Labour silent over key concerns on disability employment policy and claimant safety

The Labour party has refused to answer key questions about the safety of its disability employment policies, and why it published an inaccessible social media post about those plans.

Disability News Service (DNS) has been trying to clarify details of its announcements around disability employment since a speech by shadow disability minister Vicky Foxcroft (pictured) at the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference in Liverpool, the day after the general election was announced by prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Those questions became more urgent last week when Labour leader Keir Starmer delivered a speech in which he promised that “those who can work, will work” under a Labour government.

His statement suggested – although this was not explicit – that a Labour government would continue to exert pressure and impose sanctions on disabled people who are not currently in work, rather than offering a more supportive, safer system than the one operated under successive Conservative-led governments.

Starmer also said: “Under the Tories, there are too many people who are not in work, who should be.”

The party highlighted how spending on “health and disability benefits for working age adults” is set to rise by over 50 per cent over the next parliament, from £41.3 billion in 2022-23 to £68.5 billion in 2028-29.

But the party has refused this week to confirm whether it was correct that its approach in government would involve continuing to exert pressure on disabled claimants, while ignoring the need for a more supportive and safer system.

DNS also asked the party why it had made no reference to concerns raised repeatedly by DWP staff about the safety of their department.

Late last month, the work and pensions select committee released the results of a survey of DWP staff which found that two-thirds of them do not have enough time to deal with safeguarding concerns “carefully” and “correctly”, despite years of deaths of benefit claimants linked with DWP’s actions.

And last December, the PCS union submitted a dossier of concerns to DWP that suggested the department was in a state of crisis, while it accused DWP of “deliberate neglect”, and said benefit claimants in vulnerable situations were “falling through the gaps” in the system.

But Labour made no mention of these concerns in last week’s announcements, or in Foxcroft’s speech, while it also ignored two recent letters sent to DWP by coroners after the suicides of universal credit claimants.

DNS asked the party whether last week’s announcements on disability employment, which were heavily criticised by disabled people, suggested that it had already abandoned its supposed commitment to co-producing its disability policies with disabled people.

DNS also asked the party why a social media post it published on Saturday (1 June) referred to “people with disabilities”, and whether this meant Labour no longer supported the social model of disability.

And it asked why the post’s “alt text” – which allows screen-readers to describe an image that appears on the screen – failed to include the words included on the image the party had posted.

The alt text simply said: “A pink graphic with two animated people in work clothes under text.”

But it failed to say what that text was, even though the words summarised the party’s back-to-work plan in three bullet points.

Foxcroft, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, has now declined to answer questions about her party’s disability employment policies from DNS three times in the last two weeks.

The first time, she said she had a train to catch after delivering a speech at the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference; the following week, she said she was tied up with her legal duties relating to her office and constituency casework after the election was called; and finally this week she said she was just “too busy” but could “probably” answer questions after the manifesto launch “in a few weeks”.

She redirected questions to the party’s press office, but after a two-day delay, a Labour spokesperson said yesterday (Wednesday), in response to the questions asked by DNS: “Confirming that we will not be commenting on this occasion.

“Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. We are receiving an increased volume of press enquiries during this general election period.”

Picture by Natasha Hirst Photography

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