- Conference
- 2022 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 8 July 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned that the findings of a Parliamentary Work and Pension’s Committee which completed in July 2021 are being disregarded by the Tory government.
The committee were clear that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) national programme for supporting disabled people is not working and that local level support is needed to break down the unacceptable barriers that disabled people face in the labour market.
The inquiry found Access to Work is bogged down by a bureaucratic, cumbersome and time-consuming application process, Disability Confident needs re-evaluation if it is to be more than just a tick-box exercise and that employers who fail to make reasonable adjustments should be publicly named and shamed.
Other findings included a lack of support for disabled people during the pandemic, Work Capability Assessments that are not fit for purpose and that any narrowing of the disability employment gap is a result of changes in the labour market rather than progress in breaking down barriers.
Official statistics from the DWP note the disability employment rate was 52.7% in Q2 2021, compared to 81.0% for non-disabled people. It also noted that disabled workers move out of work at nearly twice the rate (8.8%) of non-disabled workers (4.9%). That workless disabled people move into work at nearly one-third of the rate (11.0%) of workless non-disabled people (26.9%). That the disability employment gap is wider for: disabled men; older (aged 50 to 64) disabled people; disabled people with no qualifications; disabled people of White ethnicity; disabled people living in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, North West, and North East.
Giving evidence to the committee, Conservative peer Lord Shinkwin said he was “mortified by the way that the DWP treated disabled people with such palpable disrespect” before warning that there is “a culture of doing things for disabled people rather than with them.”
None of these findings are a surprise to disabled members and neither was the government’s response, published in November 2021, which rejected all of the inquiry’s conclusions and recommendations.
Instead of making changes they made statements about how they’re trying to get more disabled people into work and assessing the programme before making any decisions.
Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, Labour’s Stephen Timms MP, hit the nail on the head in his reply to the government when he said: “The Government’s unambitious response to our report fails to instil any confidence that it is serious about breaking down these barriers any time soon.”
Conference believes that the time for assessing effectiveness is long gone. We have known for over a decade that the support to help people secure and retain work is not fit for purpose.
We don’t need more assessments, inquiries and reports to break down the barriers – we need action. Action that not only gives disabled people the support they need but that gives them the tools they need to enforce their rights in the workplace.
Conference calls on National Disabled Members Committee to work with the NEC and Labour Link to:
1)Lobby for the recommendations of the Work and Pensions Committee report to be implemented including:
• Reforming Access to Work by simplifying the application process, removing the support cap, re-instating local assessment hubs, introducing ‘in principle’ awards for jobseekers and allowing awards to be transferred between employers
• Requiring employers with more than 250 employees to publish data on the proportion of employees who are disabled at each level of their organisation
• Funding local authorities to set up their own versions of the Work and Health Programme
• Publishing details of employers who fail to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees
2. Campaign for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to reinstate the Disability Commissioner position and the Disability Advisory Committee