Government ministers will aim to overturn the exclusion of means-testing of cancer patients receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) as the coalition's government's Welfare Reform Bill moves back to the House of Commons.
The treatment of cancer patients attempting to claim ESA has been raised regularly by consumer and disability rights groups since the benefit's introduction. The measure was one of seven defeats suffered by the government in the House of Lords which it will seek to reverse today. These also included extending the time limit from one to two years before means-testing is implemented for all ESA claimants. Ministers have pledged to overturn the amendments made by the upper house despite the strength of feeling illustrated by Peers during the process. The seventh victory for campaig...
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