A media hate campaign against support group claimants has begun, as the government moves to abolish the work capability assessment (WCA) and allow unqualified jobcentre work coaches to decide whether claimants are capable of work. Sick and disabled claimants are even being blamed for the rise in immigration into the UK.
The lead article in the Telegraph of 24 May revealed “Millions on benefits do not have to seek work”.
The sub-headline added “Taxpayers face bankrolling payments indefinitely for 3.7 million given exemption from having to find a job.”
The article highlighted the number of people claiming ESA and UC because of conditions such as anxiety and depression, back pain, wrist and hand disorders and carpal tunnel syndrome.
It went on to say that “Britain's growing worklessness crisis comes as official figures on Thursday are expected to show net migration has soared to record levels of between 700,000 and 1 million.”
Iain Duncan Smith was cited as saying that the UK needs to concentrate less on bringing in workers from abroad and more on getting British people on sickness benefits back into the labour market.
He said “Companies should now be ending their addiction to cheap labour. They should be focusing on improving productivity by a greater increase in technology, and by training and getting back into work these people on sickness benefits.
“There is no reason why many of these people on these benefits should not be in work. We’ve got a real problem”
Elsewhere in the paper IDS was quoted as saying:
"Sadly, by being exempt from welfare rules designed to help people into work, they are bound to suffer further – for being in work is acknowledged as a strong health treatment, particularly for those with depression or anxiety."
Meanwhile, the Jeremy Vine on 5 show last week put out a tweet seen by millions of people which said
“Is it time to crack down on jobless benefits?
“Nearly four million people in the UK are being supported by the state without ever having to look for a job.
“That’s because they’ve been deemed too sick to work.
“Is it wrong for taxpayers to fund them indefinitely?”
After arousing considerable outrage the tweet was deleted, but a programme on the subject went ahead all the same.
Clearly the DWP are expecting considerable resistance to their project to abolish the WCA. That they are determined to go ahead with it is clear from the announcement that the combined PIP and WCA assessment contracts have now been awarded. Attacking support group claimants in the media as workshy and responsible for record levels of immigration is one way of convincing the public that the DWP are on the right track.
UPDATE, 1 JUNE
Under the headline “Exactly how much of your salary bankrolls the welfare state” and with a sub-heading of “Britain isn’t working – calculate what it’s costing you” the Telegraph yesterday added a calculator to its website to allow readers to work out how much of their tax “goes towards bankrolling the welfare state.”
UPDATE 5 JUNE
A tweet by the Telegraph reads:
"Millions are claiming benefits without ever having to look for work, helping to push the tax burden to hit its highest point since the Second World War . . . It raises the question, just how much of our hard-won salaries are spent on the benefits of those who do not work? With the calculator below, Telegraph Money can now reveal how much of your salary goes towards bankrolling the welfare state."
A number of commentators on Twitter have suggested a parallel between the language of this campaign and a poster issued in 1938 supporting Nazi eugenics which read: "This person who suffers a hereditary disease has a lifelong cost of 60.000 Reichsmarks to the National Community. Comrade, that is your money too."
Thanks to the readers who have pointed out that the Spectator has been getting in on the act too. In an article published on 21 May headed "When will the Tories face up to Britain’s benefits scandal?" the magazine claimed that whilst UC was an improvement "the problem now is people, often citing mental health issues, claiming sickness and disability benefit."
The article goes on to say: "The UK system seems to have been thrown into crisis by such claims and has no idea how to properly process a mental health claim. So we end up with 5,000 claims a day – a day! – for sickness benefit . . . The waste of lives is one thing, but then there’s the waste of money."
