Back-to-work drive is just the job for Britain

Today’s fiscal event was dubbed the “back to work Budget”, and while the big spending announcements may grab headlines, what the Chancellor announced to help the long-term sick and disabled back into work is hugely ambitious. Indeed, done properly, his plan complements the welfare reforms I championed before I resigned.

The problem we face is that, since the Covid lockdowns, there’s been an alarming rise in so-called “economic inactivity”. Today, there are around nine million people outside the labour force, a total that has risen by almost half a million since 2020. This has been driven by a 16 per cent increase in the numbers falling out of work because of long-term sickness. There has also been an explosion in working-age welfare. Our research at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests there are 1.6 million more claimants since 2020, costing the taxpayer £13billion more in welfare benefits.

However, scratch the surface and what you find beneath is that the fastest-growing category of claimants are those with “no work requirements”, which now stands at around 3.5 million people. For the most part, these individuals are out of work owing to long-term physical, mental health conditions and caring responsibilities.

Some people in this category may never be able to work and should be treated with compassion and support yet, according to the CSJ, at least 700,000 say they would like to work, with even more saying they could do so, with the right support, but they are exempt from any rules designed to encourage or help them into work.

That number represents more than half of all the vacancies in the economy – a statistic highlighted by the Chancellor at the Dispatch Box today.

Unlocking the huge potential of this group would help to fire up the economy and transform thousands of lives. And, more to the point, we know how to do it. By matching claimants with local jobs, and then providing wrap-around support across housing, health, debt and beyond, we see individuals not only move into but thrive within work. We know it is effective at a local level via Greater Manchester’s Working Well programme, based on Universal Support, which has seen 42 per cent of participants move into work after just over a year, compared with 25 per cent of those on the Work and Health Programme after two years.

In fact, Universal Support was designed to be an integral part of the Universal Credit reforms that I introduced, focusing on those who are, in effect, written off. Since I left government, I have been campaigning to complete the unfinished business of welfare reform and roll out the positive effects to this wider group.

The announcement of a new £925million Universal Support programme – helping 50,000 people with disabilities and long-term sickness into work every year – moves us one big step closer to this original vision of Universal Credit as a programme that can improve the opportunities for those so often marginalised.

By removing the work capability assessment entirely, the Government has acted to end the financial penalties people with disabilities experience upon moving into work. However, experience tells me that this could take years to implement, unless the Government moves more quickly.

It is well established that work is also a health treatment, particularly for those with poor mental health. This plan can not only improve the lives of disabled people but improve the balance of society for all of us.