Labour has been warned: ‘Don’t cut benefits!’ But will Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Liz Kendall or any of their cronies bother to listen?

A report by an organisation called the Commission for Healthier Working Lives warn ministers not to cut benefits but to provide material support for people with health problems to stay in work.

Here‘s The Guardian:

The expert panel of business leaders, trade unions and health specialists on the Commission for Healthier Working Lives – convened by the nonpartisan Health Foundation thinktank – said additional support to help more people participate in the workforce would save more money than it would cost. It said keeping people in a job was essential for economic growth, reducing the benefits bill and building a healthier UK.

“A narrow focus on short-term benefit savings and reducing headline NHS waiting lists risks repeating past policy failures and limiting impact,” the report said.

The Commission for Healthier Working Lives called for a step-change in job support for people with health conditions, concluding that a more proactive approach could help at least 100,000 more people to stay in a job within five years.

“Even after accounting for the costs of support, this could save £1.1bn over five years, with significant ongoing savings beyond that point,” it said.

It said the current system of support for people in poor health was fragmented, inconsistent and too focused on helping people after they had left work rather than helping those still in a job.

Among its recommendations was a new “back to work offer” that would guarantee that people would not lose their benefits for at least 18 months if they were trying to find a job.

It also called for the introduction of a vocational rehabilitation benefit to support people for up to 12 months to help them transition back into employment, a review of the statutory sick pay regime, and the rollout of a caseworker-led service to provide independent advice to employers, advocacy for workers, and referrals to wider support.

Analysis for the commission showed the number of people out of work because of ill health was growing by 300,000 a year, and that once they left, it was difficult to return.

The idea is simple: make it easier for people to stay in work, rather than lose their jobs.

The former Mrs Mike might have agreed with that, back in 2001 or thereabouts, under a former Labour government, when she was driven out of her job as ill-health overtook her and no effort was made to help her, by either employers or her trade union, the GMB.

But the devil’s in the detail, and there are no details here.

And Labour’s ministers will say this plan won’t save the £5 billion they want. We have a Labour government that wants to take money out of the economy more than it wants to help working people.

So This Writer is inclined to believe that they will stick to their current plan, which is to starve sick and disabled people to death by depriving them of benefits, with a possible early bonus if they are driven into mental illness and induced to take their own lives.

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