While she stopped short of announcing the Government would adopt all of the report’s recommendations, she insisted that the DWP will shift its focus “from a Department of Welfare to a Department for Work” as part of its Back to Work plan to reach an 80% employment rate.
In her speech, Ms. Kendall highlighted that:
- 2.8 million people are out of work due to disability or ill health
- Spending on sickness and disability benefits is set to increase by £30 billion over the next five years according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Of the last government she said: "Their divisive rhetoric about strivers versus scroungers or claiming people just felt 'too bluesy' to work may have made headlines, but it did absolutely nothing to actually get Britain working again. As today's report correctly concludes, people who are economically inactive are not one homogeneous group.
"There will be a few who act fraudulently, others who say they can't work but who can. But the vast majority face a complex range of barriers which stop them from getting what both they and policymakers want – a pathway into paid employment."
Empowering local leaders to tackle “economic inactivity, will sit alongside a new Labour Market Advisory Board.
The Board, is expected to meet quarterly and “will provide advice to the Work and Pensions Secretary and offer insight, expertise, and challenge to the department’s plans”.
The White Paper will build on manifesto commitments of a three-pillared approach to support people into work:
- A new national jobs and career service to help get more people into work, and on in their work.
- New work, health and skills plans for the economically inactive, led by Mayors and local areas.
- A youth guarantee for all young people aged 18 to 21.
It will form part of a cross-government approach to help people into work, including the launch of Skills England, and” cutting NHS waiting lists to build the healthy society needed for a healthy economy”.
The new report from the Pathway to Work Commission is based on evidence from more than 700 people in Barnsley, who are considered to be “economically inactive”. Researchers also spoke to employers, experts and others.
The year-long study highlights that about 2.8 million “economically inactive” people across the UK are unable to work due to physical or mental long-term ill-health, and that while the reasons behind this are complex, health must be central to efforts to tackle the issue.
It says that, the jobs and benefits system is over-simplistically based around targeting people with sanctions if they do not find employment, and focuses on those seeking work rather than the much larger group who are “economically inactive” for health reasons.
However, the report maintains that: ”For those who are able but unwilling to work, conditionality should be strongly applied. The taxpayer has a right to expect that people who can work should work.”
It then goes on to say: “But nuance is needed. Different cohorts require different approaches. For those with health conditions who are willing to work if they can find the right opportunity, the welfare regime needs to shift towards a less punitive, more personalised and supportive approach.”
“In particular, the DWP must find ways for eliminating the fears held by half of this group about losing additional health benefits to cover costs if paid employment does not ‘work out’. Many people will need ongoing support to meet their needs to live and work.”
Other points made by the Commission include that:
- the DWP’s activities are driven by a focus on the administration and monitoring of benefits and compliance – rather than a more extensive vision of its core role being a Department for Work.
- The DWP alone cannot solve this challenge. Its closest partner must be the Treasury, recognising the threat to long-term growth if we cannot increase domestic labour supply.
- But this challenge will require a completely cross-government approach involving the departments for health and social care, education, business and trade, transport, housing and communities.
- claimants want personalised support which considers their wider context. A more effective employment support service would, seek to align an individual’s needs with an appropriate work opportunity rather than simply assuming that any job will do
- support works best when it is local, visible, trusted, and able to support the wider household. This is especially true for economically inactive residents those who are managing health-related barriers, caring responsibilities, poor mental health or low confidence and low incomes.
- There is no single front door for people out of work wanting to access support or for employers looking to offer opportunities or receive support and advice on employing those with additional barriers.
While the report says that there needs to be strengthened work incentives in the benefits system it also calls for an annual “duty to engage” for “economically inactive” claimants.
In addition, it calls for unspecified reform of the work capability assessment (WCA) and that “regular reviews of work capability should occur through the annual ‘duty to engage”.
Ken Butler DR UK’s Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser said: “The acknowledgement by Liz Kendall and by the report, that a punitive sanctions based approach to increasing Disabled Peoples’ employment doesn’t work, is welcome.
Disabled people face disproportionate barriers to accessing work and staying in work and providing personalised advice and support is vital.
The systemic reasons for the disability employment gap of almost 30 percentage points are many, including negative employer attitudes, discriminatory recruitment practices, discrimination in the workplace, in particular failure to provide reasonable adjustments and to support those who acquire disabilities whilst in work. Societal barriers include inadequate social care, inaccessible housing and transport, and lack of targeted employment support.
The Disabled People’s Manifesto outlines many ways that these barriers should be tackled.
One of the most serious barriers to Disabled people staying in work is employers refusing to implement the reasonable adjustments required to make working environments accessible.
The lack of accountability of public and private employers, can lead to employers failing to implement their anticipatory duties under the Equality Act. The onus is then left on the Disabled employee to advocate for their rights in an unequal environment .
There is no reference to the Equality Act in the report, none to flexible working or the Access to Work scheme and only one reference to reasonable adjustments.
We would recommend the implementation of the 9 asks from the Disability Employment Charter and the delivery of Article 27 of the UNCRPD.
Policies to support the employment of Disabled people should be co-produced with Disabled People and delivered by Disabled people’s organisations. They should not be imposed and run by local authorities and “experts”
Disabled people have consistently highlighted a range of structural issues with the work capability assessment (WCA), including the system’s inability to account for the barriers that disabled people face when seeking to access employment.
A more holistic WCA would take into account “real world” factors such as mobility issues, including access to suitable transport; skills gaps; and the actual availability of appropriate employment in the local economy.
As with employment support, any reformed WCA must be co-produced with Disabled people.
The Pathway to Work Commission’s report is available from barnsley.gov.uk.
See also our news story Social Security System "sanctions and demonises Disabled People" - DR UK responds to Employment Inquiry available from disabilityrightsuk.org.