Work Enforcement for those on Disability Payments in Britain: Disrespect and Despair
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
Too many people imagine themselves as 'psychologists.' They presume they can 'see through people.' They flatter themselves. It is an old conceit which drove the founder of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud to exasperation. But in reality, most people can be poor psychologists when it comes to assessing whether people are deceiving other people. And often people can be easily misled than they care to admit.
It is sufficient to point to one anecdote. While I was a student a psychology lecturer drew three faces on the blackboard and named them something like Tom, Dick and Harry. He then asked his students to guess who was the criminal among them. Some students would say, "Oh, I think Tom is the criminal because he has this sly smile" or "Dick is the criminal because he looks angry." Then afterwards the lecturer answered, "Shame on you! None of them are criminals. They don't exist. I just invented them all and they are all just sketches."
I have done this crude experiment countless times with students of English. They often fall into the same trap. I answer them with "There are no criminals there, as it is just chalk." Of course this is just a harmless amusement. However, it is one thing to indulge in 'playing at making judgments,' another for an unqualified official to be empowered to make inept and highly questionable judgments. And this is what had been happening throughout Britain where the government are subjecting many persons with disabilities and people who are suffering from mental health problems to interviews to establish whether they are 'fit' enough to work. Those officials are not qualified to make judgments on whether a person suffering from arthritis or schizophrenia are capable of working.
They are subjecting some people to interviews to see if they are entitled to welfare benefits such as P.I.P. {i.e. Personal Income Payment}, disability benefits, and universal credit. If such officials conclude that the claimant for benefit is 'lying' or 'seems capable of work' he or she will be denied benefits or have existing benefits abruptly cut off.
The aim of those officials is to deprive as many people of benefits as possible in order to enforce harsh austerity policies. Some implicitly or even explicitly accuse claimants of being potential fraudsters.
Claimants who walk into those rooms are made to feel like they are suspected criminals. It is a bit like wandering around in some supermarkets in Moscow with a rucksack where some security men shoot you a suspicious glance and follow you about.
The psychological as well as economic toll from those mean tested benefits can be immense. The whole process can be humiliating and highly stressful. Ruth Rubin, a 50-year-old from the coastal town of Campbeltown on the West Coast of Scotland stated, “A lot of United Kingdom benefits have now been devolved to the Scottish Government and disability benefits are one of them. You should notice that the new Social Security Scotland advocates a system of 'Dignity, Fairness and Respect.' This is a far cry from the Department of Work and Pensions!' “
{Editor's note: The Scots were granted their own Scottish Parliament which opened in 1999 with some devolved powers. Scotland still retains a different legal system, education and at present may soon have a new welfare system different from England. Nevertheless, Scotland is not an independent country as most Scots voted to remain in the United Kingdom during a referendum in 2014. The Scottish Parliament still has limited powers and could not even prevent the country leaving the European Union.}
Rubin goes on to say, “At the moment people are being transferred over to the Scottish equivalent called ‘Adult Disability Payment.' I don't know how long this will take but John B {not his real name} swapped over last year and Jack {not his real name} and I are still waiting. My P.I.P award is still up for review in February 2025, and so I am dreading it because it is stressful, humiliating and intrusive. The questions they ask aren't even suited to mental illness. Perhaps one day Scotland will have its own social security system. Who Knows?”
Those assessment reports to see whether a person is entitled to benefits or not are not carried out by specialists and contain many errors and misleading statements. Interviews are often rushed. As many as 90% of challenges to benefit decisions by officials are rejected while 68% of those rejected cases are won on appeal by the courts. The government is wasting an enormous amount of money fighting claimants in the courts! Some assessment officers even agree that the system is unfair. One assessor called Sam states, "You've got people who genuinely were severely disabled, mentally and physically, yet they still have to go through the rigmarole of this process.” He further claims, “The underlying issue was that these people just needed help. And we are not helping these people who are doing this. I think soul destroying is the best way to describe it."
According to a *‘Big Issue’ investigation which interviewed officials “Disabled people are ‘set up to fail’ by a target-driven benefit system designed to ‘catch people out.’ ” This is according to former disability assessors who have spoken exclusively to ‘The Big Issue’ {see issue 1573/ 17 July 2023, Investigation by Isabella McRae, The Big Issue}.
This is just one indication of how illogical the decision making can be at those interviews is when an interviewer will conclude that a claimant who answers they want to work means they can work! Want and capacity to work are two different things. Just because you want to work does not mean you are endowed with the capacity to work.
Ruth Rubin states that she had to amass a tremendous amount of documents and statements from doctors, nurses and witnesses, to prove that she and her brother can't work.
However, the existing government seem intent on forcing so many invalids into work. For instance, last autumn the chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that he planned to force 200,000 people into work regardless of whether they were sick or disabled. Should the sick and invalids refuse to take up the low paid and unsuitable jobs on offer they will have their benefits cut off and even be deprived of medical aid by being denied free prescriptions. The government is justifying those harsh measures by resorting to that old false distinction between 'the deserving and undeserving poor.'
The results of this pressure at mean tested benefit interviews can be devastating. In 2018, when the United Nations sent a rapporteur Philip Alston to investigate and report on poverty in Britain he stated, “I was surprised by the talk of suicide by people I had met.” He condemned how some applications for benefit could only be made digitally despite the fact so many old people don't know how to use computers well or at all. In his report he found that benefit assessment was 'enforced in a punitive, mean and callous way.' He noted that extreme poverty in Britain “was not just a disgrace but a social calamity and an enormous disaster even though the United Kingdom is the World's fifth largest economy.”
One claimant Josh Smith was so stressed out by the process he committed suicide at 25, in February 2020. His mother stated that he was so afraid his benefits would be withdrawn he took his own life. Josh suffered from mental health problems. His mother Tracy blamed the Department for Work and Pensions for his death. She stated, "Life was already a massive struggle for him. The benefit's system added so much pressure. This is the consequence of adding pressure to people who are genuinely ill. They are pushed over the edge."
How might we improve the procedure for claimants? We could at least ease the process by employing more workers, training them to be more tactful and pleasant. Instead of making an interview an ordeal an official could aim to make it a pleasant encounter. Instead of humiliating people make pleasant conversation with them. One goal of this system would be to help rather than humiliate people. Another goal would be how to help people better than to punish or deprive people of benefits.
We need a more improved and caring welfare system based on compassion. Instead of requesting people to travel long distances for interviews they should be interviewed in their own homes. All officials should be more open minded and listen to people more. There should also be more consultation with medical specialists.
The mother of Josh Smith Tracy states, "The whole system needs an overhaul. They need to stop with the sticking plasters. They need to stop making people who genuinely need benefits suffer. It is broken. Josh doesn't have a voice any more. I have to be his voice now." {See article titled ‘Young man who died by suicide feared disability benefits would be taken away.’ His mum blames the Department of Work and Pensions, page 8, ‘The Big Issue,’ Issue 1581/11 September 2023, The Big Issue}
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* ‘The Big Issue’ is a British newspaper about, for, and sold by rough sleepers (the homeless in the United Kingdom). For more information, please go to: The Big Issue