The Disabled Are Again Under Fire in the UK
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
"Once again the sick and the disabled are the scapegoats for the United Kingdom's economic problems," stated Mary Mcleod, a 53-year-old from Campbeltown , in Scotland who cannot work due to mental distress and is dreading the new reforms and assessments for whether she 'll still be able to qualify for social security benefits or see them cut down. Bal Deol, a 32-year-old from Stoke In Trent In England who suffers from mitochondrial DNA disease and uses a wheelchair also expresses anxiety about the new cuts and limits on claiming benefits such as the personal independency payments which are supposed to aid disabled people. She laments, "Disabled are being treated as scapegoats - it always feels like new government targets us first. It's always us who normally bear the brunt of fiscal cuts before other people do." Bal Deol has to rely on 737 pounds a month she gets from Personal Independency Payments. Bal Deol is losing her ability to speak and is having to rely on communicator devices which speak using her voice as it was in 2021.
The anxiety is well warranted. The government has proposed plans to crack down on what they view as too many people claiming benefits but not working. The government is attempting to save 6 billion pounds of welfare benefits by either cutting them as well as tightening the criteria for claiming them. The insinuation is that many of the disabled are not genuinely disabled and are capable of working. They should be become part of 'Britain's back to work' campaign. The Health Secretary Wes Streeting criticised doctors for 'over-diagnosing' mental health conditions and so supporting their claims to receive personal Independence payments. He stated, "We have got to make sure the welfare system is sustainable - there are 1000 people signing on PIP every single day. Those three million people who are shut out of the labour market because of long term illness, I mean that's a population the size of Greater Manchester.”
According to the Work and Pension Secretary Liz Kendall as many as 1 in 8 young people are not in employment, training or education. She stated that the problem has worsened with an increase of more than 800,000 not working due to ill health since 2019.
The government has offered no convincing explanation as to why so many sick people have arisen other than blame doctors for the wrong diagnosis, or a lack of motivation to return to work due to either poor self-esteem or the lack of confidence of sick people. The basic assumption is that people who can work don't want to work and have to be prompted and pushed back into working. In crude terms, they are viewed as a burden and milestone around the neck of the economy.
However, such a campaign by ministers which takes aim at the disabled strengthens not only the prejudices against the disabled but incites people to shout abuse at them for not working. The disabled don't only have to deal with their much misunderstood illness but being abused. A survey by the charity Scope found that 1/4 of the disabled had been accused of faking their ability or not being disabled.
The problem is that this ignorance against the disabled is partly fueled by people unwilling to talk about what is means to be disabled. They either find the topic unpleasant or claim to already know the answers. There is often lack of empathy of what it means to be disabled. As Francis Ryan puts it “No one really talks about it. No one really talks about what it is to be a disabled woman, especially a young one. To go through something transformative before you can drink legally, to experience pain or exhaustion or to feel 92. To navigate all the standard parts of life, exams, careers, relationships- but with a body that is different from everyone else.”
Francis Ryan, who is an activist and journalist points out that it's not only the infrastructure that we are shut out of…“It's a decent income too. Nearly half the people in poverty in the United Kingdom are disabled or live with a disabled person. A UK disability survey in 2021 found only 9% of English housing provides the most basic features for people with physical disabilities” {It is worth reading Frances Ryan's brilliant article in the Guardian, 17th March 2025, “Why does no one want to talk about it? Long Covid is the Pandemic's Dark Shadow”}.
We need to dispel the popular myths perpetuated by politicians and the prejudiced people they pander to.
1. The first myth is that doctors are intentionally overdiagnosing a problem which is not nearly as bad as it appears. But which cases are Wes Streeting referring to? He offers no evidence to back up his claims. He is not qualified to make such rash and irresponsible comments. The main rise in claiming benefits is not due to overdiagnosis or easily accessible social benefits but the mass impact of the Covid-19 crisis. An estimated 2 million patients are suffering from long-term covid. In fact, this figure is likely to be a vast underestimate. If anything, confused doctors might equally be accused of under diagnosing and being confounded by this problem because it is a relatively new condition they have never encountered! What is certain is the huge scale of this problem.
A study in “The Lancet” in 2021 found 22 % of respondents with long-covid were too sick to be in employment and 45% were on reduced hours. The terrible economic impact of this disease is huge. One study estimated that long covid cost the economy at least 5.7 billion pounds in lost productivity from 2022 to 2025.
Note that those suffering from long-covid have hit a wall of misunderstanding. They complain of how people think they are either feigning or exaggerating their illness or that they can 'wish it away' because 'it's all in the mind.' But this is a terribly devastating disease which can have more than 200 symptoms and has stumped many doctors who still can't establish the main causes or come up with viable treatment strategies. Patients complain of all kinds of physical and cognitive fatigue when simply to do the most basic task can leave them exhausted. Just to get up and walk to the kitchen or read a few pages in a book can be a daunting feat. Some have protracted respiratory problems and can only be on their feet for 5 to 10 minutes. After 5 minutes they require a rest. This is a terrible disease that can render sufferers bedbound for years and unable to simply walk to the toilet. Some patients can't even dress themselves. Rather than gaining financial benefits many patients are losing money. They are having to spend money on consulting private doctors and expensive medicine. Many patients don't even receive medical treatment never mind welfare benefits! Now if such a person is suffering so intensely is told they don't have real problems then that is not only offensive but very depressing. It is no surprise to find that such patients suffer from insomnia, depression and have thoughts of suicide. It is terrible to be told you are an unwanted person and burden to the economy. In one survey in 2022 as many as 45% of 200 patients questioned contemplated suicide.
2. It is often maintained that the disabled claim too much! In fact, it is the opposite. Many of the disabled don't claim and don't know how to claim. If anything, benefits go unclaimed rather than claimed. It is not the disabled who lie but the government who lies about how the disabled are milking the system. Evan John, who works for the charity Sense, a national disability charity stated, ''The Public Accounts Committee found that last year benefit claimants missed out on 4 billion pounds that they were entitled to, an increase on the year before.” In many cases this is due to someone missing a deadline to communicate a change in circumstances- yet as the report acknowledges, this communication is often inaccessible and the DWP fails to answer incoming calls.
3. Some people think the disabled have it easy and are free-loaders who obtain lavish benefits. This is just nonsense. The disabled spend much of their benefits on more heating, use of electricity to power their medical devices, fund physiotherapy and use taxis because they are more convenient than public transport.
The public is largely blind to the hidden costs of being disabled. The organization Sense stated that half the disabled they asked told them they spent more for disability expenses than what they obtain in disability benefits. {See page 8 of ‘The Big Issue’, 1654, 17 February 2025, “The Benefits System Is Broken: And Disabled People Pay the Price for the DWP's 'poor service,'” by Evan John.}
4. The state treats the disabled too well. In fact, it's the opposite. A report by the Public Accounts Committee found the Department of Work and Pensions treatment of claimants is 'unacceptably poor.' They found that claimants were underpaid by billions of pounds and had to wait 10 times longer than people claiming other benefits.
Research by the charity Sense found that 3 in 5 felt scared before their assessment to see if they were entitled to claim and half felt humiliated by the process of applying. As many as 50% stated that applying for benefits made their health worse.
The common mantra your hear is that disability benefits are bad for the economy. But some research by ProBono Economic researchers have found disability benefits turn out to be more positive for the economy. For every 1 pound spent on disability benefit, there is an economic benefit in the improved well-being of recipients valued at 1.48 pounds. Disability benefits, if handled well, can boost the well-being and health of people.
Unfortunately, such research as well as proposals to raise money via a wealth tax are ignored. The Labour government intends to carry on with the Tory plans to cut around 400 pounds a month from the disability benefits of new applicants by 2029. What we 'll witness is more and more austerity by a government that has betrayed its promises to aid the poor.
It is important that activists strongly counter the toxic rhetoric of the government who relentlessly run down the disabled, the old as well as poor families with more than two children. It is important to raise not only awareness of the plight of a forgotten and forlorn people. We need to actively assist them in their struggle to create a more compassionate and caring society.