Long-term sick must be compelled to hunt work – Labour advisor

Workers on long-term sick leave should face benefit sanctions if they fail to seek employment under plans to boost the economy and kill off the ‘toxic’ immigration debate , Labour’s health advisor has suggested.

Alan Milburn said that getting millions of people who are economically inactive on medical grounds back into work would cut welfare costs while stifling the rise of right-wing populist politics.

Writing in the Times, Mr Milburn, who was health secretary under Tony Blair, said that policymakers and employers must ‘wean themselves off the easy solution of importing more workers from overseas’ and shift their focus to ‘getting more out-of-work Brits into work’.

‘Immigration will always play a part in tackling labour shortages, particularly in sectors like health and care. But as anyone who knocked on a few doors during the recent election will have found, immigration has become a toxic issue,’ he said.

‘There is widespread public concern which extends well beyond ”stopping the boats”. The tide of right-wing populism sweeping across Europe is a portent of what could happen here.

Alan Milburn said that getting millions of people who are economically inactive on medical grounds back into work would cut welfare costs while stifling the rise of right-wing populist politics.

Writing in the Times , Mr Milburn, who was health secretary under Tony Blair, said that policymakers and employers must ‘wean themselves off the easy solution of importing more workers from overseas’ and shift their focus to ‘getting more out-of-work Brits into work’.

‘This is a wake-up call for the new Labour government. If that tide of populism is not to take hold here, we have to reduce our dependence on immigration. 

‘At the same time, if our public services are to receive the investment they need, we have to grow our economy by expanding the labour force. The answer is to double down on getting people out of inactivity back into work.’

In a report released yesterday he said that ‘scrutiny, conditionality and sanctions’ would be needed to get those few who totally refuse to try to work out of their shell.

But he also stressed there needs to be a carrot as well as a stick approach, adding: ‘The vast majority of people who are economically inactive face a complex range of barriers – often health-related and multicausal – which stop them from getting what both they and policymakers want: a pathway into paid employment.’

He said the current benefit system was ‘perverse’, because ‘it pays to be classified as incapable of work rather than actively seeking it’.

‘Those who are classified as officially seeking work are offered some support to do so but also face harsh conditionality and lower benefit payments than those who are classified as unable to work,’ he said.

‘By contrast, the latter economically inactive group get little support to find work but face no conditionality and receive higher payments than those actively seeking work.’

In her first speech in the role, Liz Kendall (pictured) declared: ‘We are the only G7 country whose employment rate still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels’

Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary yesterday pledged to get two million more people into work – but hinted she will ditch tough plans to tackle welfare ‘scroungers’.

In her first speech in the role, Liz Kendall declared: ‘We are the only G7 country whose employment rate still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. That is a dire inheritance from the Conservatives.’

She said Labour was determined to reverse the trend that has seen a growing number of people drop out of the workforce on sickness benefits since the pandemic.

But she indicated the Government would abandon the tough approach of the Tories – and vowed to end ‘divisive rhetoric about strivers versus scroungers’.

Ms Kendall said the Department for Work and Pensions needed ‘fundamental reform’ to ‘shift from being a department for welfare to being a department for work’.

The DWP’s annual report this week revealed that benefit fraud rose to a record £7.3billion last year, with the department blaming greater public acceptance of fraud for the increase.

But Ms Kendall said she believed there were ‘only a few who act fraudulently’. She set a ten-year target to raise the UK’s employment rate from 75 per cent to 80 per cent – a move that would equate to a further two million people moving into work.

She said the number of those on long-term sickness benefits had risen to 2.8million in recent years.

However, the UK’s employment rate remains above the OECD average and unemployment is barely half the level left by the last Labour government in 2010.

Former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said Tory reforms had helped get four million more people into work since 2010, adding: ‘Rather than just spouting out aspirational targets Labour needs to set out a clear plan for how they are going to get more people into employment.’