The Government is facing backlash from disability campaigners over plans to place Job Centre staff in GP surgeries, a move critics say is intrusive, discriminatory, and “turns the state into ambulance chasing” targeting disabled people.
The policy, part of a new back-to-work initiative, will see Job Centre advisers based in doctors’ surgeries to “help patients access employment support sooner.” But disability advocates argue it risks intimidating vulnerable patients and blurring the line between healthcare and welfare enforcement.
Ed Balls was quoted on GMB, saying this will stop people visiting the doctor’s surgery for treatment.
Snowball, the UK’s leading disability-access platform, founded by Simon Sansome, has condemned the plan as a “shocking failure of understanding.”
Founder Simon Sansome said: “Instead of chasing disabled people to their doctors, the Government should make Job Centres accessible. Disabled people don’t need to be cornered in GP waiting rooms, they need access, fairness, and real opportunity.”
Snowball met with the Disability Minister last year to discuss introducing the Snowball Accessibility Scheme in Job Centres, a system designed to rate, improve, and standardise accessibility nationwide. The company even submitted a formal tender to the Government to deliver the work, but the proposal was ignored.
Sansome added: “We offered a fully developed accessibility framework that would have made Job Centres fit for everyone. Instead, the Government has gone for a headline-grabbing shortcut that risks humiliating disabled people in the one place they should feel safe, their GP surgery.”
During recent discussions on GMB about welfare reform, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden MP stated: “Job Centres are not suitable for everyone.”
Sansome responded: “He’s right. Job Centres are not for everyone, because they’re still not accessible to everyone. Until those changes are made, this entire policy is built on inequality.”
Campaigners say the move could create fear and confusion among disabled people, many of whom already feel unfairly treated by the benefits system.
Sansome said: “People go to their GP for care, not a career consultation. If the Government really wants to help, it should start by making its own services inclusive, not by turning GP surgeries into Job Centres.”
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● Website: www.snowballassessment.com
● Apple App Store: Snowball Community – Apple
● Google Play Store: Snowball Community – Android
