The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is going to be the subject of a debate in parliament. But it’s not just going to be on one policy. It will be on the impact of eight years of cuts and reforms.

The DWP: ignoring the impact of policy?

Back in 2012, the WoW (War on Welfare) Campaign was launched. Centred around a petition that got over 100,000 signatures, it forced a debate into DWP reforms and their effect on people. Ultimately, it aimed to get the DWP to do a “cumulative impact assessment”. This is where the effects and consequences – both positive and negative – of actions or policies are assessed.

But despite the petition and the debate, the DWP and government still haven’t done an assessment. Both have also ignored calls from the UN to carry one out. The DWP claims it cannot do a cumulative impact assessment because it “cannot be reliably modelled”.

Time for a debate

This is despite a thinktank, Policy in Practice, doing a cumulative impact assessment on welfare reform; you can read it here [pdf]. It found [pdf, p4-5] that, from a baseline amount in November 2016, by 2020 households hit by welfare reforms would be on average £40.62 a week worse off.

But still the DWP refuses to do an assessment. So the WoW Campaign is back. And it’s now secured a debate in parliament.

It will happen on Thursday 25 October. The Wow Campaign has secured this with the support of Labour’s Debbie Abrahams and Kate Green:

“Mistakes of bankers”

The WOW Campaign’s Michelle Maher said in a statement:

We ask that you look to your MP to attend the debate. To fight for the truth, that individual impact assessments don’t show the true picture. That disability support has been cut by billions without taking into account cost of social care cuts, respite care, NHS, housing benefit and Universal Credit. The most severely disabled children and adults have been hit the hardest. In whose world is it OK for severely disabled children and their carers pay for the mistakes of bankers?

The debate already has MPs from most parties saying they’ll take part. But WoW still needs more MPs to join in. So it wants as many people as possible to write to their MPs, urging them to take part. The DWP has not answered for its own actions for too long. No more.

Get Involved!

– Find out more about WoW Campaign and contact your MP to tell them to go to the debate.

Featured image via Channel 4 News – YouTube and UK government – Wikimedia