Welcoming the election of a new government in the Ham & High last month, I raised the anxieties of people with disabilities and their families about the lack of specific commitments in Labour’s manifesto to tackle the crisis of adult social care.
Within weeks it has become clear that the focus of the new government is not on the needs of the majority of people with disabilities, but on the small minority for whom some form of employment is a realistic alternative to benefits.
Liz Kendall, the new minister for work and pensions, has endorsed a report from the Pathways to Work Commission headed by the former Blair government minister Alan Milburn (no organisations of people with disabilities are listed as contributors).
She insists that disabled people have "an obligation to engage with support, to look for work and to take jobs". But most people on disability benefits – like my son and many others with autism and severe learning disabilities who need 24/7 social care support – are simply unable to work.
Pressure to seek work and threats to reduce benefits are more likely to intensify mental health problems than they are to produce positive results.
The real scandal of adult social care is revealed in a new report from Health Watch England entitled ‘Mission Millions – exploring unmet social care need for disabled adults’ (healthwatch.co.uk/report/2024-07-16/missing-millions-exploring-unmet-social-care-need-disabled-adults).
Research for this report shows that, while social care can be transformative for those receiving it, some 1.5 million people may not be getting the care to which they are entitled. More than a quarter of those surveyed had never accessed social support even though they were eligible for it.
Backbench Labour MP Debbie Abrahams rightly recognises that people with disabilities have been ‘battered’ during the years of Tory government and are now looking for better ‘social protection and social security’, not stigmatising and demoralising exhortations to get on their bikes and look for work.
- Mary Langan is chair of Haringey Severe and Complex Needs Families Reference Group (SCALD).
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