Government warned over benefit plans

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by Change | 17 Apr 2009

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Ministers have been urged to put more money into providing services such as rehab clinics for people with alcohol addictions before cutting their benefits.

Government plans to cut alcoholics' benefit allowances have been criticised for failing to take into account the importance of developing addiction treatment services for people with problems.

The Institute of Alcohol Studies has said there should be more funding made available for services such as rehab clinics that can help people tackle their alcohol addictions before cuts are made to their benefits.

Work and pensions secretary James Purnell recently announced new measures that could see alcoholics having their benefits docked if they do not get treatment.

However, Dr Rachael Seabrook, research manager for the Institute of Alcohol Studies, has warned: "If they are proposing to do this, they need to make absolutely sure that the services are available."

She added: "Relative to drug treatment, alcohol services are underfunded which is not good considering there are far more alcoholics than people with drug problems."

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) the number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK has risen sharply almost every year since 1997.

The ONS has found there were 8,724 alcohol-related deaths in 2007, which was lower than 2006 but more than double the 4,144 recorded in 1991.

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