Welfare reforms 'doomed to fail’ unless government tackles stigma, warns report

The government’s plans to “get Britain working” will fail unless they confront the stigma and mistrust built into the benefits system, according to a new report from national anti-poverty charity Turn2us. 

Launching ‘Stigma to support: Rebuilding trust in our social security system’ in Parliament today, with speakers including the Minister for Employment, Dame Diana Johnson, the charity warns that decades of negative attitudes towards claimants have been hard-wired into policy design and frontline practice. This has created a culture of distrust and hostility that leaves people feeling judged and demoralised.  

The report builds on Turn2us’s research with the University of Bristol, which found that instead of helping people move forward, a culture of surveillance and the constant threat of sanctions erode people’s health, confidence and self-belief, trapping people in the very situation the system is meant to resolve. Many describe how it set back their recovery and kept them on Universal Credit longer than necessary. 

Effectively assessing the support someone needs to navigate life with a disability or find their next career move depends on trusting relationships and understanding each person’s unique circumstances and barriers. But right now, the lack of trust makes such conversations impossible. 

Data from the research shows that 64% of claimants believe the DWP is “trying to catch them out”, while 80% of PIP recipients fear losing support. Many also report assessors actively misrepresenting what happens in assessments. The charity warns that without tackling stigma, the government’s Pathways to Work reforms and Timms Review will risk repeating past mistakes.  

Lucy Bannister, Head of Policy and Influencing at Turn2us, said: 

“Our social security system should give people stability when life changes and confidence to rebuild their lives. The government's plans to support more people to move into, and progress in, work are welcome - but it is ‘doomed to fail’ unless more is done to address the suspicion, mistrust and stigma baked into the system. The government's language and the practice of the DWP is making building the trust needed to assess the support someone needs, or help overcome barriers to work, impossible.” 

Turn2us identifies three key fixes the government must deliver to make its welfare agenda work: 

1. Simplifying and humanising access to PIP: The Timms Review should consider how the process of accessing PIP can be simplified, including following Scotland's lead on reducing the need for assessments, and ensuring assessors are trained in the realities of disability and illness. 
2. Invest in frontline DWP staff to rebuild trust: Ensure work coaches and assessors have the capacity, time and training to build trust and understand each claimant’s unique ambitions and challenges.  
3. Making sanctions a last resort: move from surveillance and punishment to collaboration, focusing on voluntary engagement with employment support that nurtures people’s confidence, ambitions and hope for the future.  

The report accepts that changing the culture of Jobcentres and rebuilding trust with claimants will take some time. However, it argues that the potential savings are vast. The DWP’s own modelling suggests that supporting someone with work-limiting health conditions or disabilities into full-time employment could lead to societal savings of £28,000 a year, including direct fiscal savings, tax revenue and wider economic impact. 

Lucy continues: “A safety net that we can all trust to support us when we, or our country, face tough times is critical to a functioning economy and society. By centring its reforms around building trust and treating people with dignity and respect, the government has an opportunity to truly support more people into better work and build a system we can all be proud of.”