New Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall wants the DWP to focus on ‘work not welfare’ but what does that mean?

If she’s planning to re-focus the energies of civil servants towards helping people who can work to get jobs – and away from trying to stop genuinely ill people from receiving the state support they need – then This Writer is fully in favour.

But experience tells me not to get my hopes up.

Too many times, I have heard DWP ministers spouting aspirational words that sound optimistic – only to find that in execution (and I use that word with clear intent) they are about harming people rather than helping them.

One has only to cast one’s mind back to the last Tory DWP secretary, Mel Stride, and his toxic plan to tighten the conditions under which disabled people could receive Personal Independence Payment, to understand what I mean.

PIP is hard enough to claim in the first place; it is commonly believed that all claims are automatically refused when they are initially submitted – and government policies don’t get stigma like that attached to them without good reason.

Stride wanted to make it worse and now we must watch Kendall to ensure that she doesn’t try to continue the Tory legacy.

Even with people who genuinely want to find work, we’ll have to be vigilant.

Suppose, for example, that I want to get a part-time job to supplement what little income I receive from Vox Political. Would Liz Kendall’s new DWP actually try to ensure I get the kind of job that will help me reach my current life goals (for want of a better phrase) – or would it just try to shoehorn me into the first rubbish offer that comes down the line?

That would be no help for anybody. It would just waste all our time.

We’ll need to gather evidence and examine it, so I’m putting out a request right now for anyone who has dealings with the DWP to let us know how they develop – email This Site at [email protected]

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