Loss of key protection is ‘nightmarish’ demonstration of green paper’s bureaucratic violence, say activists

A tiny detail in the disability benefits green paper that suggests the government will scrap a key protection for claimants at extreme risk of harm is a “nightmarish” demonstration of the bureaucratic violence being inflicted on disabled people, say activists.

The grassroots, user-led mental health group Recovery in the Bin (RITB) said the move was an example of “structural bureaucratic slow violence” and “the very definition of the banality of evil”.

They spoke out after work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said she would scrap the work capability assessment (WCA) and rely on the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment process to decide if out-of-work disabled people are entitled to extra support on top of their basic universal credit allowance.

But scrapping the WCA, which is not likely to happen until 2028, would also mean the end of the “substantial risk” regulations that have protected countless disabled people at risk of suicide and other harm if found fit for work or work-related activity.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – and the Department of Social Security before it – has been trying to get rid of the regulations for nearly 30 years, but has twice been defeated by the courts.

But it did manage to weaken the regulations in December 2015, a move which led to far fewer people with mental distress being able to rely on their protection.

Now Kendall’s green paper – and more than £5 billion in cuts – looks set to provide a route for DWP to finally scrap the protection offered by the regulations.

It says: “We are considering how any change of this kind could affect individuals who currently meet limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) criteria due to non-functional special circumstances; for example, those affected by cancer treatment, people with short term conditions that get better, women with a high-risk pregnancy and those currently classed as having substantial risk.

“Individuals in these categories may not be eligible for PIP, and therefore the UC health element, in the reformed system.”

The question-mark over substantial risk adds to many other safeguarding concerns about the green paper, including its suggestion that nearly all disabled people will now be forced to have regular contact with a work coach, even if they are never going to be able to work.

The green paper says: “Our starting point is that most people in receipt of the health element in UC should be expected in the reformed system to, as a minimum, engage in conversations from time to time about their aspirations to work and to hear about the support available to them.”

RITB, which spotted the reference to the “substantial risk” protections, said the move to scrap them along with the WCA was “emblematic of the entire approach to this apocalyptic demolition of our social security safety net”.

An RITB spokesperson said: “People who fail the redesigned harder-to-pass PIP assessment, will now instead face conditionality and much lower income on universal credit.

“They will be harassed to find jobs, but employers will not be keen to take on very distressed people.

“The DWP know this is a cohort of people at extreme risk of harm up to and including suicide and yet they are proceeding with removing what little protection there was.

“This structural bureaucratic slow violence is the very definition of the banality of evil.

“This feels like a nightmare there is no waking up from.”

*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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