Yorkshire and Lincolnshire: Benefits trap

Len Tingle Political Editor, BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

Doug Paulley: 'This is the problem'

Doug Paulley has been offered two jobs on the strength of his computer skills. The unemployed 26-year-old from Wetherby in West Yorkshire has had to turn both chances down.

"This is the reason", says Doug as he glances down towards his wheelchair.

"It is nothing to do with accessibility or even transport.

"I get caught by an earnings rule.

"If I am paid more than £20 a week, then everything after that is taken by the government to pay for the care home I live in."

No incentive?

Doug tells Politics Show for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire of the frustration and anger he feels at being caught in a benefits trap which means he has to turn down jobs which he is qualified and able to do.

"It is certainly no incentive to work," he says.

"What is so annoying is the way disabled people are often portrayed as being happy to live on benefits.

I would love to work but what is the point if it does not make me better off?"

Tim McSharry: 'The benefits trap is a constant problem'

Doug's view is echoed by Tim McSharry who runs Access Leeds, a group fighting for the rights of disabled people in the city.

Mr McSharry said: "We come across this all the time."

"Just because people have a disability and require support or specialist housing does not mean that they should be impoverished because of it.

"Many have the skills and ability to hold down a job but find virtually every penny would be clawed back by the Government."

Economic discrimination?

It is ironic that this benefits trap should have come to light at virtually the same time as a tough new "wheelchair friendly" law come into force.

This demands that public buildings and places of work are made accessible to ensure that disabled people can enjoy a higher quality of life.

Meanwhile, Doug is trying an alternative strategy to break out of the benefits trap.

His disability means that he does not need as much care as is provided by his £900 a week place in a residential home.

As a result he has been attempting to move into a much cheaper "adapted" council flat so that he might then be able to keep more of anything he might earn.

Should someone in a wheelchair live here?

It is not proving easy.

"This is one of the places available," said Doug.

He was pointing to a window on the 14th floor of a block of council flats on the edge of Leeds.

"Is it really right that a man in a wheelchair should be so high up?

"I am sure it has the wider doors and disabled bathroom that I need but I would always be worried about being totally stuck if the lift broke down."

No comment?

Leeds City Council would not talk to Politics Show about its policies on housing for the disabled but it is an issue that is currently being considered by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister at national level.

It is thought that this could result in a recommendation that in new public building projects no one in a wheelchair should to live above the ground floor will be unacceptable.

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