Keir Starmer has said he believes that people claiming sickness benefits should be expected to work, emphasising that people dealing with long-term sickness “need to be back in the workplace where they can.” Here we go again.
Keir Starmer’s promise sounds horribly familiar, echoing the previous government’s rhetoric on “welfare crackdowns” and the targeting of those who are Disabled or chronically ill, making us feel ashamed to claim what we are rightly entitled to. Not the best start from a party promising better relationships with the Disabled community.
This all comes as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced a new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill to “stop fraud in its tracks”. The legislation would allow the DWP to compel banks to hand over information about people’s finances if there is a suspicion that they are claiming benefits they are not entitled to. Disabled people are incredibly concerned that this risks potentially 'criminalising' benefit claimants and making marginalised and Disabled people fear they will see their benefits removed due to unavoidable errors made at the DWP’s hands. This is something we have already seen similar of, with unpaid carers currently paying back huge overpayments through no fault of their own, as a result of DWP bureaucratic failings.
Disability benefit fraud has historically hovered around the 1% mark, so why is this the fight they have chosen to undertake? Politicians and the media benefit from overemphasising the problem of benefit fraud, so working-class and Disabled people can be scapegoated whilst we ignore the current gifting scandal plaguing the Labour Party. It is important we don’t forget how miniscule the issue of benefit fraud is – a helpful distraction from the rich and powerful avoiding tax, or committing tax fraud, at the expense of the poorest in society. It is any wonder why the powerful governmental parties and institutions keep this away from the headlines.
We might wonder, would it be more useful for the DWP’s powers to be better served snooping around the bank accounts of tax dodgers, or money launderers, as we know that HMRC investigations led to prosecutions against just 11 “wealthy” people in 2023, an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Tax Watch revealed. It still appears to be the case that the UK tax inspector is doing too little to punish wealthy tax cheats at a time when millions of Britons struggle to make ends meet.
People understand that the country is feeling the economic chaos of the previous Government, but this Government’s narrative makes Disabled people the problem for the country’s financial chaos. We saw this under the Conservative government and history looks to tragically repeat again.
The press, especially the usual suspects, eat this up. Any chance to rinse and repeat attacks on “economically inactive” people salivates the editors at the tabloids and channels the government’s messaging to an audience of readers happy to believe anything written by a journalist with zero experience of living with a long-term illness. We need the papers to reign in their vitriol, comment pieces like last years “Exactly how much of your salary goes towards Britain’s growing welfare state calculator” acted like kerosene on a fire and saw the media awash with negative representation of Disabled benefit claimants. We couldn’t move for being blamed for a stagnant economy.
So, according to the statistics quoted by the Labour leader yesterday, the inactivity rate - the number of people out of work and not looking for a job - surged during the Covid pandemic and has since remained at a high level. Nearly 3 million people are out of work due to ill health, a 500,000 increase on 2019. There is an obvious reason for this, but the state and the papers flatly refuse to understand it. Many thousands are suffering from long covid, becoming Disabled and are suffering deep mental trauma from the effects of the pandemic. I’m no medical expert but I can see cause and effect here. The legacy of a mismanaged pandemic has left people physically and mentally shattered – we need support, not to be forced into employment that will make us more unwell just to balance the country’s books.
What needs to happen before employment is bandied around as “fix all” sticking plaster, is mass investment in healthcare, an increase to the lowest benefits in Europe, and discussions on moving forwards with Disabled people and our representatives. Disabled people need a stable place to live, without worrying about how we are going to eat or heat our home next month. That should be the priority.
The media also needs to be held accountable for some shocking headlines that label Disabled and ill people as scroungers just to sell a few extra rags.
We hoped that with a new government would come a new understanding, but the reality is sadly disappointing. As campaigners and people, we read into the manifesto promise of “Championing the rights of Disabled people and the principle of working with us, so that our views and voices will be at the heart of all they do.” And for once, we tentatively thought the worst of political stereotyping was over, after 14 years of cruelty, more fool us it seems.
So, dear Labour, you drastically need to avoid using stigmatising language and dangerous snooping tactics around social security which could push more people away from the support they desperately need if they become ill or Disabled. You are running the risk of falling into familiar work patterns thought long dead. There are plenty of ways to save money but repeating the cycle of taking money from the poorest and most excluded members of society isn’t the way to do it. Forcing people into employment without first making sure that employment pays, that any job is completely accessible and that employers are well aware of reasonable adjustments and inclusive thinking, is doomed to fail and it will come back to haunt you and your polling at the next election when you will find it extremely hard to claim a benefit.
Just saying.