Church Action on Poverty has expressed concern that new welfare reforms will increase the exclusion of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell announced proposals on Monday to abolish Incapacity Benefit by 2013 and later Income Support. He said the scheme would help bring thousands of people back into employment.

CAP said it was concerned that reforms will force people who have been unemployed for long periods to join "work for dole" schemes, abolish incapacity benefit, and require everyone - including single parents and many people with long-term illnesses - to seek work if they are to receive benefits.

CAP's National Coordinator Niall Cooper commented: "We are alarmed that these reforms will perpetuate the harmful stereotypes that portray people living in poverty as work-shy scroungers.

"CAP's grassroots research with some of the hardest-to-reach and most excluded people in the UK shows that they need support, not punishment. Many people experiencing long-term unemployment suffer from depression and other mental illnesses."

Mr Cooper said that people on benefits would be "stigmatised unfairly" and that the reforms would do nothing to help them find income security and employment.

"Presenting this image of people on benefits will make things worse for some of the most excluded people in our society," he said.

"If the Government wants to do something about real scroungers, it should target the super-rich - the people who benefit from this country's workforce and skills, but evade £42 billion of tax each year."