Roberta Parsons, Shropshire Socialist Party

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Looking back, I now see how naïve I was to expect that the system I paid into over the course of my working life would be there as a safety net. I found myself, through a series of circumstances outside my control, temporarily incapacitated and unable to work, navigating CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder), a hidden disability and chronic burnout as a single mother of three. Throughout my professional life as a probation officer, I endeavoured to treat my service users with the dignity, respect and compassion I believe should be afforded to all humans, no matter their circumstances.

Instead, I found myself completely powerless and dependent on an organisation, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), described in a recent academic research paper as perpetuating widespread “institutional violence” against claimants (and by extension, their dependents).

After battling through the humiliation and re-traumatisation of the Personal Independent Payment application process, the judge dismissed my claim at a tribunal. He admitted that he hadn’t actually read any of my evidence, having only read the submissions put forward by the DWP which, as I had painstakingly pointed out in the evidence he couldn’t be bothered to read, were littered with lies, inaccuracies and errors. Just before Christmas I received a sanction of £300 for failing to attend an appointment which clashed with the school run, despite having previously informed my work coach of my dependent commitments. 

I can categorically say that the dehumanisation I have experienced at the hands of the DWP has been deeply harmful, compounding the abuse I endure as a survivor of domestic abuse and post-separation abuse. I am one of the lucky ones though. I have just about survived my ordeal – others have not.

Many thousands of people are suffering severe hardship and more lives will be needlessly lost. Ministers have known about the links between benefit sanctions and claimant deaths for years; researchers from the University of Liverpool published a study in 2015 which concluded that the work capability assessment process was linked to an additional 590 suicides in three years. In 2016, the United Nations Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities found the UK guilty of “grave and systemic violations of the UN disability convention” and concluded in a subsequent review in 2022 that the UK government had made “no signs of significant progress”, and that there were “signs of regression” in upholding the rights of disabled people. In a separate report, the committee’s chair highlighted failures in the social security system and said: “There is a pervasive framework that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity”.

The Labour government is continuing and expanding the Tories’ attacks on benefits (see below). It has moved far from its socialist roots as a party founded to promote and advance the rights of the working class. Hardly surprising, given the £4 million donation made to it (the sixth largest donation in British political history) by Quadrature Capital, a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands with shares in arms companies amongst others.

The Labour government is leading an assault on the rights and dignity of the most vulnerable in our communities while refusing to tax the most wealthy, as increasing numbers of children are dragged into poverty and living standards continue to decline. We need a party that actually represents our needs instead of perpetuating the current trajectory of more systemic inequality.

Where’s the real budget black hole – benefit fraud or uncollected tax?

The tax gap, the difference between the amount of tax owed and what the government collects, has increased to £40 billion in 2024. The vast majority of this comes from the richest, not the rest of us! Not included in this figure are offshore accounts.

Despite this, the Labour government would rather focus its efforts on cracking down on benefit fraud, which would return very little money back to the taxpayer. Labour’s rhetoric is another attempt to demonise those struggling due to government failures. It’s not just attacking the fraudsters, but sneakily encourages bad attitudes towards all people on benefits, while almost completely ignoring the billionaires that contribute to incomparably more woe!

On another note, in 2024, £1.1 billion was underpaid in benefit expenditure. This might not seem much to the ultra-rich, but even just £10 underpaid to an individual can make a huge difference. £23 billion of benefits people are entitled to went unclaimed last year too!

As part of measures which include snooping in people’s bank accounts, the Labour government will punish benefit cheats with a driving ban up to two years, as if that will help people into full-time employment! All of this focus on benefit fraud makes it seem as if its a huge issue. Well, with increasing efforts to crack down on benefit fraud, we could be looking at £1.5 billion being saved for the taxpayers over five years! This is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of tax avoided, evaded and unpaid by the super-rich. Or the massive frauds perpetrated by the bosses during Covid. Or the money siphoned off every day as profit in privatised services.

Ellie Armstrong, Carlisle Socialist Party

Letter: Remembering Remploy

The government is unhappy about the 4.5 million people of working age on sickness benefits making no contribution to the nation’s GDP.

In the 1990s I saw an employment advisor at Remploy, a government-funded employment scheme. It had its own factories and workplaces for people who were not 100% fit and well. The Tories shut them down to save costs.

If the Labour government wants sick and disabled people to work then it must assess people and provide accessible employment. The capitalist system is not able to provide employment for those unemployed who are 100% fit, let alone those who are not.

Remploy produced goods that were sold in commercial markets. Are any MPs old enough to remember when the UK made goods? The neoliberalism much loved by Thatcher and Reagan was not and is not the answer.

Adrian Rimington, Chesterfield

The Socialist Party fights for:

• A massive expansion of public services, including free, flexible childcare and social care. Reverse all cuts, kick out the privateers and bring services back into public ownership under democratic workers’ and community control
• To replace Universal Credit and the punitive benefit system with living benefits for all who need them
• A new mass workers’ party to provide an alternative to Labour austerity. Take the wealth off the super-rich and make the bosses pay

Socialist Party members are encouraging trade union branches to pass a motion that includes the demand for the trade unions and TUC disabled workers’ committee to organise a demonstration to lobby parliament against disability benefit cuts. See www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/135086/29-01-2025/fightback-against-labour-disability-attacks/