Government concession on New Deal

Disabled people must consent to the possibility of being
randomly excluded from the New Deal for Disabled People in order to
be allowed to participate.

The new Department for Work and Pensions, plans to randomly
exclude one in five applicants and put them in a control group for
evaluation purposes.

The government had not originally planned to solicit consent to
the possibility of exclusion but retracted last week after an
outcry from disability groups.

The scheme will be launched nationally next month but plans to
introduce the control group have now been postponed for six months
while the government consults disability groups, who will act as
go-betweens for disabled people and employers.

An RNIB spokesperson welcomed the six month postponement,
adding, “Our bottom line to be involved is that people are
volunteers and give informed consent to be part of the control
group,” he said.