Those who won't even look for work

A pigeon sh*t on my head the other day.

I know this isn’t exactly the kind of high-brow stuff you come here for, but allow me...

Being sh*t on from a great height is, perhaps, a metaphor for our recent collective experience.

While I am in the business of news, I find myself unable to engage with it much at the moment. War, fascism (yeah, I said it), racism, and a cynical race to the bottom straight from the Trumpian playbook.

The most vulnerable in society exploited for electoral purposes.

The man on the street, who once would have laughed at Lily Savage and voted for workers’ rights, now radicalised by the alt-right. No hope and nothing to fight for. No money for a pint, or to treat the grandkids, or even a modest holiday.?

Most of us don’t have the luxury of an emergency green card, a get out clause in case a political gamble doesn’t pay off.?

A sign of land.

Most of us now - and I include myself in this - are struggling to get by. Not just to pay the bills and put food on the table, but to have something - anything - to look forward to.

The infrastructure of our country is on its knees. Biblical flooding that threatens life envelops the north and Scotland. Children are housed in squalor, starving, with Dickensian illnesses that severely impair their ability to thrive at school.

The British social geographer, Danny Dorling, a prolific writer on modern day poverty, states in his new book, Shattered Nation that during the first five years of austerity, the poorest fifth of people in England lost, on average, 11% of their income, while the richest fifth lost nothing.?

He says there are now twice as many food banks in the UK as there are branches of McDonald’s.?

While this newsletter isn’t overtly political, you’ve probably guessed that I lean (quite far) to the left. It is impossible to ignore, even if you’re only just being touched by austerity, how bad things have got.

As this is to all intents and purposes a work-related periodical, I would like you to cast your minds back to last week’s Tory Party conference in Manchester.

Among the brazen announcements about the northern leg of HS2 being canned, the bilious proclamations that a hurricane of mass migration is descending upon the UK, was the beginnings of a new campaign.

A hill upon which the once self-styled nasty party may live or die next year.

Welfare.

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, reiterated - threatened - in a speech to his fellow members that the government would make benefits sanctions tougher, with more details to be revealed in next month’s autumn statement.

Hunt’s proposal to firm up sanctions under the guise of ‘fairness’ would fund a ￡1 billion tax cut, and aim to boost a flailing economy, by encouraging - threatening - people back to work.?

The commitment to raising the national living wage was sneaky; not only is the national living wage legally unenforceable, it presupposes that low wages are the only factor in people relying on benefits to get by in 2023.

The ghoulish Jacob Rees Mogg, when conducting a conference media round, insisted the benefits system is there as a safety net, not as a lifestyle opportunity.?

A lifestyle opportunity. Really?

Do you know anyone who is or has been on benefits that is truly living it up at the expense of ‘hard working families’? Coz I don’t.?

It is undeniable that tougher benefit sanctions have thus far boosted employment in the UK, but according to the New Economics Foundation , the current system drives people into poorly-paid, low quality jobs which have no progression and for those with disabilities, it fails to achieve even that.

Many, many people who do work claim Universal Credit because work simply does not cover the bills and day to day living expenses.

The lazy classification and demonisation of ‘those who won’t even look for work’ is a cynical move to force the most needy into shouldering the blame for the entire economic crisis.

The very people who are caught up in a system that is already punitive even before encountering sanctions. The five week wait for claims is deliberately designed to cause hardship.?

So why aren’t people in work?

Among 25- to 49-year-olds, 1.1 million people don't work because of caring responsibilities, about a million of whom are women; so women are disproportionately reflected in these stats and affected by unemployment.

About 940,000 people in this age group are not working because of illness. My former minister, Mel Stride, is under the dangerous and misguided apprehension that social media and the effect of lockdown are possible reasons why mental health claims were increasing.

As someone who has claimed disability benefits, I find this insulting and demeaning, particularly coming from someone in a position of immense privilege who has no idea of what living on the breadline is like, no matter how much he might rely on the rags to riches invented backstory of ruthless Tories since time immemorial.?

Furthermore, under the existing regime, the Learning and Work Institute found that only one in 10 out-of-work older people and disabled people get help to find work each year, and has urged job centres to provide much more tailored support and training for under-represented groups.

The Resolution Foundation has urged the government to support people with disabilities and long-term health problems, as well as parents with children.

These new sanctions are worrying for disabled people. It will only reinforce the structural barriers that stop them from entering the workplace to begin with, such as employer discrimination, lack of workplace support and adjustments, which I can certainly relate to, and inaccessible transport.

Professor David Webster, one of the UK’s leading academics on benefit sanctions, warned that sanctions are not the answer to the UK’s issues with economic inactivity and a growing productivity crisis.?

He says it’s about creating greater engagement, not pushing people into jobs they don’t want.

That’s absolutely right. We have a skills gap in this country that Keir Starmer has pledged to address, and which has been broadly welcomed by unions. We need better managers to boost productivity, as outlined by C-J Green on The Future of Work Collective podcast.

These are not quick fixes. Significant time and effort will be required to right the wrongs of the last thirteen years.

When I worked in government, I grew weary of hearing how high the welfare bill was. You never think you’ll need that safety net, until you do.

Those who decry claimants would do well to note that over a third of UK households are just one paycheck away from financial ruin.

Maybe one day that will be them. Maybe one day they will have the misfortune of becoming disabled.

Maybe one day, they won’t even look for work.?

And maybe one day, a pigeon will sh*t on their head.