Fighting sick-note culture

There was a certain irony to the Prime Minister making a speech on worklessness on a Friday when swathes of Whitehall are empty due to the rise in home-working. But Rishi Sunak’s intervention was commendable nonetheless. He struck a bold note, setting out his belief in the “moral mission” of reforming welfare to get people back into work.

Since the pandemic and the accompanying lockdowns, something in Britain’s economy has fundamentally shifted. Some 850,000 more people have joined the ranks of the economically inactive due to long-term sickness, with this rise disproportionately concentrated in the young. As Mr Sunak noted, this has “wiped out a decade’s worth of progress”.
It is clearly right that we offer support for those who genuinely need it, but that safety net must not become a hammock.

People should not be abandoned to a life on welfare, but supported to find work that is a source not just of income but of dignity – and, as Mr Sunak notes, a potential pathway to better mental and physical health.

The Prime Minister has shown courage in taking on a controversial issue and we must now hope that his speech is built upon. Welfare reform was popular under the Coalition, and Labour is not going to address this crisis.

Mr Sunak also has a strong political narrative he can draw on. As the chancellor who introduced the furlough scheme, he spent billions protecting people threatened by unemployment. Who better to now make the case that, to pay the bill for that help, Britain needs to get back to work?