Keir Starmer's pledge on benefits 'deepens stigma' and leads to 'fear and shame'

Keir Starmer has pledged to cut a “bulging benefits bill” which he claimed is “blighting our society” – rhetoric which charities fear could “deepen stigma” around social security, meaning people who genuinely need support are less likely to seek help.

Just under £23bn in benefits and financial support is expected to go unclaimed this year, with an estimated 8.4 million people missing out on an average of £2,700.

This is believed to be at least in part because of the stigma of claiming benefits, as well as difficulties accessing support from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

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However, rather than focusing on how people facing poverty can get the support they need, the prime minister wrote in an article for the Mail on Sunday: “Make no mistake, we will get to grips with the bulging benefits bill blighting our society.

“Don’t get me wrong – we will crack down hard on anyone who tries to game the system, to tackle fraud so we can take cash straight from the banks of fraudsters. There will be a zero-tolerance approach to these criminals.”

The newspaper said Starmer was “declaring war on the benefits system”.

The government is set to to reveal legislation this week aimed at getting people back in to work and cut the welfare bill, which it claims is costing £137bn a year.

It has so far pledged to slash disability benefits by £3bn, although it is not yet clear how Labour plans to do this – charity Scope has warned that “pressing ahead with the previous government’s planned cut to disability benefits will leave disabled people financially worse off and further from work”.

There are fears that Labour’s rhetoric around benefits implies a punitive approach, rather than a compassionate one.

Shelley Hopkinson, head of policy and influencing at Turn2us, says: “This rhetoric deepens stigma and undermines efforts to rebuild trust in our social security system. Any meaningful plan to tackle poverty and support people into work must move away from this harmful narrative so that people can access the support they need without fear or shame.”

Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall’s ‘Get Britain Working’ white paper is expected to be published on Tuesday (26 November).

Kendall told the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg that young people who refuse to work will face having their benefits cut.

She also said there would be a ‘youth guarantee’ for 18 to 21-year-olds providing training to help them into work, giving people more opportunities to be “earning or learning”.

Ayla Ozmen, director of policy and campaigns at anti-poverty charity Z2K, said: “In our experience, young people are already regularly, and often unfairly, sanctioned by the DWP.”

“Too often, job coaches fail to acknowledge the impact of health conditions, follow complex needs procedures and apply reasonable adjustments. One of our current clients who requested telephone appointments due to a disability was sanctioned when she failed to turn up for her face-to-face appointment,” Ozmen said.

“Instead of adding to the stigma for young people and further damaging trust, the government must focus on urgently fixing the very clear problems of insecurity and inadequacy in our social security system.”

Trussell’s director of policy, research and impact Helen Barnard said that rhetoric used by Starmer is “damaging, even though the reality is very different”, in a post on social media platform Bluesky.

She wrote: “The benefit system is a source of fear and shame for many, especially disabled people. We need more people to take up voluntary support. This does not help.”

But Barnard added that what she has seen so far of the government’s plans for benefits is “pretty positive”. This includes localised employment support, links to health services, and a move away from a “tick-box” approach.

She concluded that the government is “actually focusing on mostly the right things and has promising plans”, while the “hardline rhetoric has a political purpose but undermines their goals”.

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