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Elizabeth Bray has prepared a radical proposal to change the benefit system based on the brilliant idea produced by Alastair and David for the last issue of Life in the Day.Elizabeth has addressed each and every aspect of the problems created by the existing DSS regulations — her powerful arguments spell out the reasons for change.Tables of benefits, earnings and tax demonstrate with precision and clarity the bottom line takehome money. Anybody seeking change to our benefit system should get a copy of the 19‐page document without delay. To cover costs please send a cheque for £2.50 to E. Bray, at 21 Horn Lane, Linton, Cambridge CB1 6HT and an A4 SAE 39p postage.

In this regular column, we aim to promote constructive debate about our curious Benefits system which deters and prevents people earning a living. Experts will cast light on the Kafka‐esque intricacies which baffle mental health service users and providers alike.This first article plunges in at the deep end with a proposal for a new benefit — ‘Rehabilitation Allowance’ — which could, if introduced, make it possible to become a wageearner with earnings of £60 per week plus. The proposed allowance and retained entitlement to other benefits would ensure that the wage earner is a bit better off as a result of working — the basic minimum incentive to getting a job. The Rehabilitation Allowance would also serve as a passport back into full benefit entitlement if the job should end — thus minimising the current risks of becoming employed.Elizabeth Bray devised this idea as part of a report on the work of the All‐Party Parliamentary Mental Health Group which this year chose as its focus the need for more and better employment opportunities. Elizabeth's background is in curriculum development and, as parliamentary assistant to her husband, Jeremy Bray MP — who has chaired the Group since 1995 — she brings a fresh approach to problems in which it is all to easy to get bogged down if you work with them every day.The Report itself takes a wide‐ranging view of disparate and sometimes contradictory policies and recommends a national framework bringing together health, social security benefits, employment training and education. A copy of the full report can be obtained by sending an s.a.e. to: Ms D. Hart, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 17 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PG.We hope that this brief version of the proposal will inspire readers to read the Report and make comments and suggestions of their own about this, the thorniest of problems for people wanting to join the labour market.

Welfare reform and benefits changes are vitally important to people with mental health problems. Yet the details about policy changes are barely reported. The broadsheets ‐ the Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Telegraph and The Times ‐ have given up serious reporting of parliamentary proceedings, and we have to listen to Breakfast with Frost for the latest government sound bites on policy initiatives.However, lobbyists ‐ user groups, carers, and health care providers ‐ should take heart. We may not have full open government yet, but you can now access both government departments and parliamentary proceedings on the Internet. You can also respond to, and possibly influence, government policy. Elizabeth Bray explains how…

On the last page of the White Paper A New Contract for Welfare ‐ Support for the Disabled, the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Social Security, states: ‘We are increasing the therapeutic earnings limit in Incapacity Benefit to ensure that people with a long‐term illness or disability who undertake therapeutic work can benefit from higher wage rates.’The week before the paper was published, a letter requesting exactly this change was sent to Alistair Darling signed by service user groups and representatives of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mind, the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, the Manic Depression Fellowship, ITON Ireland, the Richmond Fellowship, Birmingham and City Universities, the Centre for Mental Health Services Development at King's College, London, Professor Geoff Shepherd, Jack Ashley, Elizabeth Bray and me.Who says no‐one ever listens!

Drawing on nearly ten years' experience of developing and managing social firms in Edinburgh, Sheila Durie makes the case for creating real jobs to complement the government's ‘Welfare to Work’ and ‘New Deal’ initiatives.

Some misconception appears to have arisen in respect to the meaning of Section 11 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1899, owing, doubtless, to the faulty punctuation of certain copies of the Act, and the Sanitary Record has done good service by calling attention to the matter. The trouble has clearly been caused by the insertion of a comma after the word “condensed” in certain copies of the Act, and the non‐insertion of this comma in other copies. The words of the section, as printed by the Sanitary Record, are as follows: “Every tin or other receptacle containing condensed, separated or skimmed milk must bear a label clearly visible to the purchaser on which the words ‘Machine‐skimmed Milk,’ or ‘Skimmed Milk,’ as the case may require, are printed in large and legible type.”