Burnham offers hints on DWP policy as he promises a ‘fair and sustainable’ way to bring down spending

The new prime minister, Andy Burnham, has dropped his first hints on how he plans to approach social security reform, while also pledging to “end rough sleeping”, in a speech outside 10 Downing Street.

As he took over from Sir Keir Starmer on Monday (pictured), he said he wanted to find a “fair and sustainable way to bring the welfare bill down”.

Although he has yet to offer any detail on whether he would alter the government’s existing approach to disability benefit reform – including personal independence payment – Burnham suggested he would cut social security spending by ensuring more young people were in work.

He said this would be done by “changing the education system and giving them more support, more mental health support”.

This suggests that he backs current government policy in this area, which is heavily focused on pushing more disabled people – particularly young disabled people – towards employment.

The final report of Alan Milburn’s inquiry into young people – which focuses on young disabled people – who are not in education, employment or training is due later this year.

Burnham said last month in a speech in Manchester that “where young people need mental health support, it should be provided as part of in-work support”, although he did not clarify what he meant by this.

He also said that he took “very seriously” the findings of Milburn’s recent interim report.

But there is no clue on how he would prevent a repeat of the hundreds – and probably thousands – of deaths that followed the last major government push to cut spending and force disabled people off benefits and into work, in the early 2010s.

Burnham will not be able to offer the excuse that he is unaware of the links between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the countless deaths of claimants.

He has previously told disabled activist Shabaaz Mohammed that he has read The Department*, which investigates the years of deaths linked to DWP’s actions and failings.

This means Burnham is fully aware of DWP’s track record, safeguarding concerns, and ongoing calls for an independent inquiry.

Only last week, Disability News Service (DNS) reported how the number of deaths of benefit claimants investigated by DWP through its system of secret reviews nearly doubled last year, according to figures hidden in its annual report.

Burnham also said this week that his first instruction as prime minister would be “to end rough sleeping in our country”.

And he said he would reduce social security spending by building more council homes, which would lower the amount spent on housing-related benefits.

Dennis Queen, chair of Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP), a disabled people’s organisation (DPO) which worked closely with Burnham during his time as Greater Manchester mayor, said this week that his job was now to “represent the Labour party”.

She said this was “a very different job, so in that sense disabled people need to be a bit realistic in our expectations” even though “he has worked with GMCDP and our wider community” so knows what they want.

But she said she was concerned that he had pledged to build council houses, rather than accessible council houses, following Sir Keir Starmer’s decision just before Christmas to slash Conservative targets for accessible housing.

Other than the pledge to build more council housing, Burnham has yet to say anything that would signify a major shift in government work and pensions policy.

Kieran Lewis, rights and migration policy manager for National Survivor User Network, said: “While we welcome Andy Burnham’s commitment to expanding mental health support, we remind him that this cannot be thought of merely as a way to help people into work.

“He has acknowledged before that health begins in communities; a sentiment that needs to be backed up with investment in, and serious engagement with, alternatives to the current mental health care system.

“We too want a world in which people can live well but, in order to get there, Burnham must also show he is serious about taking on the systems that make us unwell in the first place.

“This means standing up to private healthcare, big tech and the fossil fuel industry, as well as ensuring that the social security system acts as a genuine, non-punitive safety net.”

Beth Light, policy and parliamentary coordinator at the Alliance for Inclusive Education, welcomed Burnham’s call for reform of the education system.

But they said that any reform needed to address the “systemic and structural barriers” that currently prevent the UK from adopting the right to inclusive education as set out in article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

They called on him to work with disabled people’s organisations, disabled children and young people, and their families, “to start moving away from ableist and disablist education approaches, and to co-produce a truly inclusive education system”.

Light said Burnham needed to scrap the government’s current special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms, because they were “dangerous and a move in the wrong direction, further embedding segregation into education and homogenising disabled people’s lived experiences”.

Tressa Burke, chief executive of Glasgow Disability Alliance, called on Burnham to reverse DWP cuts to Access to Work and its approach to disability support.

She said: “We would very much encourage an approach from the new prime minister which is about ensuring that all disabled people who want to work can do so and this would mean… a reversal of approaches previously taken to reduce the Access to Work programme and related budget.

“Instead, maintain and, if needed, increase investment in this much-needed programme of support which enables and supports disabled people to be in and stay in work.”

She added: “We would also very much welcome an approach which recognises that not everyone can work and that disabled people need access to decent out-of-work benefits and other supports.

“When people have the right support at the right time, they can experience a decent and more independent life.

“For many it means they can study, work, care for others, volunteer, build relationships and contribute to their communities.

“Giving disabled people the support they need is a sound societal investment.”

*The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence, DNS editor John Pring’s book on the years of deaths linked to DWP’s actions and failings, is published by Pluto Press

Picture by Lauren Hurley/No 10 Downing Street