother is worried. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:08 | |
you are ill, you are AAL. How can they make people work if they are | 0:03:08 | 0:03:14 | |
not very well? It is totally wrong. Tommy has heard about the | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
assessments, and he is due at the JobCentre to date to come off the | 0:03:17 | 0:03:25 | |
sick. Did you think you would be able to stay on the stick? No. I | 0:03:25 | 0:03:30 | |
want a job offer stopped more than half the population of working or | 0:03:30 | 0:03:36 | |
in education. Thomas says he wants to be the same. What were they job | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
bring me? Happiness, money, kids, food, everything. If it works, it | 0:03:41 | 0:03:48 | |
works. Lawrence, mother of his children, hopes he gets the job, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:54 | |
before unemployment spreads further, to a fourth generation. I am | 0:03:54 | 0:04:00 | |
worried they will end up on the streets, no money, nothing. Getting | 0:04:00 | 0:04:06 | |
into trouble. His family believe he can succeed. If he wants to do it, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:16 | |
0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | ||
He can do things when he puts his mind to things. He can do a lot of | 0:04:19 | 0:04:29 | |
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A few doors down, at the community has, another sickness benefit | 0:04:33 | 0:04:40 | |
claimant is being told about the changes to the system. His big | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
white, and they are transferring everyone to implement and support | 0:04:44 | 0:04:49 | |
allowance. This disability charity worker explains how most claimants | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
are being made to do work-related activities to prepare them for the | 0:04:53 | 0:05:00 | |
jobs market. Either the support group, which means your condition | 0:05:00 | 0:05:05 | |
means you cannot work, the same as incapacity benefit, basically, all | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
the work-related activity group, where they say, your condition | 0:05:08 | 0:05:14 | |
could get better, and you might be able to find work in future. It is | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
distressing for some people. The government have got to do it, they | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
have got to cut money. Lots of people should not be on the | 0:05:22 | 0:05:28 | |
benefits. This is what the process is for. We want to make sure you | 0:05:28 | 0:05:38 | |
0:05:38 | 0:05:44 | ||
Among those who have already been assessed, Joan Harris, for her | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
diabetes. She has been kept on the funding, but she must get ready for | 0:05:48 | 0:05:57 | |
work. I have got bad feet. If you had to do something with your upper | 0:05:57 | 0:06:03 | |
arms, are you mobile? Yes. That is what the Government is trying to do, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
encourage people to work with the right support and help. Is there | 0:06:07 | 0:06:14 | |
nothing you can do to work? Where are the jobs? The drunks does | 0:06:14 | 0:06:20 | |
cannot get jobs -- youngsters cannot get jobs. If there were jobs, | 0:06:20 | 0:06:30 | |
could you work? I do not know. is the reaction of many people | 0:06:30 | 0:06:38 | |
across Wales, who are being assessed. Just over the hill, a | 0:06:38 | 0:06:43 | |
group for stroke victims. Asked for a show of hands of everybody | 0:06:43 | 0:06:52 | |
affected by this process, this is what you get. The last assessment, | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
he was supposed to check my eyesight, my nails, my skin, and he | 0:06:56 | 0:07:05 | |
did nothing. They said to be, what are you doing here? Off their new | 0:07:05 | 0:07:10 | |
people assessed, few are declared too ill to work. Most are either | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
found fully fit for work and transferred to Jobseeker's | 0:07:13 | 0:07:22 | |
Allowance, or kept on the benefit but made to prepare for work. This | 0:07:22 | 0:07:27 | |
woman's doctors say she is too ill to do any work, but after an | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
assessment, the Department for Work and Pensions decided she should get | 0:07:30 | 0:07:38 | |
ready for the workplace. Life is too hard. It is too difficult. Some | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
days, the pain is so bad, I have to survive for the day. I do not need | 0:07:42 | 0:07:51 | |
the worry of thinking that I have to go back to work, I could lose by | 0:07:51 | 0:07:56 | |
benefits. Is there anything you could do, even on a part-time | 0:07:56 | 0:08:02 | |
basis? Sometimes, my speech is a lot worse than this. Sometimes I | 0:08:02 | 0:08:12 | |
0:08:12 | 0:08:13 | ||
cannot talk at all. Say if they wanted to put me in a call centre. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:18 | |
Imagine the on a telephone on a bad day. -- imagine me. I would be | 0:08:18 | 0:08:26 | |
useless. Her doctors wrote letters, and she appealed. She won the | 0:08:26 | 0:08:32 | |
appeal. She would not be safe to return to work. But the DPP wrote | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
again, saying she would have to go through another medical board. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:43 | |
I opened this letter, I just about went hysterical. People do not | 0:08:44 | 0:08:49 | |
believe me, by consultants do not believe me. They say, we have | 0:08:49 | 0:08:58 | |
written letters. 40% of appeals are allowed. A figure which increases | 0:08:58 | 0:09:03 | |
when they are conducted by advisers like this woman. We are talking | 0:09:03 | 0:09:09 | |
about people who are very ill, very disabled, and they have to fill in | 0:09:09 | 0:09:13 | |
long forms that they do not understand, and that is really | 0:09:13 | 0:09:17 | |
depressing and daunting. I think that the state are hoping people | 0:09:17 | 0:09:22 | |
will not go through this process because it is so long. One of the | 0:09:22 | 0:09:26 | |
people she is helping is this man. He went on to sickness benefits | 0:09:26 | 0:09:31 | |
after injuring his hand in an industrial accident. If the doctor | 0:09:31 | 0:09:36 | |
does advise that within three months you could be fit for work, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
they would try to get him onto Jobseeker's Allowance, and then you | 0:09:40 | 0:09:45 | |
would have to start searching for work. Despite being treated by his | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
doctor for several limiting medical conditions, his last assessment | 0:09:49 | 0:09:57 | |
said he could be found fit for work within weeks. Half of the people | 0:09:57 | 0:10:03 | |
say that I am not fit for work, and the other half are trying to drive | 0:10:03 | 0:10:09 | |
me out to work. I am between the two stalls, I do not know what is | 0:10:09 | 0:10:13 | |
happening. Medically, he has been proven unfit, but they say he is | 0:10:13 | 0:10:19 | |
fit, which I find amazing. A lot of times, of which breaks my heart, at | 0:10:19 | 0:10:24 | |
the end of the day, they have moved the goalposts, and it is hard to | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
get you back again. They have moved them which will kick a lot of | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
people off, and it will kick some people off that should not be on | 0:10:31 | 0:10:37 | |
the benefit, and that is brilliant, but shunned -- but some people | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
should be honoured, but it will be hard for us to get them back on the | 0:10:41 | 0:10:46 | |
benefit that I feel they deserve. Annie is waiting for her next | 0:10:46 | 0:10:52 | |
assessment. A friend from the club is worried it is making her ill. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:57 | |
is traumatising her completely, making her so very ell, the anxiety, | 0:10:57 | 0:11:03 | |
distress, the strain, she does not need it. None of us do. Does it | 0:11:03 | 0:11:08 | |
make Annie feel like trapping her claim? That is giving in to | 0:11:08 | 0:11:18 | |
0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | ||
something that you are entitled to. If it is going to cause this much | 0:11:22 | 0:11:26 | |
ill-health, if I have got to go to another board, I do not know how | 0:11:26 | 0:11:31 | |
long I can stand it. We caught up with the minister responsible for | 0:11:31 | 0:11:36 | |
the changes. I ask him about the assessment system. It is a | 0:11:36 | 0:11:41 | |
stressful experience for a lot of people. Is that a price worth | 0:11:41 | 0:11:48 | |
paying and for reforming the system? Some people will find the | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
process of this difficult. My message is, we will do everything | 0:11:51 | 0:11:57 | |
we can, and we are to wind, to make it a fair process, they thought the | 0:11:57 | 0:12:02 | |
process. Above all, those who cannot work, those who need long- | 0:12:02 | 0:12:08 | |
term support, they will get it. If somebody can do something different | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
from benefits, surely we should try them -- surely be should try to | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
help them. The Government started assessing all long term sickness | 0:12:16 | 0:12:23 | |
benefit claimants. Transferring them to employment and support | 0:12:23 | 0:12:28 | |
allowance, ESA. A recent report said tens of thousands of people | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
would failed the medical assessments or lose money because | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
the new benefits are means-tested. The report's Co author said people | 0:12:36 | 0:12:46 | |
0:12:46 | 0:12:48 | ||
Mabel find their incapacity benefit now disappears. The financial | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
cushion the household have had will go. This will mean a loss of up to | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
�90 a week to household incomes, which will push people from just a | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
little bit above the poverty level right down on to the poverty level | 0:12:59 | 0:13:08 | |
itself. They are trying to rob us of what he is entitled to, which | 0:13:08 | 0:13:17 | |
isn't a lot. The injustice. Steve Barker gets �30 a week industrial | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
injuries compensation for his hand. When he was on incapacity benefit | 0:13:21 | 0:13:26 | |
it was paid on top. But when he moved to E s eight was taken off | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
his benefit. If he drops down to jobseeker's allowance, the couple | 0:13:29 | 0:13:34 | |
will lose even more. If they take him off employment and support | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
allowance it will go down to �74 a week because they take his hand | 0:13:37 | 0:13:42 | |
injury money into account and take it off him. Basically, how are we | 0:13:42 | 0:13:47 | |
going to live on that? But two people to live on that per week is | 0:13:47 | 0:13:52 | |
impossible. But that's the way the system works. But the government | 0:13:52 | 0:13:57 | |
denies it's all about saving money. This was always about dealing with | 0:13:57 | 0:14:03 | |
the problem that we felt was deep rooted, that was wrong. This is not | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
about deficit reduction, it has no financial targets attached to it. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:12 | |
It is all about improving people's lives and saving people's lives. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
The former coal mining communities of the South Wales valleys have | 0:14:15 | 0:14:19 | |
some of the highest sickness benefit claimant rates in Britain. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:25 | |
John Higgs is the son of a former Phillipstown miner. They closed the | 0:14:25 | 0:14:30 | |
pits, a lot of miners went on the sick. They had their redundancy for | 0:14:30 | 0:14:35 | |
a bit, then their sons came along, they didn't put any work in after. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:42 | |
Thousands and thousands never got work. The family's just gave up. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:46 | |
The Phillipstown youth team are trying to break that cycle. Tommy | 0:14:46 | 0:14:51 | |
Harris comes from a mining family, took. Tommy didn't ask to go on | 0:14:51 | 0:14:55 | |
incapacity benefit. Nobody sat down and said, you can do this, you can | 0:14:55 | 0:15:00 | |
do that, we will help you do this and that. They just signed him off. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
Although it's looking like it is Tommy that is sponging off the | 0:15:03 | 0:15:08 | |
system, I don't agree with that. What do you say to those people who | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
say that you shouldn't be on benefits, you should be putting | 0:15:10 | 0:15:15 | |
into society, paying tax and working? That's what I want to do, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:20 | |
I want to be part of... I want to be something. I don't want be what | 0:15:20 | 0:15:26 | |
I used to be like. That's in the past, I'm any boy now. But there is | 0:15:26 | 0:15:32 | |
something he has to do first. you want to do this? Yes. He has to | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
come off it sickness benefits. Weren't you supposed to do this a | 0:15:36 | 0:15:45 | |
couple of weeks ago? Why didn't you do it? I didn't bother. It takes | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
Tommy half-an-hour to get through to the right government department | 0:15:48 | 0:15:58 | |
0:15:58 | 0:15:58 | ||
to come off the sick. I've got to do it, haven't I? All of our agents | 0:15:58 | 0:16:08 | |
0:16:08 | 0:16:09 | ||
Because the phone is here it's easy for you to come in. What if you | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
didn't have the help he and the phone at services here, you just | 0:16:13 | 0:16:23 | |
0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | ||
Jobseeker's allowance. eventually Tommy has his new | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
appointment to sign on as a job- seeker. That's sorted now, isn't | 0:16:30 | 0:16:40 | |
0:16:40 | 0:16:42 | ||
it? Well done. This job isn't going to come and find you, is it? No. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:48 | |
what have you got to do? Go out and find a job. It's done now. I know I | 0:16:48 | 0:16:54 | |
missed the last one but it's done now. But proving you are actively | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
looking for work won't be easy for someone with a limited education. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
He's got to write everything he does down. If he's looked in the | 0:17:03 | 0:17:08 | |
paper, asked about a job, send a CV of - anything. The hard part for | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
Tommy is he doesn't like to say, I have trouble reading, I have | 0:17:12 | 0:17:17 | |
trouble understanding that. They've left him with a load of forms that | 0:17:17 | 0:17:23 | |
are gobbledegook to him. Without a computer or credit for his phone, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
Tommy will have to rely on John Higgs and the community house for | 0:17:27 | 0:17:33 | |
help in his search for jobs. Without the internet or without | 0:17:34 | 0:17:41 | |
this place open, you are up the creek without a paddle. Suz is | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
worried Tommy might become disillusioned. He will get other | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
people who are his own age that on sickness benefit and are getting | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
paid without having to prove they are looking for work, without | 0:17:52 | 0:17:59 | |
having to go once a fortnight to the JobCentre. He may think, why am | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
I putting myself through all this when there's nothing out there for | 0:18:02 | 0:18:08 | |
me anyway? Because of the time we live in, it is easier to get money | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
being on sickness benefit and actually having a job and | 0:18:12 | 0:18:16 | |
struggling with all of that. With transport costs, child-minding | 0:18:16 | 0:18:21 | |
costs. It's very convenient for anybody to get on incapacity | 0:18:21 | 0:18:28 | |
benefit and just stay there. Ricky Harris is also at the community | 0:18:28 | 0:18:33 | |
house doing his CV with another youth worker. Ricky is on the dole. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:42 | |
I do want -- I don't want to sign on but I have to get money. Do you | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
think the benefits system makes it too easy for people not to work? | 0:18:46 | 0:18:56 | |
0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | ||
Yes. But doing nothing is not going to be an option for long. Come on, | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
you know me. The fact is if you are on benefits you are getting money | 0:19:04 | 0:19:10 | |
for nothing. That is the end of it, isn't it? And people who do work | 0:19:10 | 0:19:16 | |
present that fact. Who can blame them? So the community team keep on | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
pushing a harissa bore his, persuading them to work in elderly | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
neighbours gardens in exchange for driving lessons and improving their | 0:19:23 | 0:19:28 | |
skills set with practical courses, like strumming. You are not very | 0:19:28 | 0:19:34 | |
good at turning up. Its �600 a time. If I put you in you've got to turn | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
up three full days. If I Buckett for you and you don't turn up on | 0:19:38 | 0:19:43 | |
one of the bays then I will kill you. Getting a strumming | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
qualification could help their work for a council. One step closer to | 0:19:47 | 0:19:54 | |
the jobs market. Steve Parker has been told he could be fit for work | 0:19:54 | 0:19:59 | |
within weeks. Last time he applied for a part-time job close to his | 0:19:59 | 0:20:05 | |
home he was turned down on health grounds. The employers are saying | 0:20:05 | 0:20:10 | |
I'm unfit for work. For the liability through my hand and | 0:20:10 | 0:20:15 | |
whatever. And yet the government and the medical thing are saying I | 0:20:15 | 0:20:22 | |
am fit for work. I don't even know where I stand. I'm so frustrated. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
And with unemployment in Wales at by more than 16,000 in the last | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
three months, the jobs market doesn't look good for former | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
sickness benefit claimants. It's a difficult labour market. Employers | 0:20:34 | 0:20:39 | |
can afford to be picky. They go for the young, the well-qualified. They | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
go for people in good health. Those are precisely the characteristics | 0:20:42 | 0:20:46 | |
which many of the incapacity benefit claimants are lacking. They | 0:20:46 | 0:20:51 | |
are the older workers, the ones in poor health, the ones with | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
relatively low levels of formal qualifications. They are going to | 0:20:54 | 0:21:00 | |
be at the back of the queue for the available jobs. This employee or | 0:21:00 | 0:21:04 | |
close to Phillipstown had more than 100 applicants for his last vacancy. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:09 | |
We can cherry-pick who we want. We can't just take anybody who comes | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
along. I'm looking for people who are proactive, they have to be | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
actively looking for work regularly. Somebody that it's not -- that has | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
not been chasing work, that wouldn't be the type of person we'd | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
want to take on. The government is trying to get people who've been | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
out of work for a long time back into the workplace. Do you think | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
they can do it in the current climate? I think they can but they | 0:21:32 | 0:21:36 | |
have to look into it more deeply. The type of channels they can put | 0:21:36 | 0:21:40 | |
people into, they need to look at these people and look at the niche | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
they can fit. Perhaps help them and guide them into areas that would | 0:21:44 | 0:21:54 | |
0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | ||
For Tommy Harris there is a flurry of excitement as he hears of a job | 0:21:57 | 0:22:03 | |
going locally. A job. They are taking on as well. If I can get a | 0:22:03 | 0:22:10 | |
lift then I'm going up there. borrows a phone. My name is Tommy | 0:22:10 | 0:22:18 | |
Harris. I had to leave a number. I phoned them and it was unavailable. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:28 | |
0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | ||
I left a message and they haven't And they never did get back to | 0:22:30 | 0:22:39 | |
Tommy. His mother is not surprised. There is nothing for us. There is | 0:22:39 | 0:22:44 | |
no work at all in Phillipstown for nobody. No work at all. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:51 | |
Phillipstown or Tredegar, there's nothing around at all. They is no | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
work around so how can they go to work? Where else are they going to | 0:22:55 | 0:23:03 | |
get benefit from, many from to keep my family? Any hours, both | 0:23:03 | 0:23:08 | |
temporary and permanent - or jobs. Search. But Tommy continues to look | 0:23:08 | 0:23:12 | |
for jobs in the community house with Suz and cousin Paul, who is | 0:23:12 | 0:23:18 | |
also on benefits. Must have experience in all aspects of | 0:23:18 | 0:23:25 | |
gardening. You have a. Bricklaying. Full driving licence. I don't know | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
what to say, I'm sorry is all I can say. I can see why you get | 0:23:29 | 0:23:35 | |
disheartened, I really can. didn't the government think of this | 0:23:35 | 0:23:41 | |
first and create jobs? And the competition for work in the valleys | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
will increase as more people are put off the sick. I agree that | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
there are people on their that shouldn't be on there. Not just | 0:23:49 | 0:23:54 | |
round here, everywhere. But they've done it the wrong way round. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
They've done it at a time when there are no jobs to go for. Even | 0:23:58 | 0:24:06 | |
for the ones that are being made redundant now. Officially there are | 0:24:06 | 0:24:10 | |
10 people chasing every vacancy within travelling distance of | 0:24:10 | 0:24:15 | |
Phillipstown. For those that are able to travel, that is. Like many | 0:24:15 | 0:24:19 | |
valleys communities, Phillipstown is isolated. While there is a | 0:24:19 | 0:24:25 | |
daytime bus service, only half the households have access to a car. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:31 | |
people are genuinely sick and AIL and made do go on jobseeker's | 0:24:31 | 0:24:37 | |
allowance, there are no jobs in a three-mile radius that they can go | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
to. So they are either going to have to buy a car, but they can't | 0:24:41 | 0:24:46 | |
because they haven't got a job, and they can't get a job because they | 0:24:46 | 0:24:50 | |
haven't got a car. It's difficult. But the government is determined to | 0:24:50 | 0:24:55 | |
press ahead, concentrating its efforts on helping 135,000 long- | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
term unemployed to compete for whatever vacancies they are in | 0:24:59 | 0:25:03 | |
Wales. We are asking people to go through it challenging period. We | 0:25:03 | 0:25:08 | |
are asking them to think again about what they can do. We are | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
trying to Steer many of them into a different direction in their lives. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
There are some people who will feel uncomfortable about that. But I'm | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
also convinced that those people who get into employment will a few | 0:25:18 | 0:25:22 | |
years down the road look back and say that it was the right thing to | 0:25:22 | 0:25:27 | |
happen. But what about the rest? What is and yet in place is | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
something specifically to help those very large numbers, this | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
tidal wave of people who have been pushed off incapacity benefit over | 0:25:34 | 0:25:39 | |
the next three or four years. That remains a serious problem. Unless | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
we can get some sudden miraculous revival of the economy, | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
particularly a revival in the places where the incapacity | 0:25:47 | 0:25:53 | |
claimants benefits are concentrated, we're just going to create more | 0:25:53 | 0:25:58 | |
distress and hardship. The benefit reform will crush the life out of | 0:25:58 | 0:26:05 | |
the community of Phillipstown. There is no glimmer of hope for | 0:26:05 | 0:26:15 | |
0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | ||
them. There is no light at the end And what about those people already | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
affected by the reforms? Steve Parker believes he will stay on | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
benefits, but he thinks he will get less money. He doesn't believe | 0:26:27 | 0:26:32 | |
anyone will give him a job. rather be out doing something, I've | 0:26:32 | 0:26:40 | |
got to be truthful. I just need fairplay. I just want to be left | 0:26:40 | 0:26:45 | |
alone to the best we can to get on with our own devices. That's all we | 0:26:45 | 0:26:51 | |
can hope for really. And Annie. Her decision letter has arrived. It is | 0:26:51 | 0:27:01 | |
good news. It gives a little bit up peace of mind now. She will get | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
support from the benefits system for the rest of her life. There are | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
tears of relief as she learns she won't be regularly assessed in | 0:27:08 | 0:27:17 | |
And Tommy, he is off the sick and wants to set up his own garden in | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
business. But funding for the Phillipstown youth team is ending | 0:27:20 | 0:27:26 | |
soon and with it vital support. suppose you could say it's dreaming, | 0:27:26 | 0:27:32 | |
but that's all they've got to hang on to at the moment. It wasn't for | 0:27:32 | 0:27:39 | |
this project I would probably be back in prison by now. With little | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
prospect of getting work, it's a chance he needs to grasp. If he is | 0:27:43 | 0:27:47 | |
to break out of his family's generations of unemployment. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:53 |