Rishi Sunak’s speech in April about wanting to speed up migration of working age claimants onto Universal Credit left me conflicted. I don’t naturally lean into his agenda, but I do believe work can be good for people. I agree UC is a better platform for people to step into employment from – its main downfall is how it engages vulnerable people. I even think acknowledging the rise in mental health support needs among young people is important.
I agree with all that. So why does it sit so uncomfortably?
Sunak led with his fear that the UK has a ‘sick note culture’. He explained that 850,000 people became economically inactive since the pandemic: “Of those who are economically inactive, fully half say they have depression or anxiety. And most worrying of all, the biggest proportional increase in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness came from young people.”
Say they have.
Say they have.
Since launching Quids in! magazine to inform people who might otherwise read The Sun, I’ve become kinda fascinated with language. So much of what the public is told is hidden in the way it is said. Often between the lines. Often by adding a doubtful tone. Like a pantomime side comment, enunciated with a wink and a hand to half-hide the mouth: ‘Or so they say!’
Sunak’s words included plenty of progressive rhetoric to get behind, but it’s this kind of innuendo that betrayed who this speech was for. You’d think an election is coming. The hardliners need galvanising.
My education in all this was watching literally hundreds of homeless people get their lives together through selling The Big Issue magazine. It’s not rocket science but it takes a leap of faith – whatever your politics: Back when rough sleepers made up the majority of Big Issue vendors, the initial motivation for many was to make enough to score drugs. It was better than begging. And soon the social interaction with the public triggered something new. A little dignity. It reduced the need to block everything out with their next hit. Maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel. Could they make enough to start thinking about a place of their own? Was it worth getting clean? And for many. Many. It was.
If I thought the Tory right could swallow this theory of change, perhaps I’d believe Sunak’s speech was anything other than disingenuous. Campaigners, like Mind and Scope, are rightly asking where’s the support for people, if he believes they need helping back into work.
Programmes like Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression, offering cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling, can help. According to a Commons briefing, four in five people can access this within six weeks. It’s also true that the government has invested in a bolt-on employment service within it, but many report it currently isn’t working. In my experience, that would be because people don’t engage if they don’t feel ready. That’s why we support the Money and Mental Health Institute’s call for money advice to be bolted on as well. That said, we’d argue it’s only money guidance people need at this stage and employment options should be discussed as a part of this – so not ‘also’ but instead of the current form of employment support. (So there’s the budget.)
You can see some of The Big Issue’s DNA in how we operate at Clean Slate. We believe sometimes people need the opportunity first. I used to ask homeless people to ‘do me a favour’ and help us do some deliveries. These days we’re more likely to ask someone signed off sick to help us meet and greet service users. Our training helps them reveal (to themselves) how much they have to offer. They seem to grow in stature before our eyes, as they recover some self-esteem and self-belief. Our 12-week Elements programme follows this up with a mix of paid work experience, (‘See. You can work!’), accredited training and an immersive, in-house induction. Funding-allowing, it churns out people ready for work in the care and health sectors, (and for us, of course). People who often didn’t believe they had much to live for, let alone much to offer an employer at the start, see their potential.
Self-help is a funny thing. I was once accused of being a government apologist when I said at a conference that ‘if no-one else is going to help them, maybe the best thing we can do is to help them do it for themselves.’ But when you’re confronted with hopelessness, sometimes the politics doesn’t matter.
What matters is the respect we show people. Suggesting that the hundreds of thousands of people feeling their mental health slipping away are somehow fakers or ‘snowflakes’ is probably the abject opposite of what I see working. Political scapegoating is as counter-productive as sanctioning someone with anxiety for not trying hard enough to find work. (Unless we count signing off from benefits, or death, as a win.)
Moving people onto Universal Credit, in itself, is not the worst plan. For the majority, it does generally ‘make work pay’ through its tapered reduction of payments as people take on hours of work. Once we’ve forgotten what the array of benefits people previously had to claim, it will feel simpler; one claim, one payment, and even one department to talk to if it doesn’t go right. By allowing people to earn, and to keep most of their pay, UC facilitates the half day a week of paid work we offer through our organisation offers through its Elements programme. And in doing this, UC allows people to experience feeling financially better off, as well as socially and emotionally, and wanting more.
The problem with UC is that it’s like fitting a state-of-the-art washing machine into a house with Victorian plumbing. Without the right tools, joining valves and a skilled tradesperson on hand, there’s a real risk of a big old mess. UC assumes people have savings to tide them over a transition to monthly payments in arrears, (although it’s better than it was). It assumes they are online and have the skills to access their Journal, let alone make the initial claim, (although Citizens Advice can help with their Help to Claim support). And it assumes they can manage a budget, ensure their rent is paid, receive electronic payments through their bank account, and not experiencing financial abuse. So, if the PM thinks moving all vulnerable people onto UC is the answer in itself, it’s doubtful he’s getting this.
Now I’ve got that all down, I feel less anxious myself. There is a lot to be said for helping transition from ill-health to work. Unlike many, even in the third sector, I don’t believe work is the cherry on the cake, the final piece of the puzzle, the evidence that everything else is okay. Employment is part of the journey. Somewhere to feel normal and valued and rewarded.
My point is, the motivation matters. I believe in the value of work because I’ve seen small opportunities enable people to transform their lives and wellbeing. Something tells me, that is neither what Rishi was getting at nor what his target audience will ever understand.
Image: Oatawa / Shutterstock
