DWP benefits shake-up by Reform won’t solve the problem

  • Post last modified:June 18, 2024
  • Reading time:7 mins read


The Nigel Farage-led Reform Party has unveiled its plans for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and benefits. In short, they won’t work:

Reform DWP shake up: the numbers are off

Reform’s plans for the DWP include making sure all assessments are face-to-face. It also says in its manifesto:

Enforce a 2-Strike Rule for Job Offers

All job seekers and those fit to work must find employment within 4 months or accept a job after 2 offers. Otherwise, benefits are withdrawn.

Deputy leader Dr David Bull claimed on Sky News there ‘nine million economically inactive people’ who this could apply to. Of the nine million economically inactive people:

  • 2.3 million are in full-time education or students.
  • 1.1 million have retired.
  • 1.6 million are carers.

Right there are five million people who Bull can’t make go to work. That leaves chronically ill, disabled, and non-working people who may fall under the DWP regime. Of that:

  • 2.6 million are sick or disabled.
  • 1.6 million are unemployed.
  • 687,000 do not work and don’t want to. They may well be financially in a position where they don’t need to.

So, Bull thinking there are nine million people available to work is demonstrably not true.

The Reform manifesto actually says it will get up to two million people back to work. This presumably is where the DWP ‘two strikes and you’re out’ policy will hit. Of course, there is no evidence this kind of approach even works.

Sanctions don’t work

Back in 2018, the Canary’s Steve Topple reported on a study by the Economic and Social Research Council. They funded a five year study on sanctions, by six universities. Sanctions are where the DWP stops people’s benefits if they don’t do certain things – like, accept a job. The study found that benefits sanctions invariably did “very little”, were “largely ineffective” or had mixed outcomes.

This was the case for disabled and homeless people, lone parents, jobseekers and anyone on Universal Credit. The report also noted that the DWP’s threat of sanctions was not necessary to get people back to work.

So, Reform thinking that stopping people’s DWP benefits will get them into work is mistaken – as it’s been repeatedly tried, and it’s repeatedly failed.

Claimant deaths

Meanwhile, disabled people are already dying because of DWP policies. Earlier this year the Canary documented how the UN:

found that successive UK governments had committed “grave” and “systematic” violations of disabled people’s human rights.

Back in 2021, the Canary covered the ‘fit for work’ scandal. The DWP assessed disabled and sick people and told them they were fit enough for work. As a result of this from 2014-2017, 10 people died every day after the DWP wrongly put them in the Work-Related Activity Group (WRAG) of Employment and Support Allowance:

According to Sky News, there are around one million unfulfilled jobs currently in the UK:

Yet Reform want to get up to two million people back to work. It is unclear where the extra jobs are coming from.

Alarmingly, a 2019 study found 24% of employers wouldn’t hire a disabled person – even though it’s illegal. More recently, 25% of disabled people reported that employers had discriminated against them during the job interview process. This further highlights that the problems are far more systemic than people not wanting to work, if and when they are even able to.

Of course, none of this matters to Reform – whose DWP policies are nothing short of nonsense.

Feature image via Ben Claimant/Youtube





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