Does the government really want to help this disabled find work? No!

In the run-up to the autumn statement, Britain’s disabled and long-term sick were reminded of their “duty” to find work. The government’s much-heralded Back to Work scheme would be as much about improving productivity and ensuring “fairness for the taxpayer” as it would help the long-term ill find appropriate employment.

On the day, Jeremy Hunt billed new government measures to “tear down barriers to work” for millions of benefits claimants as “help” and “assistance” – did I even hear an “untapped potential” in there somewhere?

But after unveiling the “biggest set of welfare reforms in a decade”, the chancellor was accused of “punishing” disabled people to pay for his proposed tax cuts.

In his bid to fill Britain’s one million job vacancies, disabled people will have welfare benefits removed unless they find work. Those still not in employment after 18 months will be put on mandatory placements to polish up their skills, with support such as free prescriptions and legal aid cut off if they don’t attend.

There has been a howl of outrage from the three million-strong disabled community. Their cries are that it is both uncaring and cruel.

So, let me tell you what I think: if the Tories were as caring as they claim to be, they would put their money where their mouth is and be caring.

The only mention of the disabled in the autumn statement was to do with us “shirking” work. Before Hunt got up to speak, the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald raised the Back to Work scheme at Prime Minister’s Questions, accusing the government of “simply punishing disabled people”.

Her question was on point: “How many of the 137,000 vacancies on the DWP ‘find-a-job’ website are roles which specify that you can work from home?”

I doubt Oswald really expected an answer; prime ministers rarely give them. Rishi Sunak simply said it “wouldn’t be right” to pre-empt his chancellor, and claimed to be proud of the government’s work on “supporting people with disabilities”.

A follow-up question from this disabled person might be: “What work do you expect us to do? And how are sanctions, and the refusal to do anything to help employers prepare for the stampede – should that be a wheelpede…? – of severely disabled workers possibly count as ‘support’?” I’m not expecting an answer, either.

Forcing people into work straight after their first chemo session or wheelchair fitting after a road crash is not going to fix Britain’s labour shortage – nor will it free up the £4bn or so in benefits payments that they expect. But as this ugly policy is rolled out, what there won’t be any shortage of is misery.

Anastasia Berry, policy co-chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium and policy manager at the MS Society, describing the moves as “a cynical attack on disability benefits”, and says the results will be “devastating”.

“The government claims a radical shift towards home working since the pandemic can justify removing support for those with mobility issues. But only one in 10 jobs advertised this year have offered this option” – which does rather get to the point of it.

She could also easily have pointed out that the government has itself hardly been a cheerleader for home-working. You may remember Jacob Rees-Mogg and the passive-aggressive, post-pandemic notes he left on civil servants’ desks in Whitehall.

James Taylor, executive director at disability charity Scope, said that, with the measures outlined in his autumn statement, “the chancellor doubled down on a plan that will ramp up sanctions and demonises disabled people. It was a missed opportunity to set out how disabled people can thrive. Instead, now many will be thinking how they will survive.”

Indeed so. But at least all this creates a stick with which to beat this sickly government. Let’s see how they like it.