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A damning report on the huge barriers faced by ESA claimants in relation to work was kept secret by the DWP for approximately six years.  It was finally released today as one of a tranche of 31 reports published by Labour in an effort to show the DWP will be more transparent under their leadership.  But it raises huge questions about Labour’s ambition to move large numbers of disabled claimants into work.

“A health, social and economic profile of ESA recipients: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014” was a survey of over seven and a half thousand people, including ESA claimants, JSA claimants, students and people in employment.

Although the survey was carried out in 2014, the actual report appears to have been written around 2018, but no date is given except the publication date of October 2024.

The report found that 55% of ESA claimants struggled with being able to perform three or more activities of daily living, such as being able to wash and dress, take medications, deal with paperwork and money, and get out and about.

Nearly a third had both a physical health condition that limited them ‘a lot’ and a mental health condition that limited them ‘a lot’.

17% had a sight impairment and 8% a hearing impairment.

38% had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 24% borderline intellectual impairment and 6% traits linked to autism.

65% experienced depressive or anxiety disorders at levels at which mental health intervention, such as counselling or medication, might be considered warranted.  This is four times the rate amongst employed people.

17% were identified with probable psychosis compared to one in a thousand (0.1%) amongst employed people.

ESA claimants were more likely than other groups to report signs of drug dependence (12.8%) but were not found to be more likely to show signs of having an alcohol problem.

One in ten ESA claimants had requested a particular mental health treatment but not received it the past year.

ESA claimants were far less likely than the rest of the working age population to feel confident, useful, like they had energy to spare or were able to think clearly.

However, the true state of affairs may be even more challenging than this. The report’s authors point out that “people with the most complex needs (including those who were ESA claimants) were likely to be underrepresented. The profile produced, therefore, may underestimate the challenges and adversity this group faced.”

When you take into account the ten years of austerity since the survey was carried out, the massive increase in hospital waiting lists and the backlog of treatments of all kinds, the effects of the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis, it is clear that the challenges faced by ESA claimants in 2024  must be vastly greater.

Yet, earlier this month, Keir Starmer told the Today programme that “in relation to long-term sickness, which is at very high levels, then of course people need to look for work”. 

And, earlier this year, DWP secretary of state Liz Kendall highlighted the fact that 2.8 million people are economically inactive due to ill-health and that the white paper “Getting Britain Working”, due out at the end of this month will address this issue.

Yet this report’s authors stress the “importance of awareness among Jobcentre Plus staff that this is a population reporting high levels of stress, in which confidence was low and anxiety high”  and that  “lower levels of energy and self-confidence are further barriers to change.”

But will a government desperate to cut the cost of the welfare bill be encouraging work coaches to work slowly and sensitively with ESA claimants?

And how will they encourage employers to provide the extremely high levels of support and adjustments many ESA claimants will need to contemplate a return to work, when the DWP’s own Access to Work scheme has a backlog of tens of thousands of applicants?

Most importantly, how will they ensure that the many hundreds of thousands of ESA claimants who could not possibly manage paid employment are not forced to attempt it in any case, by target driven and ill-trained work coaches?

You can download a copy of A health, social and economic profile of ESA recipients: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014