Disability discrimination in Met police is ‘baked into the system’, says report
Discrimination faced by disabled staff within the Metropolitan police has become “baked into the system”, a review of the force’s culture and standards has found.
But despite multiple findings of disability discrimination, the report by the crossbench peer Baroness [Louise] Casey does not find there is institutional disablism within the Met, despite concluding there is institutional racism, sexism and homophobia.
The report describes a “bullying culture” in which discriminatory acts are “tolerated, ignored, or dismissed as ‘banter’” within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).
The review found one in three (33 per cent) disabled members of staff had experienced bullying, compared with 30 per cent of LGBTQ+ staff, 36 per cent of Asian staff and 35 per cent of Black staff.
Claims for disability discrimination were by far the most frequent type brought against the Met, the review found following a year-long investigation.
Of employment tribunal claims brought against the Met between 2017-18 and 2021-22, 358 were related to disability discrimination, compared with 219 related to race and 131 related to sex discrimination.
The report says the number of employment tribunal claims brought by disabled people was “striking” and that the force “has not shown sufficient curiosity as to why this apparent pattern has emerged, and what if anything they could learn from it”, which was “a source of frustration” to disabled people working in the Met.
One disabled member of staff said: “When your face doesn’t fit, a line manager will use every possible tactic to get rid of you.
“So your work life becomes a constant battle to keep your job (frequently to higher standards than able-bodied staff) whilst discrimination and processes are used against you.”
Another said: “There is an attitude in the Met about people with disabilities, especially hidden ones, being lazy, and it destroys you.
“We do have a culture of bullying… People have questioned if you are really that ill why don’t you leave the job.”
Discrimination across groups protected under the Equality Act “is tolerated, not dealt with and has become baked into the system”, the report says.
It also says it is “highly likely” that the handling of disability-related misconduct allegations is unfair but the data collected by the force is not of high enough quality for this to be proved.
When it comes to staff grievances, a higher proportion relate to disability discrimination (eight per cent) than race (six per cent) and sex discrimination (three per cent).
An autistic detective in the Met who was bullied out of her dream job by the “toxic and discriminatory” actions of her managers told Disability News Service this week that she believed the Met was a disablist institution.
Mia*, who also has a long-term health condition, is taking the force to an employment tribunal for disability, race and sex discrimination.
She said: “The Met is definitely a disablist organisation from what I’ve experienced when I disclosed about my neurodivergence, how it impacts me and requiring reasonable adjustments.
“I was refused reasonable adjustments and was given no agency/decision-making power in what I needed. Decisions were made without including my views.
“I am disappointed that the review hasn’t gone more thoroughly into this aspect of discrimination, but I hope that the report now opens up a chance to look into and investigate disability discrimination and [other forms of discrimination not mentioned in the report].”
She is concerned that little attention has been paid by the media this week to the evidence in the report on disability discrimination.
She said: “My feelings are that even though it has come out, no-one is paying attention to it and no-one cares.
“I don’t know what it will take to change. The Met are not going to care and they will not do anything.”
Mia said nothing had changed in the force since the Equality and Human Rights Commission published a report in 2016 into unlawful harassment, discrimination and victimisation of Met staff who made discrimination complaints, which found “significant weaknesses” in handling those complaints.
She said: “This happens all the time, people just brush it off.
“Small things escalate, because if you have that kind of a mindset about people and you don’t believe them, you’re not likely to believe them as victims either.
“Why would they believe disabled victims [of crime]?”
Inclusion London, which co-authored a report 16 months ago that found the Met guilty of repeatedly failing disabled people who try to report disability-related hate crime, welcomed the Casey report.
It said the review matched its own findings, that disablism and issues relating to disablism “are not prioritised and there is no dedicated work being done in the MPS on this, with insufficient data to ensure these issues are addressed”.
That report, Poor Police Response, found police officers dismissing allegations of hate crime brought to them by disabled people, or downgrading them to anti-social behaviour, while it said some disabled people were mocked by police officers when they tried to report a crime.
Louise Holden, Inclusion London’s hate crime partnership project manager, said the review “makes for harrowing reading and rightly calls out racism, misogyny and homophobia” but “missed an opportunity to call out disablism”.
She said: “All forms of discrimination, abuse, bias and prejudice need to be called out and addressed if the Met are serious about rooting out the predators and abusers that are hiding in plain sight.”
She said there was a “thread” of disablism throughout the report, in the reports of discrimination, bullying, employment tribunals, grievances and “the appalling language used to describe disabled people”, which showed it had become “so much a part of the fabric”.
In a letter responding to the Casey report (PDF), the Met’s commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said it was “a powerful and persuasive call for urgent, deep rooted and long-lasting change”.
He apologised again for “the shortcomings in routine policing, supporting frontline officers and confronting discrimination”, but he has been criticised for refusing to accept that the force is institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic.
He mentioned disabled people only in passing in his letter and not in relation to the discrimination faced by his disabled staff that was exposed by the review.
The Casey review had not responded by noon today (Thursday) to a request to comment on its failure to find the Met institutionally disablist.
*Not her real name
23 March 2023
Evidence mounts of disability benefits white paper’s fatal flaws
Evidence is mounting that government plans to reform the disability benefits system are fatally flawed.
Last week’s Transforming Support white paper appears to be slowly unravelling, with a growing number of serious concerns being raised by disabled activists, politicians, charities and the main union representing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff.
One concern is that the proposals would appear to remove a vital safety net that protects those who face a “substantial risk” of harm if found “fit for work”.
Although ministers have weakened regulations 29 and 35 over the years, they are still believed to have saved countless lives by allowing such claimants to be found eligible for employment and support allowance (ESA) and its universal credit equivalent, even if they fail to reach the necessary number of points through a work capability assessment (WCA).
Concern is also mounting over plans in the white paper to hand responsibility to jobcentre work coaches for deciding if a disabled person can carry out work-related activity.
According to the white paper, job coaches will take on this role after the government scraps the WCA.
Disabled Labour MP Marsha de Cordova told MPs that the government’s plans created a “real threat of the ramping up of sanctions” imposed on sick and disabled people.
She said disabled people would now be “subject to the decisions of a work coach” rather than being protected by being in the “no work-related requirements” group of universal credit or ESA.
Caroline Richardson, a researcher with the Spartacus network, told Disability News Service (DNS) this week that she was terrified by the prospect of job coaches with no healthcare qualifications deciding whether she was able to carry out work-related activity.
Asked about the proposals by Labour’s Rachael Maskell, Tom Pursglove, the minister for disabled people, said the government recognised that, for many sick and disabled people, work or work-related activity was “not possible or appropriate, and where this is the case, they will not be expected to participate in these activities to receive their benefit entitlement”.
But he added: “We will work with our work coaches to develop these proposals and ensure they have the right training and support needed to fulfil this change in their role.”
Meanwhile, DWP has refused to say whether a work and pensions minister in the House of Lords, Viscount Younger, would apologise for misleading peers about the government’s plans.
When asked by Labour peer Baroness Lister if the government could guarantee that work-related activity would be voluntary for those eligible for the new universal credit health element, he said: “It will be.”
But the white paper states clearly that its new approach “will mean both voluntary and mandatory work-related requirements may be set for health and disability benefit claimants”.
DNS left two messages for Viscount Younger yesterday, but he had not responded by noon today (Thursday).
Asked about the concerns over regulations 29 and 35, and Viscount Younger’s comments, a DWP spokesperson refused to comment directly, but said in a statement: “As we develop our reform proposals, we will consider how disabled people and people with health conditions who require additional financial support may receive it.
“We will focus on what people can do, rather than what they can’t, but also ensure that where people are unable to work, we will continue to support and assist them in living independent lives.”
Concerns have continued to grow over how ministers plan to replace the WCA.
Under the government’s proposals, sick and disabled people who cannot work will only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also receive the extra costs disability benefits personal independence payment (PIP) or disability living allowance (DLA).
But DWP figures show that 632,000 people are receiving out-of-work sickness and disability benefits for those with the highest support needs but not receiving PIP or DLA.
De Cordova told MPs in this week’s debate on the budget that “no one is going to argue” with scrapping the WCA, which was “inhumane”.
But she said that relying solely on the PIP assessment – which was also “cruel and inhumane” and flawed but had a “totally different” function and purpose than ESA and universal credit – “will not work”.
Richardson said the plans were “nonsensical” (see separate story).
She said: “They are getting rid of a long-term sickness benefit for every person in the country.
“A lot of people will not get PIP. What’s going to happen to them?”
She pointed out that in order to qualify for PIP, a claimant – other than those who are terminally-ill – has to have had their impairment or health condition for at least three months and it has to be predicted to last at least another nine months.
Richardson said this could cause serious problems for people with many impairments and health conditions.
Linda Burnip, co-founder of DPAC, said: “I can only hope these changes never happen.
“While WCAs are bad and they have driven so many people to their deaths without adequate safety measures being put in place, what is being proposed is far worse and will lead to even greater numbers of disabled people dying cruelly and unnecessarily.”
The poverty charity Z2K said the white paper proposals “pose real risks to disabled people’s financial security”.
It attacked the “dangerous work coach lottery for sanctions” and said the new system would “in effect devolve assessments of someone’s ability to work to tens of thousands of Jobcentre staff”, with the possibility that claimants would have no appeal rights against decisions made by these work coaches.
In a briefing on the white paper (PDF), Z2K said the government “should not continue with this high-risk reform”.
There was also criticism from the PCS union, many of whose members work for DWP in jobcentres.
It pointed to plans, announced in last week’s budget, to “automate” parts of the universal credit sanctions system to try to reduce error rates, and provide extra training for work coaches to “apply sanctions more effectively”.
The union said: “This is a massive attack on claimants that suggests there will be a huge increase in sanctioning activity unnecessarily forcing many already desperate claimants into deeper poverty to serve the failed and discredited idea that sanctioning people helps get them into work.”
DWP has confirmed some details of its reforms to DNS this week, including that any legislation to scrap the WCA would not take place until after the next general election.
Following concerns over what would happen to those receiving the contributory form of ESA, for those not eligible for income-related universal credit, the department said the government was committed to maintaining a contributory health and disability benefit, and was reviewing options alongside its white paper reforms.
DWP also made it clear that the new universal credit health element would apply to claimants in Scotland – which is gradually rolling out a new adult disability payment (ADP) to replace PIP – on a similar basis to those in England and Wales, although the situation with ADP would be kept under review.
It also confirmed that DLA would be treated as equivalent to PIP for access to the new health element.
23 March 2023
Court orders second Jodey Whiting inquest to probe consequences of DWP’s actions
The appeal court has ordered a second inquest into a disabled woman’s suicide so that the “consequences” of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) stopping the benefits of disabled people who rely on social security can be examined in public.
Three appeal court judges ruled last Friday that it was “in the interests of justice” for there to be another inquest into the death of Jodey Whiting, a 42-year-old mother-of-nine and grandmother, from Stockton-on-Tees.
Her mother, Joy Dove, has spent six years fighting for justice for her daughter since she took her own life in February 2017, 15 days after her employment and support allowance (ESA) was wrongly stopped by DWP for missing a work capability assessment.
She had been a long-time claimant of incapacity benefit, and then ESA, and DWP and its assessors had previously noted the severity of her mental distress, and the risk of harm if she was found fit for work, and were aware of her long history of suicidal thoughts.
But an inquest in May 2017 failed to examine DWP’s role in her death or take evidence from any DWP witnesses, and it lasted just 37 minutes.
There was no criticism of DWP by the coroner even though Jodey’s mother had told the inquest that she blamed the department for her daughter’s death, her sister Donna had said that having her benefits stopped had been a “triggering factor” in Jodey taking her own life, and Jodey’s daughter Emma had blamed DWP for her mum’s death.
Joy Dove told Disability News Service this week that she would have continued with the legal fight even if it had taken 10 years.
Now she is looking forward to giving evidence at the second inquest, which is likely to take place in Middlesbrough later this year.
She said: “They can hear it from my point of view as her mother, and how it devastated the family. I just want to say my piece.”
She also wants to see DWP and Maximus – the company responsible for carrying out the work capability assessment process – give evidence.
She said: “This is the main thing. This is what this is all about. It was them who were wrong so that’s why they need to be part of it.
“They had everything there in writing from 2014, and they just ignored everything.”
She said the appeal court judgment was a victory not just for Jodey’s family but for all the families mourning relatives whose deaths have been linked to DWP’s actions and for “others still on the receiving end of awful treatment by the DWP”.
And she insisted that she would continue to campaign for a public inquiry into all deaths that have been linked to DWP’s actions.
After she was told by her solicitors that she had won her legal case, she drove with her son Jamie to the cemetery where Jodey is buried and looked at the picture of her daughter on her gravestone and said: “Jodey, we have got justice for you.”
She said: “I cried. I was just happy we had got justice for her.”
Since the judgment was released, Joy Dove cannot go anywhere in Norton, the market town where she lives, without being stopped – in the street, in shops – to be congratulated on her legal victory.
She has been campaigning for justice for her daughter since approaching the local newspaper, the Gazette, just days after Jodey’s death.
She later wrote to the prime minister, Theresa May, to ask for a meeting, but her request was dismissed by her staff because of “the tremendous pressures of her diary”.
She launched a Facebook campaign and a “Justice for Jodey” petition, and she began to support calls for an independent inquiry into deaths linked to DWP.
She also spoke at a Daily Mirror fringe event at the Labour party conference in 2019 and wrote a book, A Mother’s Job, with authors Ann and Joe Cusack, which followed her journey from “passive and easygoing” great-grandmother to fierce campaigner.
In November 2020, she heard that the solicitor general, Michael Ellis, had granted permission for her to ask the high court to order a second inquest into her daughter’s death.
But the high court rejected her request for a second inquest in September 2021, despite two key pieces of new evidence.
The first piece of evidence was a report by the Independent Case Examiner, which concluded in February 2019 that DWP failed five times to follow its own safeguarding rules in the weeks leading up to her suicide.
The second piece of evidence – which was crucial in persuading the Court of Appeal to overturn the high court judgment and order a second inquest – was a report by psychiatrist Dr Trevor Turner, who said Jodey’s mental state was likely to have been “substantially affected” by DWP’s actions.
In last week’s judgment, Lady Justice Whipple – one of three judges who heard the appeal – said it was “in the interests of justice that Mrs Dove and her family should have the opportunity to invite a coroner, at a fresh inquest, to make a finding of fact that the Department’s actions contributed to Jodey’s deteriorating mental health”.
She said the extent to which DWP’s actions “contributed to Jodey’s mental health is a matter of real significance to Mrs Dove and her family” and it is “reasonable for them to press for that matter to be investigated as part of the inquest into Jodey’s death”.
And she said there was also a “wider public interest” in the coroner considering what caused Jodey’s mental health to deteriorate.
She said, in the written judgment: “After all, the Department deals with very many people who are vulnerable and dependent on benefits to survive, and the consequences of terminating benefit payments to such people should be examined in public, where it can be followed and reported on by others who might be interested in it.”
She said it was possible that the coroner at the second inquest might consider writing a prevention of future deaths report to DWP “in light of the fact that Jodey’s benefits were cut off abruptly, in error, as we now know”.
She said: “If the coroner concluded that the error had contributed in any way, direct or indirect to Jodey’s death, that would be a serious matter to which the Department should be alerted, in order that remedial steps can be taken.”
The three Court of Appeal judges ruled unanimously that there should be a second inquest.
But they ruled against the argument that DWP had owed Jodey a legal obligation to protect her right to life under the Human Rights Act, although they said this was “not to ignore the multiple failings on the part of the Department”.
A DWP spokesperson said this week: “Our sincere condolences remain with Ms Whiting’s family.
“DWP is ready to assist the new coroner with their investigation.
“We cannot comment on active legal proceedings.”
But Merry Varney, Joy Dove’s solicitor, from Leigh Day, said: “Today’s unanimous ruling from the Court of Appeal means finally Joy and her family have the opportunity for the role of shocking failings by the DWP in the death of much-loved Jodey to be publicly investigated.
“The Court of Appeal has rightly underlined the importance of this not just to Jodey’s family, but to the wider public.
“Inquests play a vital role in exposing unsafe practices and risks to future lives, and today’s judgement, rejecting arguments made by the coroner and overturning the decision of the high court, makes it abundantly clear that coroners can and indeed sometimes should be investigating more than the immediate cause of death regardless of whether the right to life is engaged.”
23 March 2023
‘Nonsensical’ disability benefits white paper sparks return of Spartacus
A high-profile network of disabled researchers are to return after a six-year pause to produce a report on a white paper that contains “nonsensical” government plans to scrap the work capability assessment.
A key researcher with the Spartacus network told Disability News Service (DNS) this week that work had already started on a new report.
Spartacus produced a string of influential reports on disability and social security between 2011 and 2017, all researched and written by a loose network of disabled and chronically-ill people.
Now Spartacus researchers are set to produce an “essential” report on the flaws within the government’s new plans, and how to fix them.
Caroline Richardson, who has been involved with Spartacus since it first evolved on social media in 2011, said the government’s plans to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA) threatened to have a “tsunami” impact on sick and disabled people.
She said: “‘From our point of view it is essential because then we will know we have done something of importance with the community, for the community, to protect the community, and to protect people going forward who are going to become sick and become victims of the system.”
Under the government’s plans, sick and disabled people who cannot work will only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also receive the extra costs benefits personal independence payment (PIP) or disability living allowance.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed to DNS this week that the government would not be introducing any legislation to scrap the WCA until after the next general election.
But Richardson said the Transforming Support white paper had caused “massive” concern.
She said: “They are getting rid of a long-term sickness benefit for every person in the country.
“A lot of people will not get PIP. What’s going to happen to them?”
She pointed out that to qualify for PIP, a claimant – other than those who are terminally-ill – has to have had their impairment or health condition for at least three months and it has to be predicted to last at least another nine months.
Richardson said this could cause serious problems for people with long Covid if they “run out of statutory sick pay”, which only lasts 28 weeks.
She said: “How many doctors are now going to say long Covid will last another nine months?
“The medical community doesn’t know. The medical community is all over the place regarding outcomes of long Covid.”
She said similar problems would be faced by sick and disabled people with many other impairments or conditions.
“Are they going to abandon the stringency of the criteria of PIP in order to allow more people to claim the health element?”
She said the plans were “nonsensical”.
Last week, disabled activists described the government’s reforms as “heartless” and said they “defy logic” and pose significant risks to sick and disabled people who cannot work.
The WCA has been blamed for countless deaths and years of harm caused to claimants since its introduction in 2008.
But the decision to scrap it will mean disabled people who were previously assessed as not needing to carry out any work-related activity will in the future have to rely on the judgement of jobcentre work coaches to “determine what, if any, work-related activities an individual can participate in”.
This raises the prospect of claimants with significant impairments or long-term health problems facing strict conditions imposed by a work coach with no health-related qualifications, including potential benefit sanctions if they are unable to meet those conditions.
Richardson said she was terrified by the prospect of jobcentre work coaches deciding whether she was able to carry out work-related activity or look for a job.
The first Spartacus report was published in late 2011 and responded to the coalition government’s consultation on the introduction of PIP to replace working-age disability living allowance.
Another report, published a year later, found disabled people were experiencing humiliating and inappropriate treatment because of the failings embedded within the WCA system.
The most recent Spartacus report was published six years ago and responded to the government’s work, health and disability green paper.
The 237-page report accused ministers of creating a “smokescreen” to disguise their intention to cut support and force sick and disabled people into inappropriate work.
23 March 2023
Concern over expansion of supported internship scheme ‘with potential for exploitation’
Disabled campaigners have raised concerns about government plans to expand an internship programme that could potentially exploit disabled young people.
Last week’s budget included plans to spend another £3 million over the next two years on expanding its supported internships programme.
The programme is currently only open to young disabled people with higher support needs who have an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
But under the new plans (PDF), the Department for Education will pilot expanding the scheme to other young disabled people entitled to special educational needs support, who are likely to have lower support needs than those with an EHCP.
Under the programme, first trialled in 2012, disabled young people are enrolled for between six and 12 months, and spend about 70 per cent of their time in an unpaid work placement, with the rest of their time at school or college.
There is no obligation on employers to pay them a wage, and such placements are exempt from minimum wage legislation.
In February 2022, the government announced it was investing up to £18 million over the next three years to build the programme’s capacity and quality. Last week, it announced in the budget a further £3 million in funding.
But the publication FE Week reported last week that only one in four disabled students on the programme remained in employment a year after their supported internship had ended.
Concerns were raised this week that the scheme offers a poor quality version of an apprenticeship, and that the government could plan to roll it out to even more disabled young people in the future.
Amelia McLoughlan, policy and research officer for The Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE), told Disability News Service (DNS) that ALLFIE was “deeply concerned” by the expansion of the scheme, which was “further evidence of the current government abandoning any strategy of inclusive education”.
She said: “The fact that these supported internships are claiming to offer benefits like ‘friendships and a social life’, with no actual guarantee of meaningful employment, only points to further failing in policy to achieve justice and meet the rights of disabled people.”
Earlier this month, ALLFIE described the government’s long-awaited plans for improving education for disabled children and young people as an “all-round failure”, with delays to improved support for disabled pupils in mainstream schools, and a significant increase in the number of segregated special schools.
McLoughlan said that, given this background, ALLFIE had to “question the purpose of these expanded internships”.
She said the plans threatened to fund employers and support services but leave disabled young people “exploited under the guise of experience”.
She said that unpaid internships were seen by many as “free labour”, and “with the already limited access disabled people have to participate in mainstream education and high rates of exclusion, there is a real potential for exploitation”.
Fazilet Hadi, head of policy for Disability Rights UK, said: “Disabled people need as many choices as possible when it comes to pathways into work.
“Internships can be the right choice for some disabled people. However, it is only right that disabled people are remunerated where appropriate.
“Too often, we are seen as free labour for which we should be grateful.
“Disabled young people and their families should always be given the full menu of options, and not funnelled down the most convenient routes for government, careers advisors and employers.”
Disabled activist Catherine Scarlett, who drew the attention of DNS to the budget measure, said: “This programme is essentially slavery for disabled youngsters, vaguely disguised as an education programme.
“It seems to be a poor-quality apprenticeship without the pay that apprentices get, and appears to be highly discriminatory.
“Young people who are not disabled will get paid apprenticeships with clear qualifications paths, but disabled youngsters could be forced into a much poorer quality, unpaid path.
“It really concerns me that widening the criteria in the budget is going to lead to young disabled people being forced onto these courses and that paid apprenticeships will dwindle and it will creep to include all disabled young people, including those with higher qualifications who can’t immediately get paid jobs.”
A DfE spokesperson declined to say if the department accepted that it was a discriminatory programme.
But he said in a statement: “Supported internships are a high-quality route for young people with education health and care plans to get extra support to develop the skills they need to build a fulfilling career.
“We would expect that once a young person has demonstrated they are ready for paid employment, that they are supported to transition into a paid role.”
23 March 2023
Labour ‘shares concerns’ about government’s work capability assessment plans
The Labour party has raised concerns about government plans to scrap the work capability assessment and give new “fitness for work” powers to work coaches in jobcentres.
Disabled activists and disabled people’s organisations have already said they believe the reforms would pose significant risks to sick and disabled people who cannot work.
Despite worries that Labour might be poised to support the government’s plans – because of the silence of its shadow frontbench over the proposals – shadow disability minister Vicky Foxcroft said this week that she shared the concerns raised by disabled people.
The decision to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA), which has been blamed for countless deaths and years of harm caused to claimants since its introduction by the last Labour government in 2008, is the centrepiece of the new disability benefits white paper published last week.
Under the government’s plans, disabled people who cannot work will only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also receive the disability benefits personal independence payment (PIP) or disability living allowance (DLA).
This would mean disabled people who were previously assessed as not needing to carry out any work-related activity would have to rely on the judgement of jobcentre work coaches to “determine what, if any, work-related activities an individual can participate in”.
This raises the prospect of claimants with significant impairments or long-term health conditions facing strict conditions imposed by their work coach, including potential benefit sanctions if they are unable to meet them.
The white paper confirms that the new approach “will mean both voluntary and mandatory work-related requirements may be set for health and disability benefit claimants”, although the Department for Work and Pensions confirmed this week that ministers would not be introducing any legislation to scrap the WCA until after the next general election.
Foxcroft has told Disability News Service (DNS) that these plans are “worrying” and that she “absolutely” shares the concerns disabled activists and disabled people’s organisations have raised.
She said Labour does not think that work coaches “should be dishing out sanctions” to people who would previously have been in the employment and support allowance support group.
She said Labour had not yet produced its own proposals – she said the party wanted to work on them in co-production with disabled people “to make sure we get this right” – although she thinks the party will have “the essence of where we are going” by the time of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool in September.
Foxcroft said: “We will be looking to reform the system and try to build trust in the DWP which should be there to support people in time of need and allow those who can and want to work the ability to do so, but without the threat of punitive action.
“It’s ridiculous that people who want to work are too afraid to do it for fear of losing [extra support] and having to go through the whole assessment process again.
“We are absolutely 100 per cent genuine in making sure people should not be fearful of doing that and therefore the system needs reform to make sure that can happen.”
Foxcroft has already approached disability organisations for their thoughts about the government’s plans, and she said their concerns were focusing on plans to scrap the WCA and hand the responsibility for assessing “fitness for work” to jobcentre work coaches.
She said: “That’s where the biggest amount of concern is, that’s where people have come back to me.
“In theory, we would have welcomed getting rid of the work capability assessment.
“However, as always the devil is in the detail and from what we can see this is talking about merging [the assessment] with PIP and we are worried about people who will be impacted by this.”
She also has concerns over what will happen to the 630,000 people who are currently in the employment and support allowance (ESA) support group or the equivalent universal credit group but do not receive either DLA or PIP.
Many of this group are likely not to qualify for PIP and so could find themselves ineligible for the new health element of universal credit under the government’s proposals.
Foxcroft questioned why the government had published its white paper when it did not appear to know why so many people in these groups were not receiving DLA or PIP.
She obtained the figure of 630,000 from disability minister Tom Pursglove earlier this month, and DWP only gave a vague answer to DNS when asked why so many people in those two groups were currently not receiving DLA or PIP.
Although Labour welcomes some of the government’s proposals, Foxcroft said there were many questions over the sketchy details in the white paper, which is only 43 pages long.
She said: “There seem to be a lot of pilots, bearing in mind they have been in power for 13 years.”
Foxcroft said Labour had “tonnes and tonnes” of questions about the details of the government’s reforms, which they would try to secure answers to through parliamentary questions.
23 March 2023
Other disability-related stories covered by mainstream media this week
Ministers are poised to cut £250 million from investment in the social care workforce in England, it has been reported, in a move that providers say could set back care “for years to come”. According to the Health Service Journal, the government is poised to water down a promise it made in the December 2021 social care white paper to dedicate £500 million to “investment in knowledge, skills, health and wellbeing, and recruitment policies [that] will improve social care as a long-term career choice”: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/17/government-to-cut-250m-from-social-care-workforce-funding-in-england-report-says
Campaigners opposing a ban on parking for disabled people in York have protested outside the national Liberal Democrat spring conference in the city. The permanent ban in pedestrianised areas of the city centre was introduced in November 2021. About 80 disabled people and their supporters gathered for the event outside the Barbican Centre on Saturday: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-65006541
People who are terminally-ill will be able to get more of their benefits fast-tracked from next month, following a change to the rules. Ministers decided to axe the cruel “six-month rule” last year, which meant claimants had to get their GP to fill out a form confirming they were likely to die within six months to qualify for fast-tracked support. After years of campaigning, this period was changed to 12 months last April – but only for people claiming universal credit and employment and support allowance. Today, the Department for Work and Pensions confirmed this will also apply to thousands more people claiming personal independence payment, disability living allowance and attendance allowance from 3 April: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-unveils-major-benefits-change-29512545
A campaigner for blind people has urged the prime minister to help sort out the shortage of guide dogs across the UK. Jill Allen-King, 82, from Westcliff, Essex, met Rishi Sunak at an event to celebrate community champions on Wednesday evening. She is facing the possibility of her own dog, Jagger, being retired due to his age in June. The Guide Dogs charity said there had been a shortage due to the restrictions of the pandemic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-65045697
23 March 2023
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
