The DWP has escaped the Burnham reshuffle, with Pat McFadden confirmed as remaining in post as secretary of state for work and pensions and no sign of Timms being replaced as DWP disability minister.
Whilst it is good news that McFadden has not been supplanted by someone with even harsher views on benefits, many claimants will be disappointed that he was not replaced by someone with a more claimant-friendly attitude.
Meanwhile, the appointment of the former defence secretary, John Healey, as chancellor of the exchequer has alarmed some readers, who fear his commitment to increasing spending on defence may lead to him proposing cuts to other budgets, including benefits.
In his statement following his resignation, Healey told MPs in relation to defence spending:
“I appreciate how hard this is for Cabinet colleagues, and I am very grateful to those who support what is required, but not all needs to be done by cutbacks elsewhere. There are credible ways of meeting the mid-term funding challenges, working multinationally and as other nations in Europe are doing, that could allow us to protect the ability to deliver our Labour missions across Government.”
But for now, it looks like claimants must continue to wait for the results of the Timms review to discover what may be in store for the future of disability and incapacity benefits.
