The Government is "demonising" disabled people through its "traumatising" benefits system, the United Nations has warned.
At a meeting in Geneva on Monday, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) said that the UK Government's policies have contributed to the deaths of disabled people. It comes after a special inquiry report filed by the Committee in 2016 found "grave and systemic" violations of disabled people's rights under the Government's austerity and welfare reform measures.
The UK was the first ever country found to have breached the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRDP). But, eight years on, Professor Laverne Jacobs - a disability lawyer and member of the UNCRPD - said there was still a "significant and shameful gap" between the standards of the Convention and the lived experiences of disabled people in Britain.
Rosemary Kayess, the chair of the UNCRPD, said: “We find a pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity. Reforms within social welfare benefits are premised on a notion that disabled people are undeserving, and skiving off and defrauding the system. This has resulted in hate speech and hostility towards disabled people.”
There were 13,777 disability hate crimes recorded in England and Wales in 2022/23, more than double the number recorded by the Home Office in 2016/17, when the special enquiry report was released. “We see a reform agenda that is framed in a political narrative that demonises disabled people," Kayess added.
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Rensa Gaunt said "people have died in the UK with a fiver left in their bank account" owing to the Government's welfare cuts (Natasha Hirst)“Proposals to cut disability benefits, to reward working people by cutting taxes, tell disabled people they are undeserving citizens. This is coupled with an onerous benefits system that is the basis for trauma and preventable mental distress," she continued. Alexandra Gowland, Deputy Director of the Disability Unit in the UK Cabinet Office, insisted that the government was “fully committed” to implementing the UN Convention.
She said that the government’s policies aimed to “tackle the barriers” faced by disabled people, noting that - as of 2023 - 1.6 million more disabled people are now in employment than in 2017. “The government has committed to transforming the benefit system for the future so it focuses on what they can do, not what they cannot,” she added.
However, the Committee warned that the Government’s heavy focus on getting disabled people into employment is having negative consequences. It said the current capabilities assessment “does not seem to be trauma-informed… and not suitable to assist people to be job ready.”
Professor Laverne Jacobs, Committee expert and co-rapporteur, said: “We have faced numerous reports of persons with disabilities facing intolerable situations, even death, while trying to comply with the eligibility requirements of the UK government’s benefit regimes, work capability assessments and programmes administering support for independent living within the community.”
The Government has been warned its heavy focus on getting disabled people into employment is having negative consequences (Getty Images/Maskot)Last year, a report by the Nottingham City Safeguarding Adults Board found that public bodies cutting off vital services contributed to the problems faced by Errol Graham, who died in 2018 while suffering from debilitating depression.
Rensa Gaunt, a communications manager at Inclusion London, said: “He was found dead by bailiffs who had come to evict him. He was emaciated, penniless, with no heating or hot water, and with no food in the flat except for two tins of gone-off fish. This is not an isolated story, unfortunately”.
Gaunt attended the Committee meeting in Geneva, as part of a delegation which included family members of benefits claimants who have passed away, as well as representatives from 21 Deaf and Disabled people’s Organisations and unions. She said the Government “talked a lot about many things that sound good, but that have actually had a really negative impact on our lives".
She continued: “For example, by giving us the ‘confidence’ to work, by threatening to remove our benefits if we don’t try work which will make many of us more poorly. If you’re not working when they decide you should be, your benefits are stopped, and people have died in the UK with a fiver left in their bank account," she said.
Laura Trott told disabled people in November last year that they must 'do their duty' by working from home or face benefits cuts (Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)Laura Trott, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told disabled people in November last year that they must “do their duty” by working from home or face benefits cuts of more than £4,500 per year. But Gaunt said: "They say ‘we’re just helping people to find work, and all disabled people should be in work’ - but for many of us that’s not possible.
"All people regardless of impairment or disability, should have the right to life and dignity. We have the same rights as everyone else and that does not depend on whether we can contribute financially to the economy.”
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Mikey Erhardt, a campaigner at Disability Rights UK, said: "Although we are not surprised by the UK Government’s response this week, we still feel that their refusal to properly engage with this process is an insult to all disabled people whose experiences are reflected in the evidence we’ve provided to the UN.
"Despite requesting a delay last year, they have provided us with no new evidence – instead signposting to plans and policies that create no transformative change. The delegation shared all the ways they believe they’ve created progress for Disabled people’s rights - but they know, just as we do, that no progress has been made. In fact, we have gone backwards.
"We hope this dark hour can bring new energy from decision-makers to institute a radical reform programme, tackle disablist policy making and systemic oppression and injustice, and create a society where everyone has equal life chances and is valued and treated equally.The world is watching, and UK Government can no longer claim to be a leader in disability rights."
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