Thread by @PollardTom

We now have the highest rate of economic inactivity due to long-term health issues for over 20yrs - almost 2.4m people

This is increasingly due to #MentalHealth, something I spent 18 frustrating months advising the DWP on a few years ago

Here's where things are going wrong...🧵

First of all, there are a whole range of factors causing more people to struggle with their mental health:
-poverty & inequality
-poor living conditions
-loneliness & isolation
-the impact of the pandemic
-stressful & insecure work
-difficulty accessing mental health support
2/11

These issues need to be tackled through concerted action across national & local government, services & communities

However, the DWP has a key role to play in providing financial support to people who are struggling & (for now) trying to help people back into employment 3/11

The problem is, the DWP has a very poor record of supporting people who face more complex barriers to employment

By the end of my time there I'd concluded that this was due to deep institutional & cultural issues, which I set out in this @Demos paper 4/11 demos.co.uk/project/pathwa…

The biggest of these issues is that the DWP sees the people it supports primarily as 'benefit claimants'

As a result, it is overly focused on reducing expenditure & it sees the threat of withdrawing benefits as the key tool for motivating people to take steps towards work 5/11

For people with more complex barriers to work, & particularly mental health problems, these kind of threats are ineffective & damaging

People need security & a strong trusting relationship of support, both of which are undermined by a benefits system focused on compliance 6/11

Over 2 million people can't be threatened with sanctions due to the severity of their health conditions or disabilities

The DWP is at a loss as to how to support more of this group into work without the conditional relationship it holds with other people on benefits 7/11

The DWP is the biggest government department, directly delivering much of the employment support it designs

As a result, staff struggle to imagine an approach that isn't constrained by the parameters of how they currently operate, despite the poor outcomes for this group 8/11

Even if the DWP was able to make changes on the scale needed (which I don't believe it is), they would still face a huge trust issue

People who have had a poor experience with the department will struggle to engage with support in a way that will lead to positive outcomes 9/11

My conclusion was that support for people facing more complex barriers should be designed & delivered locally, through local authorities, the NHS & the third sector

I set out a vision for how this could be achieved in this report with @wearenewlocal 10/11 newlocal.org.uk/publications/t…

Many people with complex barriers such as mental health problems could be helped into employment with the right support - benefiting them, our society & the economy

But it needs a fundamentally different approach, built around compassion, understanding, trust & security 11/11