Yesterday was the final in-person event for the DWP’s Pathways to Work consultation. The consultation itself has been badly received by disabled people as our thoughts on the excruciating cuts and ‘reforms’ of disability benefits have by and large been ignored.
However, the north-east consultation was somehow an even bigger mess.
DWP hastily throw together Newcastle consultation
Firstly, this was a massively last minute event. Up until last week there was no consultation in the whole of the North East and Cumbria. In fact there was no opportunity for anyone who lived between Glasgow and Leeds to have their say in person. This was something Liz Kendall was seemingly oblivious to until MP for South Shields, Emma Lewell, pulled her up on it in DWP questions.
Then, the event was hastily thrown together with just a weeks notice. Once again, the government couldn’t make it clearer that they don’t care about the north east. That’s in spit of the fact that we’re the region with the most disabled people and high levels of poverty.
The next reason it ruffled feathers was the date. The event just so happened (by coincidence I’m sure) to be the launch date of a new disability-led stakeholders network. The network was founded by local deaf and disabled person’s (DDPO) Difference North East after they resigned from the government’s Regional Stakeholders Network.
The organisation said the government created a regional network to hear from disability charities, organisations and those with skin in the game but refused to listen to them on disability issues in the north east.
Difference North East are creating their own table
In their resignation letter the group said:
Difference North East no longer believe this government is listening or meaningfully consulting with us. If it was, it would not be pushing forward with policy proposals that will be harmful to disabled people
And, on their social media, the group further explained:
We weren’t partners. We were decoration.
So now we’re building something better: run by disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent people, and open to everyone who wants to work with us, not just ignore us.
One of the reasons the group resigned from the regional network has been because the government wasn’t planning on holding an in-person consultation for the north and east. Lo and behold, when they are harried into holding the consultation, they organise it for the same day that Difference North East launch their initiative.
Christopher Hartworth, director of development at Difference North East, said:
Last week we resigned from the government’s Regional Stakeholder Network at the lack of meaningful involvement with disabled people. Only then did the government announce that there would actually be a North East Consultation.
DWP tried to stop disabled people protesting
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and Crips Against Cuts have shared Difference North East’s frustrations. Members from the former two groups have been protesting outside the consultation and even gatecrashing proceedings.
However, disability groups from the North East had to be much more covert once they heard of the consultation plans. Just a few weeks ago a consultation in Cardiff was cancelled. At the time, Disability Wales said they were “aghast” at the cancellation.
Perhaps because of the growing anger around the cancellation, details of the venue for yesterday’s consultation were only shared with registered attendees. Conveniently for the DWP, the venue itself was gated, restricting public access.
Hartworth said:
Our members tell us they only got notice of the venue two days ago. They still have no idea if the space is accessible or if BSL will be provided. A person in Teesside reported that it would cost £50 each way for a taxi. This event is not accessible for disabled people living across the North East, who deserve a meaningful consultation that centres their voices. A vote on welfare cuts should not go ahead until this has happened.
Nevertheless, DPAC North East and Crips Against Cuts North East turned up to send a final urgent message to the government.
Lee Turner, from Crips Against Cuts North East said:
These barbaric welfare reforms are an outright assault on the dignity and survival of vulnerable people across the country, particularly here in the North East, where our communities have already been hit hard by years of underinvestment and austerity, and now, instead of offering a hand up, they choose to push us further in to poverty.
Turner concluded:
These policies are not just cruel, they’re a betrayal of basic decency. We will not stand by while lives are devastated for the sake of political posturing.
Campaigner Elspeth, also with Crips Against Cuts North East told the Canary:
We’re protesting the consultation today because this is how the government is treating us summed up. It’s a consultation that will change nothing, planned last minute, in a deeply inaccessible location.
An inaccessible nightmare
So, what of the actual consultation itself? Two of the attendees reached out to me to share their experiences. Both expressed utter dismay at the way they were treated. They described how when attendees arrived at the building they were made to walk for 15 minutes around the building. The group were escorted by security past multiple offices filled with staff watching them. Then, once they arrived at the meeting room there were two disabled parking bays directly outside.
One attendee, Claire, was not able to complete the consultation. She had to leave two questions in, along with another participant, after she found the event inaccessible and was depleted of her energy before even getting in the room. This is despite her travelling for over an hour to get there.
Claire told me:
if this event was an indication of how the DWP plans to “support disabled people to thrive” then I’m afraid the future looks bleak. The event was not planned to be accessible and inclusive.
Claire was escorted out with a security guard on either side of her roller. Several attendees were wary of the security guards. J, another attendee, told me it was “overkill.” Another three attendees were escorted by three security guards. Claire also told me that the questions the group were asked were badly formed:
some of their questions were very leading and sounded like a benefit to people, when actually it was about making an already hard system worse for disabled people.
North east consultation: indicative of how the government treats the most vulnerable
From start to finish the Pathways to Work consultation has been an utter sham. And, the way disabled people in the north east have been treated by the government shows just how much they care about those who will be hardest hit by these cuts.
This above all else is why we should – not for one second – believe the government’s concessions. We need to judge them not on their words but their very deliberate actions and attempts to silence those who will suffer the most.
Featured image via Elspeth, Crips Not Cuts
This post was originally published on Canary.