Work Programme’s ‘punitive approach’ makes mental health worse

Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) due out later today will reveal the number of people with mental health problems who have been helped into a job by the Work Programme. The data apply to people in the work related activity group (WRAG) of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). We have yet to see them, but if they are anything like previous figures, they will show abysmal success rates - typically just eight per cent of people with mental health problems have found work through the scheme.

The Work Programme is the Government’s flagship back-to-work scheme – but it is failing people with mental health problems. And if it isn’t working for this group, it’s failing overall, as around half of all ESA claimants are receiving this support primarily due to their mental health. One of the reasons the Work Programme is having little success when it comes to people with mental health problems is that it does not provide tailored support to help people overcome barriers they face in finding and staying in work. What’s more, the pressure to take part in unhelpful or even inappropriate ‘work related activity’ is making many people more unwell. It’s all very well asking people to do things like CV writing courses, but if you’re facing crippling anxiety or suicidal thoughts, it’s not going to do much to help you move into work, especially under the threat of losing your income if you miss the appointment or arrive five minutes late.

Cutting someone’s support for failing to meet certain requirements causes not just financial problems but a great deal of psychological distress too. This punitive approach is backfiring. Mind recently surveyed people whose mental health was the main reason for using back-to-work support through the Work Programme or Jobcentre Plus. A staggering 83 per cent said that this support made their mental health worse or much worse, while 76 per cent said it had led to them feeling less or much less able to work than they were previously. Even the threat of being sanctioned can be enough to cause anxiety. We often hear from people who are filled with dread every time they receive a letter or phone call, in case they’re told the vital support they get from disability benefits has been reduced or stopped altogether.

Mind was one of a group of six mental health organisations to respond to a Work and Pensions Committee Welfare to Work inquirywithin which we voiced concerns with the system and made a number of recommendations for improving benefits and back-to-work support. A number of schemes deliver far more effective support to people with mental health problems, at a fraction of the cost of the Work Programme. WorkPlace Leeds, for example, delivered by Leeds Mind, costs much less than the Work Programme and achieves far better outcomes, with nearly a third (32 per cent) of people with severe and enduring mental health problems gaining paid employment. Schemes such as these are far more helpful and effective in supporting those ready and able to work into fulfilling, appropriate paid employment, relevant to their individual skills and ambitions.

We wholeheartedly support the Government’s aspiration to halve the disability employment gap by helping a million more disabled people into work. However, this will only happen if bold changes are made. As the Welfare Reform and Work Bill makes its way through Parliament, Mind is calling on Employment Minister Priti Patel to overhaul the benefits system, by focusing less on pressurising people and investing more in tailored, personalised support. We’re calling for everyone with mental health problems on the Work Programme to be taken out of this scheme, and instead given alternative support which acknowledges and addresses the challenges they face in getting and keeping a job.