A/70/297 countries have a scheme anchored in law that provides cash benefits to persons with disabilities. The majority of them are contributory and serve as income replacement in the event of full or partial disability. Although non -contributory benefits are extremely important for persons with disabilities, they are available in less than half of the world’s countries. Also, in most cases, the grants provided through this scheme are insufficient to ensure an adequate standard of living or even to cover the extra costs of disability. 52. Disability benefits are fundamental for promoting the inclusion and active participation of persons with disabilities; however, if wrongly conceived, they could create disincentives for such participation. When disability benefits bundle assistance to cover disability-related extra costs or access to health care together with income support aimed at reducing poverty, persons with disabilities may lose the entire benefit package if they gain a higher income than the poverty line or minimum income threshold. This places persons with disabilities at a crossroads, where they must choose between securing a minimum but stable income, and seeking employment and further socioeconomic participation and contribution; the latter option bearing the risk of job insecurity or insufficient income to cover all expenses. Therefore, if not well designed, these benefits can in themselves become a “benefit trap” that leads to low labour force participation. 50 This problem is further compounded when the disability benefits are linked to a precondition of being “unable to work” (as opposed to having a low income or a reduced ear nings potential) as part of the eligibility criteria, which not only reinforces stereotyping of persons with disabilities, but also perpetuates their dependency on the benefits by eliminating any expectation of their entering the labour market. 53. To avoid this dilemma, States should unbundle income security and disability related assistance to find the right balance between supporting labour inclusion and providing an adequate level of income security for persons with disabilities. The two sets of policies should be seen as complementary, rather than contradictory, in promoting the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities. Measures to facilitate the inclusion in the labour market of recipients of disability benefits must include transitional or “bridging” arrangements to enable them to retain at least part of the benefits (e.g., assistance related to the extra costs of disability, and in-kind benefits, such as health care) until they reach a certain wage threshold, and to become eligible again without delay if they lose their jobs. 51 54. It is important that States provide persons with disabilities with choice and control over their disability benefits. In fact, if the disability benefit is provided as part of a household-related benefit, there is no guarantee that it would actually contribute to the social participation and inclusion of the person with a disability. While many individuals may require support in their daily lives, they should retain control over their personal budgets and the choice of support received. D. Targeting and eligibility 55. While the ultimate goal is to achieve a universal and systematic approach to social protection, in many middle- and low-income countries non-contributory __________________ 50 51 15-12544 A/HRC/22/25, para. 61. ILO, World Social Protection Report. 17/25