Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a noticeable worsening of health across the population. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has speculated that this is the likely reason for a doubling in the number of new claims for personal independence payment (PIP) – from 15,000 to 30,000 per month – between July 2021 and July 2022. This upward trajectory has continued with a record 250,000 new PIP claims registered in England and Wales in the quarter ending April 2024, and a corresponding increase in claims for adult disability payment (ADP) that was introduced in place of PIP in Scotland in 2022.
Alongside this, the number of people on the universal credit health journey – either awaiting a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) or assessed as having limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) – has risen sharply too, reaching 2.1 million people in March 2024, up from 1.7 million a year previously.
The previous government’s approach
This has led to a growing concern about the number of ‘economically inactive’ people. The former Conservative government planned a number of reforms to address the situation:
- The Health and Disability White Paper launched in March 2023 proposed abolishing the WCA and instead making entitlement to the LCW/LCWRA element in Universal Credit contingent upon receipt of PIP or ADP. This would reduce the number of people entitled to the element by around half a million. Under a new ‘personalised health conditionality approach’, work coaches would set ‘voluntary and mandatory work-related requirements’ to help support disabled people and those with long-term health conditions into work;
- A tightening up of the WCA criteria with a view to reducing the numbers assessed as LCWRA by 420,000;
- A reform of PIP, with proposals that include changing the eligibility criteria, removing the assessment process for specific health conditions or disabilities, and exploring alternative approaches, for example replacing ongoing cash support with one-off grants or vouchers.
These proposals reflect an ongoing trend by the last Conservative government to suggest that some individuals may not be as severely ill or disabled as they believe. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said earlier this year that it was his ‘moral mission’ to ‘put work at the heart of welfare’, while the then Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told the Telegraph that some people were now
‘… convincing themselves they have some kind of serious mental health condition as opposed to the normal anxieties of life… If [people] go to the doctor and say “I’m feeling rather down and bluesy”, the doctor will give them on average about seven minutes and then, on 94 per cent of occasions, they will be signed off as not fit to carry out any work whatsoever.’
The solution, in Mr Stride’s view, was to change the rules for assessing sickness and disability benefits so that significant numbers of people were categorised as less sick or disabled and would therefore be able to benefit from additional employment support to get back into work. However, while there was much talk of ‘individual tailored support’ from work coaches to help people back into employment, the processes for providing that support did not appear to be in place. Indeed, with the Public and Commercial Services Union (representing DWP work coaches and case managers) reporting unmanageable levels of stress, appointment times limited to 10 minutes and an inability to recruit and retain sufficient staff, it appears that there would need to be a considerable shift in the operating and resourcing model for this to happen.
In addition, rather than focusing on encouragement and support into employment, the DWP has tended to adopt a conditionality-led approach with benefit sanctions having reached their highest level since the pandemic and a planned ‘toughening up’ of its regime for dealing with ‘disengaged’ claimants.
What does the new government plan to do differently?
While the above proposals were all put forward by the former Conservative administration, will things be any different under Labour? In respect of sickness and disability benefits, it is difficult to know with the Labour manifesto being light on detail and merely promising to ‘reform or replace’ the WCA. In relation to PIP reform, the new government said that the Green Paper consultation introduced under the Conservatives remained open (until 22 July 2024) and it will consider the responses.
However, turning to ‘economic inactivity’, it has been refreshing to hear the new Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall taking a different approach. Rather than assuming that the problem lies with the claimant, she acknowledges that
‘People who are economically inactive are not one single group. There will be a few who may act fraudulently. Others who say they cannot work, who could … but the vast majority … face a complex range of barriers … which stop them from getting what both they and policy makers want: a pathway into paid employment.’
To address this, alongside announcing a forthcoming Get Britain Working White Paper and the setting up of a Labour Market Advisory Board made up of external experts, Ms Kendall has set out three key actions that the Labour government will take:
- the establishment of a new national jobs and career service – bringing together Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service – focused on helping people get into work and get on at work, not only on monitoring and managing benefit claims;
- new work, health and skills plans for the economically inactive, led by mayors and local areas inspired by the Pathways to Work Commission report;
- a new youth guarantee to offer training, an apprenticeship or help to find work for all young people aged 18 to 21.
Conclusion
It has long been evidenced that conditionality-led action does not help people to find, and remain in, quality work but instead leads to increased material hardship and health problems. It is also true that there are many people with long-term health problems and disabilities who want to work and would find it beneficial to do so both from a financial point of view and for their wellbeing.
The new government’s proposals are promising in taking a more holistic approach to employment support involving local knowledge, and also acknowledge that the role of the DWP should not only be to police benefits but also to support people and help them overcome barriers.
However, there are other issues that impact on levels of economic inactivity, not least the state of the NHS and adult social care, which are playing a large part in the nation’s declining health. These will also need to be urgently addressed.
Perhaps the new government brings with it a glimmer of hope. Only time will tell.
Daphne Hall is an editor at rightsnet – a social welfare law website providing daily news and case law updates as well as hosting a discussion forum for advisers across the UK. She is also the Vice Chair of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers.
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