A new piece of research has demolished the Labour government’s basis for their callous benefit cuts bill from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). And crucially, it comes directly from none other than the DWP itself.
Specifically, the DWP has published the official statistics on the employment of disabled people.
Overall, the analysis is another damning indictment of the glaring inequalities in the UK for chronically ill and disabled people. The data paints a shameful picture of the low pay, limited progression opportunities, and lack of disabled people in leadership positions that persists in the UK labour market for chronically ill and disabled employees.
Labour’s cuts rest on the idea that pushing chronically ill and disabled people into work will lift them out of poverty. Yet, its own data shows that the very benefits it’s cutting have plugged the gaps of these disgraceful workplace disparities. In short, they’ve been subsidising the ableist job market and employers this entire time.
Disability benefits have been a lifeline for chronically ill and disabled people both in and out of work. So now, stripping them back is a sure-fire recipe for propelling hundreds of thousands more into poverty.
DWP benefit cuts bill: new research does away with Labour’s disability employment argument – again
The DWP snuck out the new data on Friday 20 June. Of course, this was while chronically ill and disabled communities’, and the corporate media’s focus was on the newly published welfare cuts bill, and the passing of the assisted suicide bill through the House of Commons. As such, the release drew no coverage – and has so far gone unnoticed.
However, it contained a number of facts that massively challenge the government’s main narrative for the cuts.
The statistical release brings disability employment data up to June 2024. The data showed that since 2013/2014, the number of disabled people in employment has increased by 2.3 million.
However, what was immediately notable is that a decrease in the disability employment gap wasn’t the leading reason for this. Instead, it was an increase in disabled employees. That is, because more people are openly disabled, it means more are now in employment. According to the research, this was the cause of the increase 60% of the time – three times more than reductions to the disability employment gap.
In other words, more than a decade of successive Conservative government’s callous welfare cuts and punitive conditionality regime work programmes have in no way helped disabled people into employment. Which means that Labour aren’t going to increase disability employment by using the same rebranded model.
Multiply-marginalised disabled people excluded from job market
The data shows that the disability employment gap is wider for certain disabled demographics, especially for some multiply-marginalised groups. For instance, non-disabled people in social housing were 42.3% more likely to be in work compared to disabled people living in social housing.
The data also shows that less than a third of disabled people in social rented accommodation are in employment. Meanwhile, for non-disabled people, this is more than three-quarters. Notably, this means that non-disabled people are more than twice as likely to be in employment.
Crucially however, disabled people are more than three times as likely to live in social housing. Nearly a quarter of disabled people live in social rented properties. Comparatively, social housing tenancies make up just 7.1% of the non-disabled population’s living circumstances. As a result, disabled people not working and living in social housing made up 16.5% of the disabled population. This compared to 1.7% non-working non-disabled people as a proportion of non-disabled population.
What’s key here is that many disabled people in social housing will be hit the hardest by the departments cruel benefit cuts. That is, people already on low incomes, or living below the poverty line. As the data shows, a disproportionate number of them won’t have a source of income from employment to fall back on.
Where ableism, racism, and classism intersect
While the disability employment gap appeared lower for various racially minoritised demographics, this was misleading. This is because the employment rate for non-disabled people of colour was also lower than the rate for non-disabled white people.
Disabled Bangladeshis had the lowest rate of employment (44.2%). Disabled Pakistanis and ‘Black/African/Caribbean/Black British’ followed closely at 44.9% and 45.3% respectively. By comparison, for white disabled people, it was 55.1. However, it was disabled Indian people that had the highest employment rate at 68.5%, with people of ‘Any other Asian background’ close behind at 63.4%.
Overall, the data highlighted how multiple layers of oppressions – ableism, classism, and racism – intersect to exclude disabled demographics from the workplace.
Disgraceful inequalities for disabled employees
On top of this, disabled people who are in employment, are more likely to be working in what the DWP calls ‘lower-skilled occupations’. However, the Canary would argue that this is a classist framing. It’s ascribing lesser value to a wide range of what is in reality, not lower-skilled, but rather, lower paid – namely, what you might typically consider contemporary working-class professions.
The data showed that disabled workers are found most often in health, retail, and education sectors compared to their non-disabled peers. This was also reflected in the fact disabled people were also more likely than non-disabled people to be working in the public sector as well.
This is an especially grossly unfair idiosyncrasy of our late-stage capitalist meritocracy embedded in power and privilege. Profiteers destroying the planet and doing non-essential work in the interests of capital make more money than professions in the service of the common public good.
Disabled people are also more likely to be:
- Working in the gig economy. 4% of Disabled people are on zero-hour contracts compared to non-disabled people’s 3%.
- Working part-time – and ergo, fewer hours. Nearly one in three disabled people were in part-time roles. This compared to just over one in five for non-disabled people.
- Have less career progression opportunities – 47% compared to non-disabled employees’ 57%.
Unsurprisingly then, disabled people are also more likely to be in low pay.
Cuts will entrench poverty, not alleviate it
In other words, this research shows that there is one common factor acting as a barrier to employment: poverty.
Moreover, the data demonstrates that forcing disabled people into work isn’t the poverty alleviation solution the government is claiming it to be.
And, significantly, this ignores that many chronically ill and disabled people can’t – or shouldn’t work – because of risks to their health.
Consequently, the DWP stripping disabled people of social security will likely only compound these glaring disparities further. This is because, ultimately, its sweep of new cuts will deepen poverty for many chronically ill and disabled people.
One fact in the DWP’s new release perhaps drives this home in particular.
According to the DWP’s analysis, in the decade between 2013/14 and 2023/24, the number of people reporting that their disability or health condition limited them “a lot”, shot up by 1.3 million to 4.14 million.
Yet, the DWP’s bill proposes to protect just 202,000 “severe claimants” from deep cuts to the health part of UC. To claim LCWRA UC, applicants go through a gruelling Work Capability Assessment (WCA). In this, they have to demonstrate how their health affects their ability to carry out various daily living tasks. This includes descriptors around mobility, communication, hazard perception, social engagement, bowel continence, and eating.
Now, the new bill stipulates that the descriptor must apply at “all times” or every time a claimant undertakes the activity. However, this will undoubtedly exclude many with fluctuating conditions. It will therefore significantly impact chronically ill, neurodivergent, and people living with mental health disorders.
And while not every single one of the 4.4 million chronically ill and disabled “limited a lot” individuals will claim LCWRA, it’s likely that many do.
A welfare system failing in its most basic remit – and that’s before the cuts
Similarly, the DWP impact assessment stated that 3.6 million people will be claiming PIP by the time it implements the bill. It also revealed that 1.6 million people don’t score more than 4 points in any criteria.
However, it’s likely that many of the disabled people whose disabilities limit them a lot, most of whom as the data shows, aren’t working, will also be claiming PIP. If they aren’t already, arguably, they should be eligible. After all, PIP assessments revolve around how health conditions and disabilities affect people’s daily lives – and score applicants on this basis.
Obviously, PIP isn’t an out of work benefit – even though ministers have opportunistically attempted to blur this line. However, losing PIP – which helps disabled people meet the extra more than £1,000 monthly costs of living they face – will likely extend the disability employment gap further. This is because PIP actually helps many chronically ill and disabled people access work. It also enables them to maintain their health while doing so.
And once more, it’s likely many of the people identifying as limited “a lot” will be PIP claimants. These will be particularly those who can’t work.
If anything, the data points to a welfare system failing in its most basic equity remit. Already, this is because it’s not reaching people who need it most. This includes many who should be entitled to it by the DWP’s own currently limited criteria.
Weaponising knee-jerk reactions to unemployment rates
Of course, the government isn’t really interested in dismantling the barriers to employment, as its own statistics plainly show. Instead, its cuts will invariably only exacerbate them. But the state-sanctioned-and-induced poverty of chronically ill and disabled people should be understood in this context.
If Labour was really serious about “supporting” disabled people, it might turn its attention to the inequalities employers, and more broadly, an ableist society, has embedded in UK workplaces for disabled employees. Specifically, it would tackle the low pay and precarious work, limited progression opportunities, and employers failing to hire disabled people for higher-paying occupations.
However, it’s more convenient for the government to exploit knee-jerk reactions to unemployment rates and cut chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits. Starmer’s Labour wouldn’t let the facts get in the way of a good punch down on the most marginalised communities.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.