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David Blunkett has given reassurances over the government’s plans for incapacity benefit, writes Amy Taylor.

In his first speech on disability in his new role as the secretary of state for work and pensions, he said that incapacity benefit reform was “a promise not a threat” and that he was aware of people’s fears and uncertainties about the changes.

Unlike the current system, the proposed new benefits - rehabilitation support allowance and disability and sickness allowance - will differentiate between people with severe conditions and those with potentially more manageable conditions.

Those with less serious conditions will be able to top up the amount of money they receive through engaging in activities designed to get them back to work.

Concerns that people will be made to go back to work before they are ready under the new system have been raised by campaigners.

Blunkett, who was speaking at a Remploy conference, an organisation which helps disabled people to find jobs, said that too many GPs tell people that they will never work again rather than encouraging them to try and get back to work.

He added that he would be working with the health secretary Patricia Hewitt and the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners to try to change this.

He went on to confirm that the government would continue its current level of investment in the Access to Work scheme, which contributes towards any extra costs incurred by employers from employing a disabled person, but he said that the scheme needed to work more effectively and efficiently.