Fears disabled could be forced to work from home by government benefits changes

People with disabilities and mental health conditions will be expected to look for work under government plans to reduce the numbers claiming sickness benefits.

Announcing the proposed shake-up of disability benefit assessments, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the reforms could see those with health conditions which have kept them out of work “given the right support and opportunities to move off benefits and towards the jobs market”.

He told the Commons one in five people deemed too sick to work want to have a job, adding the rise in homeworking since the pandemic has opened up more opportunities for sickness and disability claimants “to start, stay and to succeed in work”.

However, charities warned the changes could force people to work when they are not well enough and make them more ill.

Mr Stride said the government is considering changes to the Work Capability Assessment, the test aimed at establishing how much a disability or illness limits someone’s ability to work.

These include updating the categories associated with mobility and social interaction, reflecting improved employer support in recent years for flexible and homeworking – and minimising the risk of these issues causing problems for workers. They also include providing “tailored support” for those found capable of working.

Mr Stride said: “The Work Capability Assessment doesn’t reflect how someone with a disability or health condition might be able to work from home, yet we know many disabled people do just that.

“Our plans include taking account of the fact that people with mobility problems or who suffer anxiety within the workplace have better access to employment opportunities from the rise in flexible and homeworking.”

The cabinet minister added the changes would not affect those at the end of their life, or with severe learning difficulties or disabilities.

The consultation will run until 30 October, and ministers hope the proposed changes will come into force by 2025 – so not until after the next general election.

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“If people are able to work and they’re receiving benefits, then it’s just right that we should expect them to be looking for work and going into employment,” Mr Stride later told reporters.

Asked if the changes were aimed at reducing the £26bn welfare budget, he said: “There’s no point in spending money keeping people on a benefit if they can work and benefit from work. And indeed in many cases, want to work.”

‘A system that is failing sick and disabled people’

James Taylor, executive director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said: “We’re worried these proposals will end up forcing huge numbers of disabled people to look for work when they aren’t well enough, making them more ill. If they don’t meet strict conditions, they’ll have their benefits stopped. In the grips of a cost of living crisis this could be catastrophic.”

Sarah White, head of policy at national disability charity Sense, warned the plans could “cause huge anxiety for disabled people up and down the country”.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall described the proposals as “tinkering at the edges of a failing system”.

She said: “If you run your NHS into the ground for 13 years and let waiting lists for physical and mental health soar, if you fail to reform social care to help people caring for their loved ones, and if your sole aim is to try and score political points rather than reforming the system to get sick and disabled people who can work the help they really need, you end up with the mess we have today.

“A system that is failing sick and disabled people, that is failing taxpayers, and failing our country as a whole. Britain deserves far better than this.”

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