Iain Duncan Smith's "conversation" about disability is one-sided

Yesterday Iain Duncan Smith outlined his future vision for sickness benefit provision, saying he wants to “place people at the heart of the system, and make the system work around them, rather than the other way round." This is something everyone can agree with, but a goal contradicted by the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP's) own policies.

Nowhere is the failure of the current system sharper than for those with physical disabilities or mental health challenges.  The employment gap is stark. Scope reports that 48 per cent of disabled people are in employment, compared with 73 per cent of the general population.

Duncan Smith noted this problem in his speech, framed as the beginning of a new “conversation” around benefits, but suggested tightening Employment Support Allowance (ESA), which is paid to those unable to work on health grounds, as the solution. The potential reform would involve blurring what he described as the “binary” definition between those “fit” and “unfit” for employment—a decision made through individual Work Capability Assessments (WCAs).

This, bluntly, is another attempt to reduce welfare costs, rather than getting people employed. I say this knowing that the real barriers stopping disabled people finding work are not being dealt with. They do not stem from whichever definition is applied to the individual, but the broader inadequacies of the welfare system, cut to the bone under this and the last government.

Time and time again, beginning with the 2010 coalition and continuing under the current Conservative rule, there is a refusal to recognise the cohesive nature of disability, and appreciate how it feeds into every part of an individual’s life.

Work cannot be seen as an isolated slot in a timetable. My independence as a young man, both professionally and personally, is under threat following the closure of the Independent Living Fund. I, like many disabled people, need help getting up in the morning, getting dressed, even using the toilet throughout the day.

The interconnected nature of these pivotal life basics remain glaringly absent from the DWP’s conception of disability employment.

Until this changes it is little surprise that disabled people and those with mental health problems feel attacked. For all that Duncan Smith spoke about the importance of dealing with these issues, those living with the reality of the problems can see the disconnect. The failure to address this has meant that only about 8 per cent of individuals supported by the ESA are actually being helped into work through the Government’s flagship work programme.

Many disabled people already appreciate how, in Duncan Smith's words: "being out of work can actually affect people's mental health, even if the original reason for ill health was a physical one." This is not revelatory, but common sense. It is something everyone wants to change, from employers to those out of work. But the solution requires a wilful acceptance of the bigger picture, and a change in mindset from the government as much as those in receipt of benefit.

Unfortunately, rather than face up to this challenge, Duncan Smith avoided all the difficult, necessary, questions about his policies, including the controversy over last week’s false quotes scandal, by not inviting media to the speech.

Yesterday may have started a conversation, but it is one that remains very one-sided.