DWP: Work Capability Assessments (WCAs)

 I want to explain how this important cog in our social security works.

It's completely kafkaesque.

You go in for a work capability assessment. You're met by a person working for an outsourced company who has a relevant health degree but who is not a doctor. When I did mine I was interviewed by a young woman, very charming, very anxious. They're keen to assure you that no decision will be taken today, it's just the collection of information for the computer system. And it was, bless her, she's just a young woman at the start of her career making a living by collecting information on behalf of the government.

You're sat down and they ask you to do various tasks like raising your arm above your shoulder. Irrespective of what's your medical issue is. Most people - most disabled people - score 0/15 on this test. "Customers" invariably tell the interviewer about their disability and she'll listen politely then record the results of the test. None of what we say gets passed up the chain.

"I get chronic anxiety attacks and haven't slept for three weeks."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Can you touch your toes?"

The data is typed into a computer where it's reviewed by what they call a "Decision Maker." I don't even know if this is a human being. They almost invariably find you fit for work. Partly because of the testing but I think they sometimes cheat. They've found blind people fit for work based on the WCA. They've found dead people fit for work based on the WCA.

The "decision maker" is based in an office a long way from the claimant. Deliberately. There's an office in London that does this work but if you claim in London you won't deal with that office. It'll be handled a long way away. It used to be Makersfield, when I last claimed money it was Northern Ireland. We're governed remotely as if we were in a colony.

Then you have to go on to JSA/UC or sign off. On UC you are in the jobseeking kind of UC so they make you apply vigorously to a large quota of jobs.

This leads to a humiliating period of turning up for job interviews for jobs you obviously can't do. "Why have you applied for a job in our warehouse when you're in a wheelchair?" might be what the interviewer wants to say but can't because it could be deemed discriminatory. Instead this horrible potemkin interview happens where they interview you as if you were a real candidate while you pretend to be interested as if you were going to cart boxes around while on crutches. Then a few days later you get a polite rejection letter.

Slow polite crushing of the human spirit.

You can appeal against the "Decision" and the appeals usually succeed because as soon as the facts are reviewed by an impartial human being he/she spots that the person clearly isn't fit for work. Most of us don't appeal though and just kinda get run over by the system. Appeals are fraught and stressful, rather like a court case. There's no formal help, you have to use things like CAB.

The Dumfries Disabled Debating Club (provisional sketch)

 I've recently been engaged with online discussion on the matter of trans rights. This is a spectacularly unhelpful dialogue where neither side is listening to what the other is actually saying and most contributions consist of calling people names, claiming to be victimised or insisting that their basic human rights are being trampled on.

So that got me thinking: what about a debating club where we talk about the contentious issues in a structured format where sticking to civility and making a good case will be enforced.

This is because I'm concerned that some people may never have to actually defend or think through their causes, nor to find out that debate with people who disagree with you makes your politics sharper, more defensible and better informed. On this issue particularly I'd like to help trans people and trans allies develop better arguments than what is normally expressed on social media.

The trans issue is just one - we could cover a wide range of topics including questions like Should Scotland become independent? UBI yes or no? Should we give up our cars? Immigration etc etc.

The format I have in mind is something like a zoom call with 2 speakers on each side. Priority will be given to disabled speakers. It is a disabled persons club. Priority will also be given to people who support a cause although devil's advocating will be allowed if we want to debate a topic and can't find anyone (cough, Scottish independence).

The Club would recruit people by sending out a form: are you willing to argue for X (from belief or as a devil's advocate)? Are you disabled? Name, Email.

Speakers will be given time to research the arguments, watch Youtube presentations, practice in front of the bedroom mirror or whatever.

The debates will be really structured so that a topic or argument will be proposed, the proposer speak in favour, then an opposing speaker speak against then the zoom call votes and it's scored to one of the sides.

Eg we're debating privatisation.

- Speaker 1 (pro) explains that in a nationalised industry workers inevitably end up just going through the motions because no one has any incentives.

- Speaker 2 (anti) argues that in nationalised industries this simply isn't true and points to many laudable examples of very hard-working public sector workers like our NHS.

- crowd votes.

- Speaker 4 (anti) proposes a new motion that privatisation inevitably leads to corruption of government and parliament by paid lobbyists

- Speaker 3 (pro) argues against but unfortunately gets cross and calls her opponent a rude name causing the convenor to automatically award the point to the anti side.

- crowd doesn't vote, pro side forfeited the point.

At the end the points are totted up for one way to assess the outcome (we won the arguments total) and also there's a general vote on the motion by the attendees on the zoom call (we won the room).

One thing I don't want to happen is for people to give bios. There can be a tendency in disability politics for people to start of with some long rambling justification of why they can be considered disabled. (When I was 13 I was in a car crash and.....). I hate that. It's enough that you state in sincerity that you believe yourself to be disabled and no one should feel they need to provide evidence.

There's an ulterior motive: to train disabled people to be able to argue their case with a view to engaging in politics and civics. Perhaps giving media interviews or entering politics. We're massively underrepresented in the ranks of professional politicians and if the Club can give some future politicians a start in defending their ideas and making their case then that would be a wonderful thing.

This is a sketch of an idea, it will no doubt change on contact with reality but I do very much want to see more disabled people and people in general get to doing politics the right way - by listening to the other person finding where they agree, making the case persuasively where they disagree and winning over people to their cause.

It's a good time for career planning.

 It's a good time for career planning.

There are few things more empowering than being confident you can stroll into a new job whenever you like, daisy chaining your career through successively better paid and more interesting roles.

And we're really bad at doing it in this country.

In many sectors no one really job hunts. Once they have got a job they stop, hoping to never have to do a cv again. Understandable but a choice that truncates your potential in many circumstances.

IT can be a sector where the opposite is true. At a city firm I worked at our longest-serving IT staff member of 40 was about 2 years and he was head of department. A combination of narcissistic CEOs who rather liked poaching their rivals' best people and aggressive recruiters who would headhunt anyone who had been a year somewhere meant these people were always finding better offers.

Lorry drivers on the other hand - they have mediocre pay and conditions despite being a massive skill shortage profession because they put up with them rather than hopping to a firm paying £2 an hour more. (Big generalisation obviously).

Brexit plus the pandemic is a massive economic game-changer. There will be no return to normal. Some sectors are almost certainly toast (cruise ships perhaps) even in a covid-safe world if we ever get back to one.

However that means new opportunities, new ways of doing business.

My hot tip just now is Customs Agent. Most people hate filling out forms, there's going to be a ton of work for you if you don't mind work of that nature.

Otherwise I'm not going to make predictions because if you identify a sector and decide that's what I'm interested in and research it you will soon know much more than me.

So basics of career planning: talk to a wide range of amateurs then talk to at least one professional. Career planning is a profession now, has been for about 15 years and we're good at it. I watch people take career advice from a teacher or a parent or some bloke down the pub and think would you let them do brain surgery or build you a rocket? Amateurs will have bright ideas but they basically don't know shit about careers. They don't even know how to think about careers.

So sound out amateurs, get free professional advice from somewhere like https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/about-us read up how career planning works, make a mind map of careers that appeal to you, inventory your professional strengths and transferable skills.

It's the perfect time to do this.

Or you can sleep on this, stumble into the first job that'll have you and hope you get really really lucky.