This week the DWP posted on Twitter that they’d successfully caught more benefit fraudsters in their crackdown. This time it was the minister in charge of the department, Mel Stride, and he took a newspaper known for its reasoned stance on benefit claimants along with him for the ride.
Stride told The Sun he had “the determination of Ted Hastings to clamp down on things that are wrong and to do the right thing”.
This is after the Minister for disabled people, Tom Pursglove, fronted a similar bizarre video last month. Looking like a man that you just know practised his Liam Neeson impressions in the shower, he announced in his little stab vest “We will track you down. We will find you. And we will bring you to justice.”
As an aside, who would the minister for disabled people be in this Line of Duty government? I’m thinking that annoying kid who faked his way into the police, then snivelled his way out of it with no accountability.
The whole thing would be incredibly laughable - grown men who work for the worst government in decades running about doing terrible pastiches of crime thrillers - if it wasn’t pushing such a dangerous narrative.
I'm sure the rich man’s (definitely not poor) gritty detectives think they are doing some good. But when their “crackdowns” focus on poor and disabled people who have long been persecuted for wanting to survive they’re doing the exact opposite.
For decades benefit claimants have been painted as scroungers who would rather sit on their bums than work when they can live off the taxpayer.
You see it in the media when we’re called job-shy and “thieves”, in government-backed campaigns to “shop your neighbour” for daring to live with a partner or stand up from their wheelchair.
The thing is though, surprise surprise, the government aren’t giving the whole story here.
A couple of weeks ago the department hailed that their “Fraud Plan” was working amazingly, decreasing the amount lost to “fraudsters” from £8.7 billion in the year to April 2022, to £8.3 billion to this April.
However it’s worth noting that the actual total for what they deem as "fraud" is £6.5 billion and the other almost £2 billion was lost to error.
But when you look even closer at the figures you wonder why the disabled people’s minister is fronting these campaigns - because the amount for error is much higher in PIP and Employment Support Allowance claimants than “fraud”.
For PIP, fraud is £40 million but error is £160 million. In ESA, it’s £180 million for fraud compared to £260 million in error.
It’s worth stating what the government doesn’t here - in nearly all cases the claimants are made to repay the overpayments, and it’s usually deducted from their already minuscule benefit amount.
If that wasn’t bad enough, they’re not talking about how much they theoretically save by underpaying claimants. The total is £3.3 billion, which again when you drill down into, it's much bleaker for disabled people.
The total underpaid to PIP claimants is £900 million, and to ESA claimants its £230 million. There’s also the estimated £19 billion they save a year by people not being aware that they can claim.
And all of these figures are still nothing compared to the £42 billion in unpaid tax last year - but we all know why they’d be keen to keep that quiet. How much tax does the PM’s wife pay again?
When the figures show how badly the government are treating disabled people you can’t help but think that the disabled people’s minister should be standing up for us - not basically insinuating that it’s all our fault.
Instead of blustering about getting disabled people into work, Pursglove should be standing up for our rights. But we can’t expect a tory to change their spots that quickly.
The conservatives would be much happier if disabled people all died - and that’s what their goal is.
Please, don’t let them convince you that we’re all scroungers - we deserve to live.
