Mel Stride wants to get sick and disabled people into work... here’s how to do that

As the work and pensions secretary looks to reform the workplace and allow disabled and sick staff to keep their benefits while in a job, James Moore says those affected must be consulted

Take it in his stride: Mel must involve disability groups and campaigners in any policy plans (PA)

Wait, is that... could it be... a light on in government? Yes, Rishi Sunak appears to have recognised that Britain is suffering from a serious shortage of labour, and of skilled labour in particular.

This is hampering an economy that has been struggling. Some of its problems are a direct result of the Conservative government’s policies. A hard Brexit would be one example.

Nonetheless, the work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has been tasked with finding some solutions to Britain’s paucity of workers. One of those would be to get more sick and disabled people into work.

Stride doesn’t look much like a fire-breathing revolutionary but he’s lately been floating some radical ideas, which (as is often the case) have found their way into the media to test the waters.

Among options being considered are overhauling – or even scrapping – the hated work capability assessment, which is used to assess eligibility for benefits such as the employment and support allowance (ESA). The latter is paid to people with disabilities or health conditions that limit their capacity to work. Another idea doing the rounds is potentially letting them keep benefits while working.

Stride is reportedly concerned that the current system provides “perverse incentives” to people to show that they are as sick as possible. And, well, duh. I described the system as hated because everyone in the world of disability is well aware that it was set up to prevent as many people as possible from qualifying for the support they need with a view to cutting costs.

Does your disability mean you have the occasional good day? Best not let the assessor see that because they’ll have you in front of a job coach at your local Jobcentre Plus before you can push the joystick on your mobility scooter into a forward position. The suggestion is that the emphasis may be changed in future. Applicants could be asked to show what they can do rather than what they can’t.

Now that looks like a 180-degree switch. But it could easily end up leaving people in the same old bind. What happens if someone shows they can do what the assessor decides is too much? I know you have MS, Ms Smith, but you look in great shape today. The job coach can fit you in at 3pm.

In a 2018 report, the work and pensions committee highlighted the problem of a “lack of trust” in the assessment process. A change like this will only work if that is addressed first. The ESA, anyway, already has what is called a “permitted work scheme”, which allows all its claimants to work below 16 hours per week up to the equivalent of the minimum wage.

Under universal credit, people in its “support group” keep their support top-up if they gain employment unless and until a future work capability assessment finds them “fit for work”.

The health and disability green paper, meanwhile, suggested the creation of a small “severe disability group” for the personal independence payment and ESA/universal credit, with placements made by medical evidence rather than assessment.

Ken Butler, welfare rights and policy adviser for Disability Rights UK, has some concerns about where that might end up: “Will the converse of this be a reformed workplace capability assessment that then places the majority of disabled people in a new majority group with work conditionality being backed by sanctions?

“Given the experience of the last decade of welfare reforms hitting disabled people, unfortunately I can’t be optimistic that the hinted reforms will effect positive change.”

There’s that problem with trust again and, having written extensively about those reforms and their impact, I confess that I tend to agree with Butler. The government has been overly fond of hectoring and threatening and imposing sanctions that can leave those on the receiving end in a desperate state. Workplace capability assessments can make sick people even sicker as a result of the stress they cause.

It is just possible to detect signs that the government has worked out this isn’t a good approach and that it’s time to put the stick away in favour of some carrot. Tax breaks are, for example, also reportedly being considered by the Treasury to incentivise people to return to the workforce.

But if Stride and the government are serious about getting more disabled people into work – and they should be because the disability employment gap is huge and reducing it would help the economy – it might like to try bringing disabled people’s organisations on board. They know the territory. They understand the problems and could supply ministers with ideas and workable solutions.

If Stride wants this to be a success, he should put in a call to Ken.