DRUG USERS RISK BENEFIT CUTS

Jobcentre Staff Will Be Able to Withhold Cash and Force Claimants to
Attend Treatment Programmes

The unemployed will be forced to declare drug or heavy drinking
habits when they apply for benefits and will have payments cut if
they give misleading answers, under government proposals which were
announced yesterday.

Probation officers, prison staff and the police will also be asked to
share with Jobcentres any information they have about individuals'
habits so that those deemed to have problem habits can be identified
and compelled to seek treatment if necessary. Those who conceal drug
use, or refuse to co-operate with treatment, face benefit cuts.

A leaked copy of the green paper to be published tomorrow by James
Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, suggests that the scheme
could start with heroin and crack cocaine users before extending it
to 'those dependent on cannabis and alcohol'.

But critics said the plans, which emerged just days ahead of the
by-election in Glasgow East, could catch vast numbers of recreational
drugs users whose habits were not a problem, while addicts whose
benefits were cut would simply turn to petty crime. They also raised
concerns about confidentiality.

'It does look as though government departments will swap information
in order to ensure that sanctions are more rigorously applied, and we
should all be worried by this,' said Adam Sampson, a director of the
UK Drugs Commission. 'If you look at the research about who has taken
drugs, that includes, statistically, you, me and most of the Cabinet.
Once you open up these powers they could be applied to anybody.

'And who defines "problem" in this context? The pragmatic behaviour
on the part of drug users will be to conceal, to evade and to lie.'

The proposals also risk a backlash from traditional Labour voters,
three days before the by-election in a seat containing high
proportions of benefit claimants and families on low incomes. However
Purnell, who obtained clearance from the Labour campaign team before
publishing it, is said to believe it will be popular among poorer
voters who often have more draconian views on welfare cheats than the
liberal middle classes.

The paper admits there are potential 'drawbacks' to the plan and its
impact would need to be studied, since only half a per cent of those
applying for the job seekers allowance every year were thought to be
problem drug users.

But it says that 'making declaring drug use and taking steps [to
conquer it] a condition of benefit is consistent with the obligations
on those in receipt of welfare help', and would show the government
recognised the link between addiction and unemployment.

It estimates there are up to 240,000 people in England on out of work
benefits who are problem drug users, and that up to 7 per cent of
incapacity benefit and job seekers allowance claimants are on drugs,
although only just over 2 per cent are registered with Jobcentres as
having drug problems.

The paper proposes legislation to require information from police
drug tests to be passed on to Jobcentres - individuals arrested for
certain offences in 23 police authorities may be tested for heroin,
crack or cocaine use - along with information from courts about
people on drug programmes and information from jails about prison
leavers with drug habits. This could amount to up to 150,000 people.

Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation Officers,
said that forcing probation officers to disclose information about
clients' drug use posed serious ethical dilemmas: 'The relationship
between an offender and the probation officer would be based on
trust, so that people would not give information if they think it's
going to be passed on. And the notion of sanctioning benefits for
chaotic users means they will just steal more.'

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said sanctions
would be 'the last resort', and Jobcentres would have advisers to
decide the difference between problem and recreational users. The
information would not be passed on to potential employers, she added.