Working People’s Finances: Government Policy

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Tuesday 21st September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

I want to confine my remarks today to the impact on disabled people. Disabled people are being let down by this Government’s policies. Research by the Disability Benefits Consortium has found that at some point during the pandemic two thirds of disabled claimants had to go without food, heating or medication, and that almost half reported being unable to meet financial commitments such as rent and household bills. I have seen these people in my constituency office, and I am sure that the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman), who made a powerful speech, has seen them too.

This is one of the direct impacts of the Government’s failure to extend the universal credit uplift to legacy benefits. The Government are now justifying their cut to universal credit on the basis that it was only meant to help with extra costs during the pandemic, but if that was the case, why did they refuse to extend it to disabled people on legacy benefits, who were disproportionately impacted by lockdown and who experienced much higher costs as a result? As I said yesterday in the debate on the Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Bill, the initial reason given for not extending the increase to legacy benefits involved technical issues, but how does that stand up, 18 months on? This was a political choice.

Many, but not enough, disabled people work, and for those who do, there is a disability pay gap of 20%, with disabled workers earning on average £2.10 less per hour. This is not surprising, given that disabled people tend to be concentrated in lower-paid and part-time roles. Yesterday, ethnicity pay gap reporting was debated in Westminster Hall, but we also need disability pay gap reporting—a policy already adopted by the Liberal Democrats. I would argue that what gets measured gets attention.

Although this debate is about the devastating impact of the Government’s policies on working people, we must not forget that their policies are leaving almost half of disabled people out of work, with an employment gap of 28%. For all that the Government may claim there are now more disabled people in employment than ever before, there are also simply more people classed as disabled than ever before due to the recent inclusion of those experiencing mental ill health. That is a welcome move, but it changes the statistics.

Hundreds of thousands of people are still kept out of the jobs market through lack of support, inappropriate testing and the fear of sanctions and loss of entitlements if work is attempted but not sustained. The health and disability Green Paper focuses on keeping people in work, not making work more accessible to all, and the Access to Work programme is lengthy, burdensome and simply does not work for small employers—it is a barrier, not a help.

Nearly half of all people in poverty are either disabled or live with someone who is disabled, and they will be disproportionately impacted by the growing squeeze on living standards, whether due to increased energy and fuel prices, cuts or tax rises. This crisis simply cannot continue.