Welfare Reform Bill — Clause 51 — Employment and Support Allowance for Those Ill or Disabled Since Their Youth — 1 Feb 2012 at 14:30
The majority of MPs voted against those who have been ill or disabled since their youth recieving Employment and Support Allowance on the same basis as if they had made sufficient National Insurance contributions to qualify for a contribution based allowance.
MPs were discussing the Welfare Reform Bill 2013; the House of Lords had added provisions to the Bill in relation to this class of person which MPs were divided on whether to agree with or not. The motion which was voted on was:
- That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 15.
The text of amendment in question[1] reads:
- Page 36, line 16, after “2007” insert “, and subject to section (Condition relating to youth (No. 2)),”
Minister Chris Grayling indicated during the debate that his view was the amendment, which was the subject of the vote, had no effect saying:
- Lords amendment 15 was simply a paving amendment that had no effect.
Clause 51 of the Bill was being amended; it originally read:
- 51 Period of entitlement to contributory allowance
- (1)After section 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 there is inserted—
- ...
The rejected amendment would have changed this to:
- (1)After section 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 and subject to section (Condition relating to youth (No. 2)) there is inserted—
The condition referred to is included in the amendment sheet[1]. It reads:
- Condition relating to youth (No. 2)
- In paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (condition relating to youth), after sub-paragraph (1)(d) insert— “(e) after the assessment phase has ended, the claimant has limited capacity for work-related activity.””
The effect of the amendment; when combined with the related new section, is to give those who became ill or disabled while under 20 (or in some circumstances under 25) an ongoing Employment and Support Allowance as if they had enough National Insurance contributions to qualify for contribution based Employment and Support Allowance.
An impact assessment of the government's proposals[4] states they are expecting, as a result of their intended changes, to save around £11m per year; the comparison of options made in the assessment is similar to the choice presented to MPs via this vote.
Test change
- [1] Lords amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill 1 February 2013.
- [2] Chris Grayling MP (Epsom and Ewell, Conservative) House of Commons, 1 February 2012
- [3] Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - What you'll get - Page on Gov.uk
- [4] 16 February 2013 Impact Assessment - Youth provisions in Employment and Support Allowance - February 2012
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
Party | Majority (Aye) | Minority (No) | Both | Turnout |
Alliance | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Con | 280 (+1 tell) | 0 | 0 | 91.8% |
DUP | 0 | 8 | 0 | 100.0% |
Green | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Lab | 0 | 235 (+2 tell) | 0 | 91.9% |
LDem | 44 (+1 tell) | 8 | 0 | 93.0% |
PC | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
SDLP | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
SNP | 0 | 5 | 0 | 83.3% |
Total: | 324 | 264 | 0 | 92.1% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by party
MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote
Name | Constituency | Party | Vote |
Andrew George | St Ives | LDem (front bench) | no |
Mike Hancock | Portsmouth South | whilst LDem (front bench) | no |
John Leech | Manchester, Withington | LDem (front bench) | no |
Greg Mulholland | Leeds North West | LDem (front bench) | no |
Alan Reid | Argyll and Bute | LDem (front bench) | no |
Bob Russell | Colchester | LDem (front bench) | no |
Adrian Sanders | Torbay | LDem | no |
Ian Swales | Redcar | LDem (front bench) | no |