Welfare Reform and Work Bill — Clause 13 — Employment and Support Allowance: Work-Related Activity Component — 23 Feb 2016 at 17:36

The majority of MPs voted to remove the "work-related activity component" in the Employment and Support Allowance. This would reduce the amount paid to those who are ill or disabled, but who are not deemed to be severely limited in what they can do, by £29.05 per week; reducing the benefit to the same level as job-seeker's allowance.

MPs were considering the Welfare Reform and Work Bill^[1].

Lords amendment 8^[2] was rejected in this vote, it stated:

• Leave out Clause 13

Clause 13^[3] was titled Employment and support allowance: work-related activity component. The clause provided for an amendment to Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 to remove the "work-related activity component" from the Employment and Support Allowance. The component is paid at a rate of £29.05 per week.^[4]

Together with the removal of the Limited Capability for Work component in Universal Credit the changes are expected to reduce Government spending by £640m per year in 2020/21.^[4]

The motion supported by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 8

==

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Welfare Reform and Work Bill
• [2] Lords amendments to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill
• [3] Clause 13 of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill
• [4] Impact assessment of removal of the the ESA Work Related Activity Component and the Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work Element for new claims

Debate in Parliament | Source |