'It's brutal if you don't have skills': Can Labour get Britain back to work?
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With more than 1.5 million people in Britain unemployed and 2.8 million out of work due to long-term sickness, will Labour really be able to “Get Britain working again”?
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Read time: 4 minutes
In brief…
- Keir Starmer has announced a plan to slash the country’s growing benefits bill by getting millions of people back into work.
- The News Agents speak to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, whose “Get Britain Working” white paper lays out how Labour will tackle unemployment.
- She tells Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel the world of work is “brutal” if you don’t have skills and a disaster for future job prospects.
What’s the story?
Labour has unveiled a plan to get people back into work as it scrambles to tackle the vast surge in economic inactivity since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said today that Britain “simply isn’t working” as he announced the plan to slash the country’s growing benefits bill.“
"From the broken NHS, flatlining economy, and the millions of people left unemployed and trapped in an inactivity spiral – this government inherited a country that simply isn’t working.
"But today we’ve set out a plan to fix this.“Our reforms put an end to the culture of blaming and shaming people who for too long haven’t been getting the support they need to get back to work,” he said.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall’s “Get Britain Working” white paper, which details how Labour aims to get 2 million people back to work, has laid bare the scale of the task ahead.
Unemployment stands at 1.5 million, while more than nine million people are classed as economically inactive - not employed or actively looking for work. These figures have remained high since Covid.
There are nearly 950,000 young people not in work, education, or training, according to the latest data for July to September. This is 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels and the highest the figure has been in a decade.
Meanwhile, a record 2.8 million people are currently out of work due to long-term sickness.
Now, spending on sickness benefits is projected to reach more than £100 billion by the end of the parliament.
That’s more than double what it was before Covid, and more than the schools, police and courts budgets combined.
Labour has pledged to uphold the Conservative’s spending plan commitment of cutting £3 billion from the welfare bill over the next four years.
But with a rise in national insurance contributions for employers in the budgets, coupled with a rise in the minimum wage, many companies have warned they may struggle to create new jobs.
How does Labour plan on getting people back into work?
- Every 18 to 21-year-old in England will have access to apprenticeship, training or education opportunities or help to find work as part of a new "Youth Guarantee" project. The Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four are all signed up to the scheme
- Job centres will be rebranded as a National Jobs and Careers Service as part of a £55 million plan
- Extra staff will be hired in 20 NHS trusts with the highest economic inactivity to cut waiting lists
- Eight “trailblazer” areas, including Liverpool and the Tees Valley will be given £45 million to match up young people with work and training.
- Voluntary job offers for “up to” 100,000 people with disabilities or health conditions under a “Connect to Work” scheme.
- An independent review of what UK employers are doing to promote health and inclusive workplaces will be held.
What did Liz Kendall tell The News Agents?
Liz Kendall is far from the first secretary of state to come up with a plan to get people off benefits and back into work.
She is “under no illusions” about the scale of the challenge, noting that only 3% of people who are economically inactive get back to work each year.
So why would her plan be better than others that have come before?
According to Kendall, it’s all to do with joined up thinking.
She tells The News Agents: “We're going to fundamentally reform the system so it meets the problem that we face today, which is… this big challenge of increasing numbers of people out of work due to long term sickness.
“That requires us to act in a completely different way, much more joined up with what the NHS is doing.”
Indeed, Britain is now spending more than any other developed country on the out-of-work sick.
If you look at the areas with the highest rates of unemployment, these are also the same places with the worst health outcomes, Kendall points out.
This is why, she argues, the conversation around welfare reform needs to shift from a reductive debate around the benefit system to looking at other issues that impact your ability to work - specifically health.
It is not only poor physical health preventing people from working. Mental health is also a major driver in youth unemployment, which has soared since the pandemic.
The counter argument goes that young people are taking advantage of the system, claiming sick benefits due to mental health problems when in reality they are capable of working.
But Kendall argues: “There are some people who are taking the mick who can work but who don't work, but I think they are a minority.”
But for those that do, Kendall warns that the 18-21 must take up work, education or training when offered or have their benefits cut. She doubts this will need to happen on a wide scale.
She adds: “The world of work is brutal if you don't have skills and it is a disaster for your health, your future jobs prospects and your future earning potential if you don't have skills, training or employment. And we won't let that happen to young people.”
Listen in full on The News Agents.
