This post is about job hunting when you have a disability in the UK. It is also about the one thing that each and every disabled person has been worried about since the Tories suggested it early this year: another reform of disabled benefits. Their idea was to make it a voucher scheme, making people apply for reimbursement. The idea is to encourage disabled people to work.
Here’s the thing. PIP isn’t a replacement to working. It never has been. You can work while receiving PIP. Let me say that again. You can work while receiving PIP! It is not disabled people already on PIP going to the doctors every week for a fit note.
Some disabled people may be—those with undiagnosed conditions being investigated in. That takes time and it’s a scary process. Trust me, the last thing those that are seeking a diagnosis want is the stress of applying for PIP when they don’t even know what is wrong with them yet and those on it… they already went through the torture of interrogation.
When Labour got in, I thought the attack on PIP would end. Disabled people would be safe. I was wrong. Labour are just Tories in red coats, especially for disabled people. They’re planning on reforming PIP in 2025 but how that will look is anyone’s guess. It’s a scary time.
What is PIP for?
Personal Independence Payment has never been about getting money to avoid work. It’s always been to subsided the extra cost of being disabled and it’s affect on your quality of life. It’s meant to help you gain the independence that your disability takes from you.
That’s why people who work are still able to get PIP. It’s not means tested. The amount you get has always been to do with your disability and how much it impacts your independence. People need it to maintain jobs. To maintain going out with friends. To have as normal of a life as possible The money awarded is to increase quality of life as a disabled person.
According to Scope, the average extra cost of being disabled in the UK in 2023 was £975. The monthly payments for PIP that year if the individual got both awards at enhanced rate were £736.40. It doesn’t cover the full average cost of being disabled.
What does PIP go on?
Most of that will go on a car payment if the individual is on the Motability Scheme or their wheelchair (yes that is on the Motability scheme and costs, and no they cannot have both). That leaves £432.20… but then there is fuel costs. Disabled people may need to use their car for more short-ranged distances. According to Car Expert, the average 2022 household used £119.58 p/m in fuel. Let’s say that’s £139 for disabled individuals: £293.20. For those that spent their money on an electric wheelchair… how about those electricity bills? Especially if they’ve had to have a hoist installed too.
The rest would go to carers, specific food that is easier to cook or eat, renewing adaptions, accessible clothing and more. Meals for one person costs me more than someone making a meal for themselves.
I cannot use fresh ingredients. Wouldn’t be able to cut it. If I lived on my own, I’d have to buy the £2 microwavable rice that would last me 1 meal rather than the £2 boil in the bag rice that would last me 6 meals because I cannot strain food. I have to buy pre-cut, pre-processed food. I’ve never seen a pre-cut pizza, not sure about you… so it limits my food choices more too.
According to Nimble Fins, the average single person spends £31 on groceries. A disabled person could be looking at more, with accessible food less likely being able to be brought in bulk.
With these extra costs, PIP is not enough to comfortably live on.
Job Hunting Experience
There are many people on PIP who work or want to work. I am currently seeking employment and its not easy. Sure, it’s not easy for able-bodied either. But… they’re not barred from certain jobs.
Working in Subway, or Amazon Warehouse, or Burger King may not be anyone’s dream. But hey, its a job and able-bodied people can do it. I can’t. I’m not able to cut food up. The person’s subway would have 5 holes in it the size of my fingers if I tried. No joke. I’ve done it a thousand times to my own. I don’t have the strength to lift boxes. I couldn’t be a waiter, having to balance plates with the use of one hand.
I’m an independent person… except when my body won’t let me be. I’m stuck with office / desk based roles. Roles that are not physical labour. But they’re also frequently not ‘first job’ or unqualified roles. So I’ve spent 10 years as a student. And yep, I’ve had a desk based role once. I loved it. Really, I did. The reason I don’t work there anymore?
I think this gif says it all. During the pandemic, I did the only thing I could do. I went back to studying and did a PhD.
Last weekend, I applied to 12. Then applied to a few more every day. Not one interview. I’ve tried since I submitted my thesis in September. Not a long time, I get that. But it’s really getting me down that I’m getting so many rejections and only 1-2 interviews. Especially as I’ve spent every available hour applying for jobs.
Job Hunting Limitations
There are jobs out there that match my qualifications. Lecturing, for example. I would happily lecture. But, location wise, they’re not possible for me. I’m not saying able-bodied people find it easy to locate either, but it’s marginally easier because of the whole independence thing.
If I relocate, I have to think about independence. I have to think about what that would mean. I would need careers in place on the day I get there. Not a week later or a month later. I cannot live independently and that will be my life forever. So, when jobs pop up in Cambridge or Plymouth, I curse my disability for not allowing me to relocate without all these difficulties.
Going abroad would also be a no for me. There are lecturing jobs in China, Europe, the States. I cannot take any of them because to access support in my own country is hard enough. Accessing support in a foreign country would be impossible. I am stuck in the West Midlands until further notice. I love the West Midlands, but it also narrows my job search considerably. I’m looking in a one-hour journey radius and it takes me 30 minutes to drive out of my city. Other disabled people would have limitations in other ways.
Freelancing not working
I’ve tried freelance. I’m very good at building websites, I’m ok at cover design, great editing and proofreading, at copywriting. The problem is everyone is broke and companies are more likely to go to companies that offer that service. I have one client at the moment. We’re friends from uni, but to find other clients is hard and she doesn’t need my service every hour of every day.
I can’t travel across the country to networking events. It’s not possible. Social media is full of people advertising that my own is buried amongst others. I’m trying hard to make money in some form. It’s just not happening.
Reforms to ‘fix sick culture’
The government, Tories and Labour, are acting as if PIP is the sick culture. They want people to believe that disabled people aren’t job hunting like the rest. Truth is, reducing benefits, changing them to vouchers, getting people to show how much life costs them… none of that will help the disabled person actually get a job if no one is taking on candidates. Government wants people to get into work, then there needs to be a reform, but not on benefits. That would only make things worse.
For me, my greatest tool for independence is my car. Without it I cannot leave the house. A five minute walk exhausts me. I have a friend who used to live 3 minutes walk from me. By the time I got to her house , I’d be out of breath. Public transport is not easy for me (but even if it was, it’s longer than five minutes to the nearest bus stop).
Take away my car and I am housebound. Take away my car and I will not be able to leave the house. Take away my car and I will not be able to get to a job. Take away my car and I have no life. This will be the story of many people who are on PIP. Those on the Motability scheme use that extra money to subside the fact public transport and taxis are not an easy option. But it’s not just the car. Take away any part of the benefit and disabled people are not going to have any independence. They’ll not be able to afford adaptions, carers, special clothes. Anything.
What needs to happen?
Yes, people need to work, but attacking benefits is not the way to do it. Schemes for employments, guaranteed ‘first job’ non-labour work for disabled people who are job hunting… those might work. I’m not a huge fan on giving people bonuses to accept minorities but the truth is, people with disabilities, people of certain ethnicities, people of certain ages all find it harder to find jobs. So something needs to be done to make employers accept people in some form so that we can get our foot through the door. Because it comes to something when a lecturer in disabled studies advices disabled students not to mention their disability while they’re job hunting.
If the government wants to really tackle the issue of people not having jobs, they need to make it attractive for employers to hire. Especially hire people with little experience in the job market or who have disadvantages in finding a job. Because disabled people are job hunting just like others. We apply for jobs we can do but we don’t have the same opportunities as others. There are little things, like cutting bread, that we cannot do and when that is essential to the job, those little things become big things..