Tory ministers blocked ‘unique’ research on ESA claimants from inclusion in benefit cuts green paper

Conservative ministers prevented research that showed disabled people on out-of-work benefits were subject to high levels of stress, debt and isolation from being included in a controversial policy paper that called for cuts to spending on those benefits.

The research had examined the “health, social and economic profile” of disabled people who received employment and support allowance (ESA).

It showed they were “a population reporting high levels of stress”, while “many faced serious debt arrears” and were “more likely to live by themselves, have a small network, and feel isolated and lonely”.

The research* was described as “a unique opportunity to gain valuable insights into the mental health and life circumstances of this group of people, and compare their experiences to those in the rest of the working age population”, as it used data from the national Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey.

The report described how ESA claimants in England were much more likely than the rest of the working-age population to struggle with using public transport, dealing with paperwork and managing money, while two-thirds had a common mental health condition.

The research is believed to have been completed in the early months of 2020, but DWP sat on it for more than a year before finally deciding not to publish it.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) email, obtained by Disability News Service (DNS) through a freedom of information request and dated 20 May 2021, shows ministers decided not to publish the report, but also to prevent it from being included in the “health and disability” green paper that was about to be published.

That Shaping Future Support green paper said that rising spending on disability benefits “suggests there is more we can do to enable independent living and employment” and that ministers want to “explore making bigger changes to the benefits system” that will mean the system is “more affordable in the future”.

The work and pensions secretary at the time was Therese Coffey.

Ministers appear to have concluded that research demonstrating the significant barriers and challenges facing ESA claimants was unlikely to be a helpful addition to a green paper that laid the foundation for further cuts to support.

The 20 May email, copied to Coffey and the minister for disabled people, Justin Tomlinson, said: “Ministers have reviewed and are not content to publish ‘A health, social and economic profile of ESA recipients in the 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey’ and do not want it included in the Green Paper.”

The email was released in response to a freedom of information request by DNS, following the new Labour government’s decision last October to publish the ESA report and 30 other papers that were commissioned by DWP under Conservative-led governments, but were never released.

DNS had requested documents that showed why Conservative ministers had refused to publish the ESA research report.

In its freedom of information response, DWP said the single email was “the only recorded information we hold” on the decision by ministers not to publish the report.

The Conservative party had not responded by 11am today (Thursday) to a request to comment.

*The research was carried out for DWP by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)

Picture: Justin Tomlinson (left) and Therese Coffey

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