Good morning. Keir Starmer is chairing an extended meeting of cabinet today. There will be a normal cabinet meeting, and then a political cabinet, where ministers will discuss the many challenges facing the government in a party political context. They won’t be in Downing Street, and it has been described by some people as an away days, but it is not one of those away days that involves a spa hotel in the countryside. They will be somewhere in Whitehall apparently, but being out of Downing Street should provide a change of scene.
One of the problems the government needs to address soon is what to do about the rising cost of working-age people on sickness and disability benefits. A recent inquiry by the Lords economic affairs committee found that that there are 3.7m, people of working-age on health-related benefits – up 1.2m on the figure five years ago – and that incapcity and disability benefits are costing almost £65bn, more than the government spends on defence.
The Department for Work and Pensions is due to publish a green paper on plans to reform this soon and, in an interview with Anushka Asthana from ITV News, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, fleshed out some of the thinking behind what she is planning. Kendall was at pains to stress that she wanted to help more people into work, but some of her language is likely to alarm some of those currently claiming these benefits.
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Kendall said that some people on sickness and disability benefits who think they could not do a job probably could work with the right support. Asked about a DWP survey saying 49% of people on these benefits think they will never be able to work, Kendall said:
I don’t blame people for thinking that they can’t, because they’re stuck on a waiting list for treatment. They haven’t had the proper support that they might need from the job centre or the skills that they need to get the jobs, we’ve also got to create more jobs in the areas that need them most. So I’m under no illusions about the scale of the challenge that we’ve got.
I believe more of those people could work. But even if we just start with those who say they can, we need to do more to get them back into work.
When 2 in 5 of people on sickness and disability benefits are stuck on an NHS waiting list, we’ve got to drive those down. That’s why health secretary Wes Streeting has got a big plan to drive down that backlog, get people the help they need.
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She said there were some people claiming sickness and disability benefits who were “taking the mickey”. Asked if she agreed with people who think that too many claimants are just pretending they cannot work, she replied:
If you speak to people here today, you will know that many of them have either just lost jobs that they desperately miss, or really want to get back into to work once they’ve got their health condition under control. So I think that there are many more people who want to work.
I have no doubt, as there always have been, there are people who shouldn’t be on those benefits who are taking the mickey and that is not good enough – we have to end that.
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She suggested that some young people might have to adjust more to having to work. Asked if she agreed that some conditions were being over-medicalised, and that people were taking time off for anxiety when in the past that might just have been regarded as normal worry, she replied:
I think there is genuinely a problem with many young people, particularly the Covid generation. But we can’t have a situation where doing a day’s work is in itself seen as stressful.
But she also accepted the situation was not straightforward.
I went to visit one of my local supermarkets recently to see the brilliant work they’re doing with the charity to get young people into work. And we saw two things.
One was young people with genuine mental health problems who the supermarket was doing great stuff to help them get work and stay in work.
But also the managers saying there were some young people who felt just turning up on time or working the day that they needed to, not always taking breaks – they had to understand that that was the world of work, that was just the nature of life and that isn’t stress or pressure.
So I think there’s an easy headline about it’s all one or all the other. And as ever, life is more complex.
It is not clear yet how much we will learn about what was said at the extended cabinet, but there will be a lobby briefing at 11.30am. Also, at some point today the government is expected to confirm that Grenfell Tower will be demolished.
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