Wednesday, February 10, 1999 Published at 09:04 GMT
Welfare state faces overhaul
The bill aims to provide security for those who cannot work
The bill stems from Labour's "contract with the people" - the 10 key points of their election manifesto, which promised to "lay the foundations of a modern welfare state".
But critics claim the bill is far from being the fundamental redesign of the welfare system promised.
Gateways to work
It will bring together welfare providers such as the Employment Service and Benefits Agency at a single point of contact, with as many services as possible based on the same site.
The reformed system will also aim to treat all unemployed individuals in a similar manner, rather than as different groups such as lone parents, the unemployed or the disabled.
There are 1.7 million people currently claiming incapacity benefit, three times as many as in 1979, although there has been a steady fall in claimants since tighter restrictions were introduced in 1995.
In the Welfare Reform Green Paper the government stated "we want a new approach to IB [incapacity benefit] which focuses on what disabled people can do, not on what they cannot".
The government also plans to introduce a "stakeholder" pension, which would offer low-cost, flexible pensions. Although the framework would be established by government they would not be provided by the state.
The 1992 Conservative government originally moved to introduce arrangements to allow pensions to be shared on divorce following a Lords vote in favour of the move during the passage of the Family Law Act. The proposals did not move beyond a white paper published in February 1997.
In June 1997, the then Social Security Secretary, Harriet Harman, announced plans for a bill on pension sharing to come into force in the year 2000 and a draft bill was published last year.
It will extend the widowed mothers' allowance to widowers and to restrict it to those with children in full-time education.
Widows' pension will be extended to widowers but time-limited. Widows and widowers aged 45 and over with no dependent children will receive a weekly benefit for six months.
There are 284,000 widows claiming benefits, costing £1bn each year. The government estimates that the reforms will save £500m in the long-run. In the short-term they will cost an additional £140m.
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