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Labour DWP ministerial team

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Liz Kendall, secretary of state for work and pensions.

Liz Kendall has been named as the new secretary of state for work and pensions

Kendall has been an MP since 2010 and was shadow secretary of state for work and pensions from September 2023.

She presents a mixed picture in relation to her support for incapacity and disability benefits claimants.

Kendall came fourth in the 2015 Labour leadership election, where she said that the party had to support welfare benefits reforms or face being out of power for decades.

She was the only leadership candidate to back the Conservative government’s benefits cap.

But in September 2023, when the conservatives proposed changes to make the work capability assessment harder to pass, Kendall argued that this was just “tinkering at the edges of a failing system”:

“But if you run your NHS into the ground for 13 years and let waiting lists for physical and mental health soar, if you fail to reform social care to help people caring for their loved ones, and if your sole aim is to try and score political points rather than reforming the system to get sick and disabled people who can work the help they really need, you end up with the mess we have today.

“A system that is failing sick and disabled people, that is failing taxpayers, and failing our country as a whole. Britain deserves far better than this.”

According to theyworkforyou.com, Kendall has a strong record in voting for paying higher benefits for those unable to work due to illness or disability and against a reduction in spending on welfare benefits

In April this year she challenged the then secretary of state for work and pensions Mel Stride to say “on what evidential basis he stated to The Telegraph on 20 March 2024 that GPs were signing people off work for feeling down and bluesy.”

In March, Kendall told the Demos think tank that Labour would recruit 8,500 more mental health workers and that the sickness benefits bill would fall under Labour.

“Under our changed Labour party, if you can work there will be no option of a life on benefits,” she warned.

She argued that work is good for mental health, saying: “We know that if you’re in good work, your relapses can be cut by a third or even half. That’s better for you. It’s better for the NHS, it’s better for taxpayers.”

In June of this year, Kendall told the Guardian that the Labour would investigate the carer’s allowance overpayment scandal and that it would be an “absolute priority” for her.

Sir Stephen Timms MP – minister for social security and disability

Timms has been an MP since 1994.  He was a minister under Tony Blair, serving in the DWP and the Treasury

He has also served as shadow minister for employment and shadow secretary of state for work and pensions. 

Until the election was called, he was chair of the work and pensions select committee and was generally supportive of claimants on incapacity and disability benefits.  

In January 2022 Timms used his power to publish a report “The uses of health and disability benefits” which deals in part with the unmet needs of benefits claimants and which the DWP had been fighting for years to keep secret.

In March 2022, Timms attacked the DWP’s “culture of secrecy” when it failed to support research into whether there is a link between benefits sanctions, ill health and even suicide.

In September 2022, Timms’ committee asked the DWP to help with the cost of living crisis by pausing deductions from benefits where a claimant owes the department money, perhaps because of an overpayment or loan.  The DWP refused.

Timms committee also produced a report in April 2023, ‘Health assessments for benefits’, which thousands of Benefits and Work members contributed to.  Amongst the report’s recommendations were:

  • Claimants should be paid an assessment rate of PIP if the DWP takes too long to carry out an assessment.
  • Claimants should be able to choose whether to have a face-to-face, telephone or video assessment.
  • The deadline for returning ESA50, UC50 and PIP2 forms should be extended to two months.
  • More weight should be given to evidence provided by carers and family members in relation to benefits claims.
  • Young people in receipt of DLA should not be required to claim PIP until they are 18.
  • The DWP should publish anonymized data every year on all instances of death or serious harm associated with health assessments and set out what steps it has taken to prevent them happening again.

Timms' responsibilities are listed as:

  • disability policy and cross-government responsibility for disabled people
  • Universal Credit and legacy benefits delivery
  • contributory benefits, Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Employment Support Allowance
  • Carer’s Allowance
  • housing
  • arm’s length body: Health and Safety Executive
  • Serious Case Panel
  • uprating and benefit cap
  • oversight of Disability Unit

Alison McGovern – minister for employment

McGovern has been an MP since 2010.

She is chair of Progressive Britain, a think tank on the right wing of the Labour Party.

She was the Shadow Minister for Employment and Social Security until the election.

According to theyworkforyou.com, Kendall has a strong record in voting for paying higher benefits for those unable to work due to illness or disability and against a reduction in spending on welfare benefits.

In response to a Conservative plan to create “skills bootcamps” for unemployed people in order to reduce reliance on foreign labour,  McGovern said in May of this year:

“It is Labour who have the plan to get Britain working by cutting NHS waiting lists, reforming job centres, making work pay and supporting people into good jobs across every part of the country.”

McGovern's responsibilities are listed as:

  • labour market - including employer engagement
  • addressing inactivity including the Work and Health strategy
  • poverty
  • Jobcentre Plus
  • devolution (devolution local)
  • In Work Progression
  • skills
  • disability employment
  • childcare
  • Access to Work
  • Youth Offer
  • Occupational Health and Statutory Sick Pay
  • conditionality and sanctions

 Emma Reynolds - minister for pensions

Reynolds' responsibilities are listed as:

  • private pensions
  • State Pension
  • pensioner benefits
  • Social Fund
  • Net Zero
  • Shadow Lords (including Child Maintenance Service and disadvantaged groups)
  • arm’s-length bodies: Money and Pensions Service, National Employment Savings Trust, The Pensions Ombudsman, Pension Protection Fund and The Pensions Regulator
  • HM Treasury responsibilities

Andrew Western - minister for transformation

Western's responsibilities are listed as:

  • fraud, error and debt
  • digital, AI and Service Modernisation
  • devolution (national)
  • international
  • workplace transformation
  • customer experience
  • deputy for Ministers of State/legislation in Parliament
  • arm’s-length bodies: Industrial Injuries Advisory Council and the Office for Nuclear Regulation

Baroness Sherlock - minister for Lords

Sherlock's responsibilities are listed as:

  • DWP Lords spokesperson
  • departmental oversight including Commercial and Research
  • legislation coordination
  • disadvantaged groups
  • Shadow Fraud in the House of Lords
  • Social Security Advisory Committee oversight
  • Child Maintenance, Family Test and Reducing Parental Conflict

 

 

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    MariW
    · 4 months ago
    On Sky News Q & A

    How will a Labour government affect benefits?

    Marie-Kate

    How will this affect PIP and benefits?

    Here's what our business presenter Ian King says...

    The expectation is that the UK's principal disability benefit, Personal Independence Payments or PIP, will change.

    Labour has promised an overhaul of the welfare system, taking in Universal Credit as well as PIP, although details are currently scant. The thrust of Labour's policy, though, will be to try and reduce economic inactivity and get more people of working age into the labour force.

    The party's manifesto said on this: "Labour will work with local areas to create plans to support more disabled people and those with health conditions into work. We will devolve funding so local areas can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer for local people.

    "We will tackle the backlog of access to work claims and give disabled people the confidence to start working without the fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out. We believe the work capability assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work."

    One big short-term question is whether the new government will stick with proposals being discussed by the Department for Work and Pensions to bring down the cost of PIP by, for example, replacing some cash payments with vouchers to buy specific treatment or pieces of equipment.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Denise
      · 4 months ago
      @MariW "We will tackle the backlog of access to work claims and give disabled people the confidence to start working without the fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out. We believe the work capability assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work." Well were have I heard that before, oh yah didn't the Tories come out with the exact same thing, just nicking the idea that the Tories were going to do anyway, what part of being to sick/disabled to work, do these lot not understand, if we could work we would.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Blanche
    · 4 months ago
    I dont trust either party.
    "Work is good for you" is just "strivers vs skivers" (2010s) or "natives vs immigrants" (2020s) in different words, semantic games - it amounts to the same logic. They kept Kendall and DWP related matters well away from them media during the campaign.
    This was because they are no different to the Tories and the only votes hard right policies gain, like this (700000 working age kicked off sickness benefits), are gains away from the centre, which they were at pains to not be seen doing (even though they were doing it). Starmer is a Blairite, Reeves has boasted she is "no socialist", Kendall describes herself as "Blue Labour" and is opposed to "reliance on the welfare state".
    It feels like, in crude simplified terms, if you are not in a wheelchair or fresh from a section/psych ward then you will be treated as a malingerer . How else are they going to stop nearly 3/4 of a million people being entitled to it?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Bill
      · 4 months ago
      @Blanche This is a very bleak way of looking at it.
      I have heard Labour discussion that they want to help people with temporary/transient disabilities such as, for example, some cases of back pain/injury or anxiety/depression get back into work by allowing them to keep receiving their PIP support for a number of months whilst they start back into work, so that if they cannot hack it, they are not faced with the terrifying prospect of reapplying all over again for PIP with all the uncertainty and insecurity that involves.
      If they find they are better off back in work, then their PIP support would taper off after so many months.
      This "carrot" rather than the usual Tory "stick" approach would be very welcome.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      A
      · 4 months ago
      @Blanche Well said.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Zon
    · 4 months ago
    They are going to try and differentiate themselves from the Tories, by ensuring "savings" are made, so they can boast that they did the job.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Carolin
    · 4 months ago
    As a Labour party member and voter, this will now be put under scrutiny as they are in government. They will need to prove themselves now.

    If you live in Scotland or Wales (like me), there is definitely extra hope. Starmer has made it abundantly clear before the election, during the campaign, and now in his first speech after becoming PM that further devolution and regional decision making is coming.

    This means Wales will likely be getting extra powers, including on Welfare (which, unlike in Scotland, it doesn't have). But how far could the devolution go to regions within England itself, I don't know. His speech made it clear though that he will be talking to whoever is in charge in those regions, whatever party or brand controls it, to give them the chance at making their own decisions in the future.

    I know there are many who will read this and comment how 'Labour is the same' etc. Honestly, after the last 14 years, I get it, especially if you're a young person like me who has only ever known a Tory government in your adult life. But like I said, Labour has been out of power for so long they really have to work hard to make sure they can stay in power for more than just 1 term. They cant afford to be 'the same'. I urge any reader who is worried about the welfare system, and that does include myself, to show patience and see where this new government take us in the next year or so.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Julia
      · 4 months ago
      @Carolin Very well said. I know that we all have this on our minds, it's very worrying but at least there are some grounds for hope with the new government. In the last one they had no redeeming features at all, where there are some reasons for a small amount of optimism with Labour. 

      I think that they are likely to bring in some of the more straightforward proposals but less likely to bring in the vouchers / receipts schemes etc. That is because they are ridiculous to begin with, would cost a small fortune in administration costs when there's supposed to be no spare money in the economy and also, why didn't the Tory's bring this in sometime in their fourteen years in government? Because they knew it was unworkable, so they saved this Green Paper until it was time for a General Election. This would appeal to a certain type right wing voter and very likely (it did) leave the awkward job of dealing with the proposals to Labour to help complete the Tory scorched earth inheritance which they have left the country and Labour with.

      I do hope I'm right about this though! Just some food for thought. :-)
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 4 months ago
      @Carolin Guess we will all have to wait and see how this all evolves.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Doctor
    · 4 months ago
    IMPORTANT - If you haven’t already - answer the green paper for the Tories proposals - Labour will be scrutinising it carefully to see where they should go - be polite, but firm and frank. It will take half an hour to an hour - PLEASE - For all of us, answer with a resounding NO to those insane changes. 

    The link is here. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=6fbxllcQF0GsKIDN_ob4wy4AdhV04YtOnxNXoi82ciFUN00yS0lJSTgzOVNaUzI1TVpYRkZGN1RUQSQlQCN0PWcu

    I think she’s right to point out the flaws in the system that have led us here - but I worry that the approach will lack compassion and be too heavy handed. Yes, many people on benefits want to work - but the prospect of trying, failing and having to do a whole new claim has been a deterrent in and of itself. The system needs to support us, not demonise us. I would love to be able to work, and obviously finding an employer who can tolerate the days I’m unavailable because of excruciating pain or unexpected hospital visits - well it’s not exactly appealing for a business who wants to prosper. 

    But the current approach of “shove them in any job and if they say no cut off their benefits” has to end.

    The system MUST be rooted in compassion and with a firm understanding that every claimants individual circumstances are different. That makes it hard to form policy changes yes - but it’s the only way forward. 

    A firm hand will only make the bruises worse. A compassionate and supportive approach will help those of us who want to work, into work. 

    For those who cannot work, the system needs to be reformed to offer them nothing but support. No re-assessing, no sanctions, no “guilty until proven innocent”. 

    Quite frankly I think her first move should be to sack everyone who’s worked under and supported the Tory approach. 

    This may not be the firm commitment ray of hope we were hoping for - but it’s better than the alternative we knew was coming with the Tories, I don’t think any of us even know what they meant by replacing PIP with a catalogue. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 4 months ago
      @Doctor How can you get taxis etc with a catalogue system !  Tory minds are delusional.  Let's hope, and it'll be a big hope Labour can be more empathetic towards claimants.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      A
      · 4 months ago
      @Doctor "Quite frankly I think her first move should be to sack everyone who’s worked under and supported the Tory approach."

      Wishful thinking.

      If you backtrack her trajectory, you would realise that she's more wicked and detrimental than the Tories themselves. She's an immoral Tory in Labour skin.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    WinstonSmithy1984
    · 4 months ago
    I wouldn't trust Labour in the same way I wouldn't trust CONservatives. Both parties are very much cut from the same cloth, and both parties will penalise sick and disabled claiments with wolf like tactics. 5 yrs of progressive Socialist ideology and you can bet your bottom dollar that Labour will be no different in all but name. I don't even think Reform would be any different. One day I can see the benefit system being totally removed altogether without any safety net. Something many people don't believe will ever happen, but it's apparent that Labour will overhaul Universal Credit at somepoint. Universal Credit is already a very Socialist collectvised system of central control. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    CarolK
    · 4 months ago
    Work isn't better for you, if you're disabled, it's a stigma like being black or LGBT. You are treated differently from day one, and sometimes can become a target for the workplace bullies. I'd rather stay at home on the small amount of welfare I receive, thank you. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Mr Y.
      · 4 months ago
      @CarolK I agree with you. I have had mostly negative experiences, when I could work. From the DWP, recruitment agencies, then on the job sites. I was working on. I did have some good experiences , but only occasionally. Mostly I was looked down on from day 1. Since my mental health started to get worse again. Then having a heart attack Christmas 2020. I have enjoyed not having to face all the prejudice and problems I had before. To be left alone to deal with my illnesses & not be hassled & riddiculed dwp & people in the workplace. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 4 months ago
      @CarolK I agree with you totally.  It's healthier not to work, than to be bullied, and intimidated, day in day out in the workplace by coworkers and managerial staff too.  I've been there, done it.  No rep helped at all or HR either.  They all thought being disabled meant having no limbs, or blind, or deaf or both and wheel chair bounded.

      And i worked in local government, who supposingly championed themselves wanting disabled people to work, and offering them equal rights and opportunities.  There was zero help, nearly all staff were resentful, awkward, and quite spiteful towards me and others.

      The whole system in Britain does not cater for ALMOST all of disabled people in the UK.  





  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Doesitmatter
    · 4 months ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R4Sgky7_3o

    Terrifying language of Starmer’s new minister for the sick & disabled.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Holly
    · 4 months ago
    It's like with all services they change hands so.eone else comes in. Same old goverment just different name just things happening a lot faster 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Loopy Lou
    · 4 months ago
    The new health element for universal credit is very sinister. It is integrating health and benefit entitlement, but not at a GP level. GPs will no longer be allowed to send patients to secondary care.  Instead patients will be referred to onsite specialist nurses a bit like ATOS who will trivialise and downplay symptoms. They will then decide if you can have an appointment with secondary care teams or deem you fit for work.  This is likely to lead to poor quality care and inaccurate diagnosis. Medical evidence will be much more difficult to obtain. Some councils are discouraging Mental health advocacy and outreach teams helping seriously ill people  with forms.  This is dangerous.  An accident waiting to happen.  Any help is only help when it is voluntary.  Anything mandatory with sanctions attached is force.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Claire
      · 4 months ago
      @Loopy Lou People with chronic serious illness have to be referred to Consultant in Secondary care.There will not be specialised nurses for all conditions available.Just one of my drugs costs £800 a month,and needs constant monitoring,blood tests etc.The DWP will never be able to deal with complex illness because even the GP can’t .Only a hospital consultant qualified in your condition can.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Anon
    · 4 months ago
    There's an article in the Daily Record today (Sunday 7th July ) about Labour's plans to get more disabled people back into the workforce 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Tony
    · 4 months ago
    I will reserve judgment for now. I am very much a Socialists, but I will never forget how Labour’s little weasel James Purnell treated us in when they were last in power.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      wibblum
      · 4 months ago
      @Tony Starmer and co, like Blair and his 'eminence gris' Mandelson before them, are not socialist - they call themselves 'progressive socialists' but for want of a more accurate term, they're actually centrists. And in their turn they have gone to great lengths to purge the Labour party of any actual socialism in order to make their version of 'Labour' 'electable'.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    CaroA
    · 4 months ago
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/06/disabilities-keir-starmer-change-britain

    Grateful to the Guardian for this article.  
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Michael
    · 4 months ago
    She was all for repealing the Bedroom Tax in opposition, we await what she or the keir Starmer do now.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 4 months ago
      @Michael How will or would the bedroom tax be replaced.  It's a disgraceful big earner for any government to scrap, especially now the welfare cost has blown out of proportion.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Darren
    · 4 months ago
    All I can say is they cannot be any worse then the evil lowlife we have had for the last 14 years
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      CC
      · 4 months ago
      @Darren they can be, its a mistake to trust labour just because they labour, especially under keir, kendall and reeve who hate corbyn furiously.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 4 months ago
      @famulimus Maybe they say they will try, but in reality they will not.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      famulimus
      · 4 months ago
      @Darren Based on what they have said so far, they are definitely going to try. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Sam H
    · 4 months ago
    God help us all, she will be no different to Mel stride and his cronies, they will continue to target disabled people, they see us as a burden. Not as human beings who deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.. Just line us up an shoot us get it over with.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      John
      · 4 months ago
      @Sam H I think your right instead of shooting us id prefer a one way ticket to Switzerland 😐
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Mandy B
      · 4 months ago
      @Sam H Exactly so no compassion God help us 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Eloise
    · 4 months ago
    It does irritate me when politicians keep trotting out the "We know work is good for mental health" soundbite. Even if true for some, what part of being "TOO ILL TO WORK" do they not understand? Not living in poverty and fear of having your pittance taken away on a whim is even better for mental health. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    TrueDefective
    · 4 months ago
    Here is her full contribution to the debate in 2023, quoted from above:


    In her rhetoric, she says the benefits system is "degrading". Yes it is, Liz, but I suspect her and I have different ideas on WHY. Perhaps the rampant use of sanctions as behavioural controls, leveraging our ability to pay rent and bills in order to coerce and compel, is one reason, but I suspect not to her. I suspect she thinks it is degrading to be on benefits at all, given that she also says that working provides "dignity". Ergo, we have the indignity, I suppose, of requiring support. I find this kind of talk stigmatising, and it is certainly not encouraging. 

    She's just another neoliberal that cares little for people that cannot work and absolutely RELY on their safety net remaining in place. When she says, "Work is the reason for my political party", the connotation is that they don't represent people that cannot, people like me.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Alex
      · 4 months ago
      @TrueDefective It is degrading to be on benefits.  I don't tell any of my friends about my situation, and often feel embarrassed at parties when I have to lie when asked "so what do you do?".   I feel ashamed and pretend to run my own business.  

      I cannot find love, because if I do, they can't move in with me or they are expected to pay for my bills.  All of my money would be stopped.  And how degrading to have to ask a girl I've met to support me.  How can I ever ask that of someone?

      It makes me so full of despair that I'll never find happiness because our government won't allow us the dignity and respect we deserve. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    A
    · 4 months ago
    Liz Kendall is as detrimental and immoral as the Tories, if not even worse.

    When she was appointed to this same post but as a shadow, she said that she had been dreaming of holding this post for many years. I think this speaks volumes about what she might have got instore for us.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      CC
      · 4 months ago
      @A In 2015 she said labour had to do welfare reform to win back power, she also earlier said its a mistake to target helping the poorest in society.  Sounds like a tory to me.   Dreaming of the post for years, she is Labours version of IDS perhaps.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 4 months ago
      @Jam09 Yes she's a true blue, wrapped up in a devils red cloak lol.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Mandy B
      · 4 months ago
      @A Evil though to think and even speak those words 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Rik
      · 4 months ago
      @Holly You just need to look at what one-time 'disability campaigner' and Labour Party member Sue Marsh said, just before she went from ESA Support Group to fulltime job with Maximus. She called for the Support Group to be scrapped; and I strongly believe this is Kendall's thinking too.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Holly
      · 4 months ago
      @A I was just reading an article about how they want to change universal credit its sounds like and I quote getting as getting many people of disability element of uc and those who are not on it but just uc making them do more hours so eventually we are all in work or training ect never trust politicians they change like the wind 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    mrfibro
    · 4 months ago
    Will Labour knock the extra bedroom tax on the head ?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Fred
      · 4 months ago
      @Anon But, many U turns.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Rik
      · 4 months ago
      @mrfibro No one knows for sure, but my guess would be no. The DWP under Kendall will be more of the same.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Anon
      · 4 months ago
      @mrfibro Nobody knows any of labour policies yet but don't expect Unicorns 

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