DWP figures on total cost of disabled people who cannot work are ‘chilling’ echo of ‘useless eaters’ propaganda

The decision of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to publish figures showing the total cost to the economy of disabled people who cannot work has been described as a “chilling” echo of the “useless eaters” propaganda of 1930s Germany.

The figures were included in a report* published by DWP alongside Tuesday’s green paper on disability benefits, as the government sought to justify plans for more than £5 billion in cuts to out-of-work disability benefits and personal independence payment.

Although disabled activists stressed they were not comparing DWP or the Labour government with the most extreme actions of Nazi Germany, they warned that the decision to publish the figures provided “disturbing echoes” of the early stages of oppression in the 1930s that later led to the targeted killing of hundreds of thousands of disabled people in Germany.

It is believed to be the first time DWP has ever published such a report, which it said shows “the cost to the economy and individuals of working age ill-health”.

The short report adds up the costs of lost production because of economic inactivity due to long-term or temporary sickness; lost production due to sickness absence; lost production due to carers who are unable to work; and the extra cost to the NHS when someone’s health condition causes them to move from “economically active to economically inactive”.

It also adds the lost tax and national insurance when health conditions prevent or limit employment; and the cost of benefits linked to health conditions that prevent people working.

It estimates the cost to the UK economy of working age ill-health and disability that prevents work in 2022 as between £240 and £330 billion.

Disabled film-maker and artist Liz Crow (pictured), whose work has highlighted both the human cost of austerity and the values in Nazi Germany that led to the killing of as many as 200,000 disabled people through the Aktion T4 euthanasia programme, said the publication of the figures is “chilling”, particularly when parliament is currently debating legalising assisted suicide.

She told Disability News Service (DNS) yesterday (Wednesday): “What they have done is chilling.

“There are really disturbing echoes of the lead-up to Aktion T4 in 1930s Germany in the language and sentiments used.

“The path to Aktion T4 was made up of stages that escalated and we should always take action when there is any movement in that direction.

“This report implies that disabled people are responsible for the social and political conditions that make it hard to find employment, that make some of us too ill to work, or that underfund social care.”

She also stressed that this week’s events could not be treated “in isolation”, as they followed the “onslaught” on disabled people of 15 years of austerity.

When DNS highlighted the publication of the figures on Twitter/X, there was a horrified reaction from disabled people.

One said: “They think they can vilify and demonise us to suggest we are a burden?! Despicable!”

Several drew a comparison with the propaganda put out by the Nazi government in Germany in the 1930s in which they described disabled people as “useless eaters”.

They particularly compared the DWP publication to a notorious Nazi poster which highlighted the cost of supporting disabled people with significant impairments.

That poster said: “60,000 Reichsmarks is what this person suffering from a hereditary defect costs the People’s community during his lifetime. Fellow citizen, that is your money too.”

Many of those commenting on the DWP publication pointed to the parallels of a Labour government that is supporting parliamentary moves to legalise assisted suicide, while at the same time highlighting the cost of supporting disabled people who cannot work.

The grassroots, user-led mental health group Recovery in the Bin (RITB) told DNS: “Reducing human life to a simplistic calculation of budgetary cost to justify hostile state policy is historically associated with fascist genocidal regimes.

“The UK has two successive highly critical UN reports and chooses to further intensify those abuses.

“While the scale of immediate violence is not comparable, the sentiments are terrifyingly similar to that of historic regimes that engaged in mass killing of disabled people.

“The point of heeding the warnings from history is not to deny these echoes, but to recognise them and act to halt further descent into the abyss.”

Gwen, a wheelchair-user and disabled campaigner, was among others alarmed by the publication of the figures.

She told DNS: “I know I might sound doom and gloom but for me it’s a strange coincidence that they are trying to push quickly the assisted dying bill and are making all those reforms.

“Cynical people like me will see that it’s a new way to reduce the welfare bill, it reduces the number of disabled people.”

Picture by Matthew Fessey/Roaring Girl Productions

*The Cost of Working Age Ill-Health and Disability that Prevents Work

**The following organisations are among those that could be able to offer support if you have been affected by the issues raised in this article:  Mind, Papyrus, Rethink, Samaritans, and SOS Silence of Suicide

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