“More cuts will only hinder, not help. Get this wrong and mental health spirals, confidence plummets and employers slam the door shut.”
By Rachael Maskell MP
As we approach the autumn budget, there are rumblings that the Welfare Bill is unsustainable and cuts must be made. Without analysis or impact assessment on disabled people or the political landscape, Treasury demands are once again being put ahead of long term and human costs. Meanwhile the cost of living continues to rise. More people face higher energy, food and housing costs.
Addressing the structural causes of poverty must lead the debate, not who can manage on less. It is simple to say that anyone who can work must. I agree. Providing the confidence, skills, aptitudes and adaptations to make work a safe and inclusive space is an investment and cannot be short cut. But to turn the current system around will take time and resource.
We need to rewire our education system so that people are work ready. The Education Secretary has talked much of being school-ready, yet the product of 15 or so years in the classroom needs to have infused the importance and dignity that work brings. For disabled people, seeing barriers fall or overcome is necessary if access is possible.
Having spent the summer looking at young people with SEND, the education system must be therapeutic and nurturing to enable children are not accessing school to benefit from an inclusive environment. Schools and colleges should focus on getting students work ready, having the skills and confidence to work.
So instead of cuts, we need investment. Investment in preparing for work, and investment in the work environment so a person can sustain the opportunities employment brings of decent wages, good terms and wherever necessary the right adjustments.
The Tory’s legacy of Access to Work backlogs, stops disabled people getting into work. We need a mission to process applications, peaked at 18 weeks, to make work possible to many locked out without the reasonable adjustments, adaptations, equipment or personnel.
But there must be learning too. The Government has invested in the ‘Inactivities Trailblazer’. Finding out what works, learning from the process and understanding the outcomes, vital if employment is to be successful. The DWP must not second guess, but turn to the evidence.
The Timms Review, of which there is little broadcast about what it is actually doing, must provide a co-produced plan which disabled people have confidence in, to provide for their living costs.
Let us see what Charlie Mayfield has to say in his imminent report. Employers have a major role in sharpening their practices to help people back into work. It won’t be easy. It is not just thephysical space, but the culture they set. When productivity is differentiated due to someone’s impairment, they must never reach for the capability procedures or worse, but harness and optimise the skills of disabled workers.
As learning is heeded and investments made, disabled people must be at the heart of all decision making, not least if changes to social security are once again being considered.
Having visited projects in York helping to support people with significant needs into work. I have learnt that it takes time with intense support, but it works.
Chocolate and Co. in York, supports the holistic journey of people with dependencies into work. It is more than making a good cup of hot chocolate, gaining skills and qualifications, but stabilising home, having self-worth and overcoming trauma. Then, when ready, transitioning into mainstream work, with wrap around support.
York’s Tang Hall Smart, reaches people with extensive health and life challenges, again supporting people with an intense programme of work preparation, work shadowing, and long-term stabilisation.
York Furniture Store, upcycles and restores furniture ready for those in furniture poverty. It is the perfect circular economy, and yet the skills the staff learn, sets them up for life, having first been long term unemployed.
It works, people gain their independence and eventually become economically independent. The Inactivity Trailblazer pilots will say the same. So these underfunded charities, with their high demands and fragile incomes are proving the concept that more can work, but to cut deeper at the DWP will not just set their ambitions back, but will leave people dependent for longer, or without the stability necessary to sustain work.
So the message to the DWP is that this can be done, but it takes time and resources. In the interim disabled people and those far from the labour market need to be housed, kept warm, fed and supported. Many are living life on the edge, struggling to get by, so more cuts will only hinder, not help. Get this wrong and mental health spirals, confidence plummets and employers slam the door shut.
When I hear of ‘cuts’ coming from the DWP just 3 months after Parliament rejected its last attempt, I question what the Department has learnt, how it has engaged disabled people and why they think that the universal rejection of their previous attempts will be met any differently.
There are reasons why people are not in work, and these are complex. A punitive path will cost more in the long term for the people concerned, the economy, and ultimately politically. For their sakes and ours, we must not go there.
- Rachael Maskell is the MP for York Central. You can follow Rachael on Twitter/X, Bluesky and Facebook.
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