For 30 years, governments have tried to get disabled people into work by toughening up benefit rules. Part of the motivation has been to cut the welfare bill, but it's also been framed as an attempt to stop disabled people "languishing" on benefits.

But the policy has had tragic consequences, particularly for people with mental illness, who have felt coerced and pressured, as the department for work and pensions has deemed them fit for work. Many - maybe as many as 600 - have taken their own lives.

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how the policy came about. In this episode, he looks at why successive governments have failed in their aim of closing the disability employment gap. Now that the government has announced plans to scrap the Fit for Work test, he asks whether its replacement is likely to work any better.

Producer: Jolyon Jenkins
An Off Beat Media production for BBC Radio 4 Show less