11 - Scroungers, shirkers and the sick: disability and welfare in the 21st century

Summary

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of key policy debates, supported by examples from research, relating to how long-term sick and disabled people1 are treated when they require financial support from the state. The concept of (un)deservingness in social policies for disabled people will be considered. This is not a new notion, and so the historical background will also be discussed. The chapter then moves on to consider the major changes to UK ‘welfare’ policy directed towards the long-term sick and disabled during the 21st century and to contextualise these within the challenges of ‘austerity’. This will be examined particularly through the lens of local authority funding and COVID-19. The main body of the chapter considers the impact of the current system of benefits on claimants from my research with benefit claimants, and then introduces literature based on more recent research. Following this, I present an account of my lived experience as a disabled benefit claimant. In reporting my own experience, I hope to highlight the fact that, regardless of my privileged position as a highly educated White academic, it is still impossible to escape the stigmatising rhetoric which permeates through interactions with the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The chapter concludes that, at the time of writing in 2021, disability-related benefits in the UK continued to be framed within the context of ‘scroungers and shirkers’. To make society fairer, and to support disabled people to live more fulfilling lives with suitable occupational roles (both paid and unpaid) there is an urgent need for change. This does not appear to be forthcoming in the DWP's 2021 Green Paper on disability benefits, and although the accompanying White Paper is due, this has not been forthcoming at the time of writing.

Social policy context: how many ways can a government say ‘undeserving’?

The myth of the lazy working-class individual who does not want to work is one that has persisted over centuries. The language and policy landscape may change, but the discourse consistently holds true for those who are unemployed (Grant, 2019) or viewed as undeserving. Considering the case of the UK, debates moved significantly from the ‘scroungermania’ of the Thatcher era (Moore, 1981),