Fit for Work

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02/06/2023

How government attempts to get disabled people into work had tragic consequences.

For 30 years, governments have tried to get disabled people into work by toughening up benefit rules. It's had tragic consequences, as many claimants have taken their own lives.

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 the disabled "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 - probably hundreds - have taken their own lives.

According to a former chief economist at the DWP, "it's one of the biggest social policy failures, of the last 20 or 30 years. We caused an enormous amount of human suffering. We achieved very little, we didn't save any money and it probably cost more than it would have if we hadn't done anything".

In this series Jolyon Jenkins investigates how the policy came about, starting under the government of John Major, which turned for advice to an American private insurance company that became notorious for unlawfully denying the legitimate claims of policyholders in the US.

Fit for Work: 16/06/2023

16/06/2023

BBC Radio 4 - Fit for Work, 16/06/2023

As the government announces it plans to scrap its Fit for Work test, arguably responsible for up to 600 suicides, will the replacement scheme be any better?

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
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Fit for Work

16/06/2023

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