If you want evidence that Parliament has stopped even trying to be fair to disabled people, look no further than the recommendations of the Lords’ economic affairs committee, as described here.
This committee has decided that the government should impose stricter conditions, more assessments, and a more “rigorous” work capability assessment on claimants of out-of-work disability benefits – based on information from thinktanks, ministers, civil servants, academics and the Office for Budget Responsibility, gathered at six oral evidence sessions last year. No written evidence was taken.
Nor was any evidence taken from any disabled people’s organisation, or from anyone who claims out-of-work disability benefits.
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Its conclusions?
The committee called for sick and disabled people who are signed off work for more than a month by their GP to “undergo additional or ongoing assessments”.
And it called for all those on “incapacity benefit” – which probably means the “limited capability” universal credit groups – to have a work coach for the first two years of their period on out-of-work benefits.
It said reform was needed “both to curb the increasing fiscal burden and to address the ever-growing social cost of hundreds of thousands of people dependent on benefits”.
But there was no call for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to research why claimant numbers have been rising in recent years.
And as with other recent reports, speeches and policy proposals, there was no mention in the committee’s findings of the years of deaths and other harm caused by successive reforms of the assessment process and cuts to benefits*, the harshness of the assessment systems, DWP’s chronic safeguarding failures, or the continuing risk of harm to disabled claimants.
Apparently, because there wasn’t enough evidence to show that the sharp rise in claimants reflected a deterioration in people’s health – because the committee did not seek any – its conclusions focused on “the extent to which the rise in caseloads might be explained by the structure and process of the welfare system”. What twisted logic.
Disability advocates have said the suggestions would require huge amounts of extra expenditure to achieve the proposed goals: many extra DWP staff would have to be recruited, costing more than the savings gained from throwing disabled people off-benefit; changes to assessments would mean high payments to the private firms carrying them out; and impoverishing disabled people would impact their health, meaning more strain on the NHS.
This comes across as nothing more than an exercise in finding excuses to attack people who cannot defend themselves.
Why does this committee not live up to its name and research tax avoidance by the super-rich, or how a tax on assets of just one or two per cent could reverse the misfortunes of the UK economy? Is it because it is chaired by a Tory banker?
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Parliament has stopped even trying to be fair to disabled people
If you want evidence that Parliament has stopped even trying to be fair to disabled people, look no further than the recommendations of the Lords’ economic affairs committee, as described here.
This committee has decided that the government should impose stricter conditions, more assessments, and a more “rigorous” work capability assessment on claimants of out-of-work disability benefits – based on information from thinktanks, ministers, civil servants, academics and the Office for Budget Responsibility, gathered at six oral evidence sessions last year. No written evidence was taken.
Nor was any evidence taken from any disabled people’s organisation, or from anyone who claims out-of-work disability benefits.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Its conclusions?
Apparently, because there wasn’t enough evidence to show that the sharp rise in claimants reflected a deterioration in people’s health – because the committee did not seek any – its conclusions focused on “the extent to which the rise in caseloads might be explained by the structure and process of the welfare system”. What twisted logic.
Disability advocates have said the suggestions would require huge amounts of extra expenditure to achieve the proposed goals: many extra DWP staff would have to be recruited, costing more than the savings gained from throwing disabled people off-benefit; changes to assessments would mean high payments to the private firms carrying them out; and impoverishing disabled people would impact their health, meaning more strain on the NHS.
This comes across as nothing more than an exercise in finding excuses to attack people who cannot defend themselves.
Why does this committee not live up to its name and research tax avoidance by the super-rich, or how a tax on assets of just one or two per cent could reverse the misfortunes of the UK economy? Is it because it is chaired by a Tory banker?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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