Welfare Reform

The Government’s Welfare Reform Act (2007) means that Incapacity Benefit and disability related Income Support will be replaced by a new benefit called Employment and Support Allowance. Employment and Support Allowance will be introduced from October 2008 onwards and, to begin with, will only apply to completely new claimants.

It is vital that these changes do not have an adverse affect on people with MS in work who have entirely legitimate reasons for needing time off. The MS Society is providing information on how people with MS might be affected by the changes, and monitoring the situation to see how the changes will work in practice. The Society will also be closely monitoring the process of moving existing claimants of Incapacity Benefit onto the new benefit, although this will not begin happening until 2010.