Tories refuse to release details of mysterious ‘landmark’ review of disability benefits

The Conservative party is refusing to say who has been appointed to lead a “landmark” review of disability benefits or to provide any details of how they will engage with disabled people, more than three weeks after it was launched.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately told the launch event on 16 June (pictured) that she would use the review to find cuts to social security of even more than the £23 billion a year the party had already announced.

She told the launch event at thinktank Re:State: “Disability and sickness benefits have become tantalisingly low-hanging fruit for those who are seeking easy cash from our benefits system… The system is perverse and we will change it.”

But the party has repeatedly refused to provide any details of the review to Disability News Service (DNS).

A key reason why this is important is that the review appears to be being conducted without public engagement with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations.

This week, a Conservative press officer finally spoke on the record about the review, but only to confirm that the party would not yet be releasing any details of how it was being run.

The party said that much of the work on the review would happen behind the scenes, and details on what will be involved – including how it would engage with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations – would be released when appropriate.

The party said that this information was confidential and would be released when there were details to be announced publicly.

The party said Whately’s review was similar in this way to the review of the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But in that case, the party announced that the review would be led by shadow attorney general Lord [David] Wolfson, and offered a Facebook post of him explaining his own qualifications and the terms of reference for his review.

But in the case of Whately’s review, no such details have been released.

A party spokesperson told DNS this week: “We have done many policy reviews over the course of the time which Kemi Badenoch has been leader.

“Many of these policy reviews happen without public commentary as they go.

“We will publish more details of any review as and when is appropriate, and we are not going to provide a running commentary on any particular review.

“But Helen Whately has commissioned, as you saw from her speech at Re:State, a review, and that review is ongoing.”