Labour MPs have formed a Get Britain Working group to press for reform of the welfare system to give opportunities for everyone – no matter their background – a chance to succeed, says David Pinto-Duschinksy
When Labour came to power in 1997, Britain faced a crisis of economic and social abandonment. Under the Conservatives, the proportion of the working age population on unemployment, income support and incapacity benefits had more than doubled. Entire communities were written off, left to languish on long-term unemployment and sickness benefits with little hope of escape.
Tony Blair’s government refused to accept this bleak reality. Through initiatives like the New Deal, which I was proud to work on, we didn’t just create jobs. We restored hope, opportunity, and dignity to millions.
Today, we face a disturbingly similar crisis. The last Conservative government’s legacy is appalling. The number of people outside the labour market due to long-term sickness has surged to 2.8m, making the UK the only G7 country where long-term sickness rates exceed pre-Covid levels. The young are hit particularly hard: one in eight 16-24-year-olds are not in education, employment, or training. Meanwhile, disability benefit claims among working age people have more than tripled since the 1990s, with mental health conditions driving four fifths of the rise in the last 20 years.
The economic consequences of this are staggering. The cost of sickness and disability benefits already stands at £71bn and is projected to reach £95bn by 2029/30. But our motivation for tackling this crisis must go beyond economic necessity. It is a moral imperative.
An unacceptable legacy
The employment rate among disabled people is nearly 30 per cent lower than among the rest of the population, with 43 per cent economically inactive. Consequently, the poverty rate among long-term sick and disabled working-age adults is almost 40 per cent. This is completely unacceptable.
Just as the previous Labour government was called to restore opportunity and dignity, we now face the same duty. It is the right thing to do. It is the Labour thing to do.
That’s why I, along with dozens of my Labour colleagues in parliament, have formed a new grouping of backbench MPs – the Get Britain Working Group – to press for fundamental reform of our welfare system to support work.
At the heart of Labour’s values is the fundamental belief that regardless of background or circumstance, every individual should have the support they need to make the most of their lives, enjoying security, dignity and agency. Yet too often, today’s welfare system robs them of this.
Research clearly shows that many economically inactive people want to work, if given the right support. Work benefits not just finances but well-being: a Cambridge University study found that just eight hours of paid work per week can improve mental health in many cases. Conversely, long-term joblessness can exacerbate sickness.
Workless disabled people are only a third as likely as non-disabled individuals to move into employment and often need additional support and help. Yet 30 per cent of people on Universal Credit for those with limited work capability have never been contacted by DWP, a Jobcentre or a DWP work coach and a further 23 per cent have been contacted less than once a year.
The current system acts as a barrier against finding work, making employment harder to pursue and sustain
Yet the current system acts as a barrier against finding work, making employment harder to pursue and sustain. Rather than empowering individuals, it traps them in permanent precarity, barely surviving but at risk of losing everything if they attempt to improve their lot.
What’s more, the benefit system itself acts as a major barrier to work. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation identified that almost two thirds of claimants were worried that they would not be able to get their benefits back if they tried paid work but the job didn’t last.
Instead of offering support, our system leaves people isolated. Instead of fostering aspiration, it denies agency. Instead of providing a ladder to security, it perpetuates hardship. This is not compassion and low expectations are no kindness. A welfare state that curbs potential is not progressive. It is a moral failure and a colossal waste of human potential.
After 14 years of Conservative failure, we finally have the chance to forge a new approach. One that paves the way to employment, security, independence, and dignity.
A system that helps those with long-term conditions and disabilities find good, fulfilling work. That encourages employment rather than punishing it. That offers real support and guidance rather than leaving people isolated. That, unlike the current system-provides modern, flexible options to take full advantage of changes in the world of work.
Such an approach could transform lives, cut poverty, and narrow the disability employment gap. In fact, 69 per cent of those on long-term sickness benefits say they would welcome more proactive engagement from the DWP about work and support opportunities.
A new partnership with employers
Building this system will require a new partnership with employers to ensure decent jobs, reasonable adjustments, and flexible working arrangements. It will demand collaboration with charities and community organisations to create more volunteering and training opportunities, as the New Deal did. It will require focused support to address work barriers like transport and childcare, better integration with health services, and, crucially, a cultural shift within the DWP.
But it will also require a new contract with those on long-term sickness and disability benefits themselves. Some will never be able to work and must be supported compassionately. But where engagement is possible, it should be expected. The goal should be a supported return to work, and benefits should be structured to promote that.
This will involve hard choices. But the government is right to take them on. Labour has already begun the work of rebuilding our welfare system through the measures outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper. We have faced this challenge before. We tackled the incapacity benefit and unemployment crises in the 1990s. We built the welfare state in 1945. Then, we made the hard choices required to create a fairer society. Today, we have the opportunity to follow in those footsteps so that everyone – regardless of health or disability – has the best chance to lead a full, dignified, and independent life.
Our compassion should be measured by the opportunity we provide, not the lowness of our expectation. That we use the language of a ‘safety net’ is instructive in itself. A Labour welfare state
for the sick and disabled should be defined by the pathways out it offers and the platform to fulfilment it provides – not just the sheer number of people it catches.
David Pinto-Duschinksy is MP for Hendon