Sunak’s clampdown on ‘sick note culture’ has the whiff of John Major’s Back to Basics… and could lead to the same results, writes Simon Neville
Back in the 1990s, as John Major’s government limped to the finish line of 18 years in power, his party came up with a plan they hoped would save them at the ballot box. In a precursor to the three-word slogans much-favoured today, Major told his party it was time to get Back to Basics.
“It is time to return to those old core values, time to get back to basics, to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting a responsibility for yourself and your family and not shuffling off on other people and the state,” he said.
Fast forward 30 odd years and the current government appears determined to follow Major’s vision with its latest clampdown on disability benefits to wean us off the teat of state handouts.
Like Major, Rishi Sunak wants us to take responsibility for ourselves and master the art of self-discipline. He wants those on long-term sickness benefits to get back to work and thinks the rise in mental health conditions is overplayed, resulting in a so-called ‘sick note culture’. Better checks should be made and more tailored support must be offered.
But to read headlines that say those with anxiety and depression will lose their benefits hardly feels like the right way to go about helping get those people back into work.
Two weeks ago I wrote about my own struggles with mental health. I explained how each and every time I read a story about how ADHD, which I have, is too easily diagnosed, it leaves me questioning my own diagnosis.
That questioning leads me to think maybe I am one of those people work and pensions secretary Mel Stride says has been over medicalised and my difficulties are just part of the struggles we all have with everyday life. Reading those stories, I can quickly spiral and slip into depression, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy the government tells me it is keen to avoid.
Thankfully my depression is under control and any lapses are short lived. But the reason for that is because I have an ADHD diagnosis, which I had to pay for privately, and I’m in the fortunate position of being able to spend thousands of pounds a year on therapy. I also have a supportive employer. But others with depression and anxiety will be far less lucky, and it is telling that the statistics show that the poorest members of society will struggle the most.
Stride says he wants to create a system that removes the cash element of personal independence payments (PIP) and replaces it with better access to mental health services. I must have missed the memo that says mental health support and disability payments is an either / or option because surely there is room for both.
And for claimants who do receive PIP, does the government not realise that those with mental health conditions will be spending it on receiving talking therapies privately because the NHS cannot cope? If the ultimate aim from the government is to get more of us back into work, boost productivity and create a thriving economy, then we must be in a position to support people instead of threatening them.
If the government wants to avoid Back to Basics 2.0 creating Labour Landslide 2.0, they would be wise to treat the cause of our malaise, instead of just the symptoms.