Written evidence submitted by Inclusion Scotland (WIS0011)

Committee Inquiry into impact of welfare policy in Scotland                 

Executive Summary: 

• The impact of UK Government policies and de-inustrialisation on health inequalities, life expectancy and increases in deprivation was experienced most acutely in Scotland and has left an ongoing legacy.
• Scotland has more disabled people per capita than the other nations of the UK.
• Scotland is substantially more rural and sparsely populated than other parts of the UK.
• This imposes additional costs in terms of both delivery of, and access to, services in sparsely populated rural areas.
• Transport in Scotland’s more rural areas is harder to access, less regular and more expensive than in urban areas.
• Not all parts of Scotland have access to broadband reception.
• The impact of Universal Credit in Scotland whilst not “unique” is disproportionate.
• The high proportion of disabled people in Scotland makes a “single gateway” route to claiming Universal Credit much more problematic.
• The Two Child limit has also disproportionately impacted on larger familes, Lone Parent households and householeds containing a disabled person or child, all of which were already more likely to already be living in poverty.
• The DWP seems unwilling or incapable of cooperating properly with the devolved administration of benefits. 
• If the Scottish Government’s welfare policies become more humane and generous than those adopted throughout the rest of the UK then they may become difficult/impossible to pay for from the monies made available.

Introduction: Inclusion Scotland is a national ‘Disabled People’s Organisation’ (DPO) – led by disabled people ourselves. Our mission is to ensure that policy affecting the everyday lives of disabled people in Scotland is informed by, and reflects our views, so that the full inclusion of disabled people into all aspects of Scottish society can be achieved.

1                    What are the unique drivers of inequality in Scotland?

1.1             Scotland, and in particular Glasgow and the West of Scotland, was once known as the “Workshop of the World”.  Although Scotland’s industrial decline began in the long depression of the 1920s and 30s it still had a substantial proportion of the UK’s heavy industry until the 1980s including mining, steelmaking, shipbuilding, car and coach-making and textiles.

1.2             All of these industries were heavily impacted by the industrial policies of the UK Government in the 1980s.  Several industries closed entirely (e.g. mining, steel production, car and coach building) whilst others (shipbuilding, textiles) were reduced to a fraction of their previous employment levels.

1.3             Research by the University of the West of Scotland[1] found that in Scotland–

• Mortality rates in deprived areas improved much more slowly or went into decline during and after the 1980s.
• For young adults in Scotland there had been no improvement in mortality rates in 30 years (1983 – 2013)
• There was a rapid rise in inequalities in health associated with area deprivation.
• Relative health inequalities increased rapidly during the 1980s, leaving Scotland with the highest inequalities in Western and Central Europe.
• Alcohol-related mortality increased dramatically during the late 1980s and early 1990s in contrast to the improving trends in other parts of Europe.
• Substantial increases were also seen at this time in drug and suicide-related mortality particularly amongst young Scots men.

NB: Increases in drug related deaths and suicides are once again being seen - as predicted by NHS Health Scotland as a likely consequence of continued austerity policies.

1.4             The proportion of the population with a long term limiting illness or disability impairment is higher in Scotland than in any other nation in the UK. As of 2015 Statista estimated that England and Northern Ireland’s populations both have 20% of disabled people, Wales, 21% and Scotland, 22%. Inverclyde (24%) and Glasgow (23%) have the highest rates of disability in Scotland and also the highest concentrations of deprivation. Given that disability is associated with age and Scotland/Glasgow have a lower average life expectancy a higher proportion of Scotland’s disabled people are also of working age.

1.5             Scotland’s high rate of disability and life limiting health conditions is partially due to environmental and genetic factors and partially a legacy of heavy industry and poverty. For example Scotland has the highest rate of Multiple Sclerosis in the world.  This is known to be related to genetic predisposition plus lack of Vitamin D from sunlight. 

1.6             Yet Scotland’s rate of MS outstrips other Northern European nations, such as Norway and Finland, who have even less sunlight, possibly because of poorer diet. In terms of the legacy from heavy industry there are high rates of asbestosis and mesothelioma amongst ex-shipyard and building workers and emphysema, pneumoconiosis and COPD amongst ex miners and steel workers.

1.7             The impact of poverty and wealth inequalities on health and health inequalities is now well understood and largely accepted within the health community[2].  Poverty has, among other effects, an impact on mental health, rates of self-harm, including suicide, drug addiction and alcoholism and rates of death from heart disease and cancer.

1.8             However poverty is not only a cause of ill-health but also a consequence because someone whose health is restricted is more likely to also have restrictions on the hours that they are fit enough to work or whether they are in work at all – ill-health being one of the largest causes of job loss in the over 50s.

1.9             The “Glasgow effect” (higher rates of ill health, disability and low life expectancy than can be explained purely by the rate of poverty and deprivation) has been the subject of many studies. Perhaps one of the most important research findings[3] is that the impact of poverty on pregnant women may result in genetic damage to the foetus making them more likely to suffer ill health or impairment later in life.  Thus, if poverty is long lasting, increased health inequalities and impairments may become endemic in the Scottish, and particularly West of Scotland, population.

1.10         Why is the high level of long-term ill-health and disability in the Scots population of relevance to the “unique” drivers of poverty and inequality in Scotland? Recent studies by the New Policy Institute[4] and the Social Metrics Commission[5] show that, once the costs of disability are taken into account households containing a disabled adult or child account for nearly half (48%) of all the poverty in the UK. Therefore, as Scotland has a higher proportion of disabled people than the other nations of the UK, poverty is also likely to be higher and, because of the “disability employment gap”, more difficult to escape.

1.11         The disability employment gap is the difference in rates of employment for disabled people and non-disabled people of working age. In Scotland this gap is higher than the gap in England. In 2018 the employment rate of Scots disabled people of working age was 45.6 % compared to 81% for non-disabled people. Thus, the gap was 36% and non-disabled people are 70% more likely to be in employment than their disabled peers.

1.12         Although the majority of children living in poverty are now to be found in working households employment still remains the surest route out of poverty. Thus the high rate of impairment and long term ill health in Scotland is likely to not only mean that a higher proportion of Scots experience poverty but their chances of escaping it by entering employment are also limited.

1.13         The low rates of employment amongst disabled Scots are compounded by their being more likely to be in low-paid, entry-level jobs even if they are lucky enough to find employment. According to the EHRC the average rate of pay for disabled workers is £9.90 ph compared to £11.40 ph for their non-disabled peers - a difference amounting to £2,730 a year for those in full time work.

1.14         Lack of employment and low rates of pay make Scots disabled people more dependent on benefits for some or all of their income. Thus, “welfare reforms” (cuts) to other benefits would impact disproportionately on disabled people even if there were no cuts to the level of disability and carers benefits.  However, there have been cuts to such benefits particularly to Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and the disability and carers premiums for both adults and children on Universal Credit.

1.15         The EHRC estimates[6] that the cumulative impact of tax and welfare reforms on households containing disabled people will be is as follows –

• Households with at least one disabled adult and a disabled child are projected to lose over £6,500 by 2021-22. Households with no disabled adults and no children will on average gain around £750 from the reforms.
• The most disabled will be the worst hit - households with six or more disabilities will lose almost £3,150 a year on average.
• Disabled lone parents with at least one disabled child will lose almost £10,000 of net income.

1.16         As Scotland has –

(i)                 a higher proportion of its population with long term health conditions and impairments who are -

(ii)                less likely to be in work and -

(iii)              more likely to be dependent on benefits for some or all of their incomes then the likelihood is that -

(iv)             the impact of cuts to disabled people’s benefits will impact disproportionately harshly in Scotland increasing both the rate and depth of poverty.

2                    Other factors unique to Scotland:

2.1 Scotland has nearly 40% of the land mass of Great Britain but contains only 8.5% of its population. Scotland’s population density is 70/km2, the lowest of all the four nations that make up the United Kingdom. In comparison, England’s population density is 430/km2, more than 6 times as dense.

2.2               However, 3.5 million of Scotland’s population is concentrated in the central belt resulting in population density in more remote parts of Scotland such as the Highlands and Western Isles falling as low as 9/km2 - that is nearly 50 times lower than England’s average population density.

2.3               The sparsity of population in the more remote and rural areas of Scotland (including Argyle & Bute, Dumfries & Galloway, Highlands, the Western Isles and Orkney & Shetland) creates unique logistical problems in the delivery of high quality public services by the NHS, Local Authorities, Public Transport. These problems add to their delivery costs. The sparsity of population and distances involved also lead to increased costs being passed on to the populations of remote communities by private companies including those involved in retail, transport, power & communications.

2.4               Because current measures of poverty take household income but not costs (other than housing costs) into account the scale and depth of rural poverty in Scotland is likely to be underestimated.

2.5 The difficulties for disabled people in rural/remote locations in Scotland is being compounded by the reforms to disability benefits. The 20 metre walking test for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) which replaced the 50 metre walking test for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) has resulted in nearly half[7] (48%) of those on the DLA Higher Rate Mobility component losing it when reassessed for PIP.

2.6               As the Higher Rate Mobility component is required to gain automatic access to the Motability car leasing scheme and concessionary travel this creates enormous difficulties for disabled people in accessing employment and essential services even in urban areas.

2.7              However in remote and rural areas where average distances to bus stops and train stations far greater, public transport services more infrequent[8] (and often physically inaccessible) this can leave disabled people (and others living in poverty) trapped in their own homes and unable to access employment and health & retail services.  Inclusion Scotland do not believe that the severe impact of this policy on Scots disabled people living in remote areas was sufficiently considered by London-based policy and decision-makers.

3              Universal Credit

3.1             Other organisations are perhaps better placed to comment on how well, or badly, Universal Credit (UC) is being rolled out.  We would like to outline the specific problems faced by disabled people in Scotland in making and maintaining claims to UC.

3.2             Online access: All Universal Credit claimants, including disabled people, are initially signposted to the self-service online channel, and other channels are used as an exception. Telephone claims can be completed where appropriate but this seems to be happening only very rarely.

3.3             All claimants, other than in exceptional circumstances, are also required to maintain their claim online.  How can this be done when the person may have impairments that make this difficult or impossible? – e.g. learning difficulties, blind/visually impaired, conditions causing loss of muscular control, fatigue and pain.

3.4             Disabled people are the group in society least likely to have internet access. As of 2015[9] more than one in three (35%) Scots disabled people did not access or use the internet at all.  This compared to over 90% of the non-disabled population using the internet. Those most likely to claim Universal Credit, i.e. those with low levels of literacy and living on low incomes, are also those least likely to have internet access.

3.5             Inclusion Scotland are aware of incidents where learning disabled people, who could not make online claims without assistance, have been sat down in front of computer screens and berated by Job Centre staff for making mistakes and taking so long.

3.6             In Scotland there are difficulties with accessing the internet at all.  The areas with poorest broadband access and speeds are also the most remote geographically – Orkney & Shetland, Argyll & Bute, Moray, Highland and Borders[10]. This makes making and maintaining claims to Universal Credit most difficult in the areas where making a journey to get assistance from a CAB, library or Job Centre is also most difficult.

4       Two Child Limit

4.1             The impact of this policy falls hardest on larger families. Unsurprisingly, families with three or more children are already at a higher risk of poverty. At a UK level, 39% of children in these families already live in poverty compared with 26% of those in families with two children[11] .The largest group affected will actually be working families with three children. In 2014/15 there were 872,000 families across the UK with more than two children claiming tax credits.

4.2             However, the families who may suffer most are larger families with disabled children or parents.  As shown above after the costs of disability are taken into account these families are already much more likely to be living in poverty.  Within this group, families with parents or children who have the most impairments, or who have conditions that are terminal are also likely to suffer disproportionately.

5       Relations between DWP & Scottish Government

5.1           Inclusion Scotland has no specific insider knowledge of the relations between UK Ministers & the DWP and Scottish Government Ministers & officials. We can only judge on what we are told and what we can observe by way of assistance offered, or denied. 

5.2             Whilst we are told that personal relations between DWP and Scottish Ministers/officials are cordial and professional there seems to be an inability, or unwillingness, on the part of DWP to assist Scottish Government in achieving its policy objectives in regards to devolved social security benefits and powers.

5.3             To give but one example the “agile” Universal Credit computer system seems unable to split payments.  Thus despite some powers over payment of UC being devolved Scottish Government are being thwarted in introducing split payments even though they are committed to doing so by the Social Security Scotland Act 2018.

5.4             The DWP also seem determined to charge for each and every payment they are asked to deliver on Scottish Government’s behalf.  Yet the DWP has so little knowledge of, and control over, its own costs that the National Audit Office (NAO) have previously refused to sign off their accounts on several occasions.

5.5             Last year the NAO also flatly contradicted ministerial claims that Universal Credit will reduce DWP’s administrative costs. Instead, they concluded that UC may end up costing more than the benefits it replaces; it cannot be proved that it helps more claimants into work and that it is unlikely to ever deliver value for money[12]. Given this it is surprising that the DWP can be so certain of the costs of delivering payments on Scottish Government’s behalf. 

6       Diverging Benefits Systems

6.1              Inclusion Scotland has concerns that the formula used to determine Scotland’s share of the social security spend could in future result in a drain on Scottish public finances. The bulk of the spend (approx. 80%) being devolved is for the payment of disability benefits/assistance and is based on an indexed per capita spend on similar benefits (Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Attendance Allowance) throughout the UK.

6.1             However, if Scotland were to introduce a more humane and generous system of disability assistance, the spend allocated in the block grant might not match the spend in Scotland. For example if the Scottish Government were to reintroduce the 50 metre walking rule for PIP then potentially tens of thousands of disabled people would be likely to regain or become entitled to the Enhanced Rate of the Mobility Component and their entitlement would increase by either £38 or £1.20 per week. That could amount to a total of several hundred million pounds a year and it would not be met from the devolved social security spend.

6.2             Alternately, the UK Government might further restrict entitlement to disability benefits in England and Wales.  This too would result in a proportionate decrease in the social security monies devolved to Scotland and could leave a deep hole in Scottish public finances.

September 2019