The waste of human potential allowed by the Tories must end. With Labour, it will

The UK is suffering an employment crisis that is compounding its cost-of-living crisis. Well over a million people are out of work despite wanting a job. They – and the country – can no longer afford the Tory failure to help people into fulfilling, well-paid employment.

Since the pandemic, the UK’s performance on supporting people into work has been uniquely disastrous amongst major economies. Our employment rate has seen the biggest fall in the G7. Employers are struggling to fill more than a million vacancies. And unemployment is forecast to rise by a further half a million by 2024.

A great many of those who have fallen out of the workforce have done so because of ill health. Mental health conditions have skyrocketed amongst younger workers, and people aged over 50 are seeing their opportunities to stay in work curtailed by worsening health outcomes too. Surveys indicate that hundreds of thousands of people in this long-term sick group would like to work even though they are not currently job-seeking.

We know that the government’s failure on the NHS is feeding into the burden of ill health across our population. But the Tories’ employment and social security policy has been utterly inadequate in response to this challenge too. Barely one in ten disabled people or older workers are receiving any kind of support to find work. What many experience when they do interact with employment support is that it is ill-suited to their needs and is keener to sanction than support them.

One source of these problems is that decision-making on employment services is so centralised. Ministers sit in Whitehall imposing ‘solutions’ on local areas, regardless of the local economic needs of a community. Instead, Labour will apply new thinking to support more people to move into work and fulfil their potential.

Last week, Keir Starmer outlined how a Labour government will shift power and resources to every corner of the nation. That means a Labour government will provide genuine support to people who want to work, recognising that local communities are best placed to design and shape employment support services to meet the challenges in their areas.

A Labour Department for Work and Pensions will hand resources to local areas, giving communities the means to deliver targeted support for the most vulnerable and tailored help for those facing complex barriers to accessing work. We will replace the status quo of rigid, national contracting to guarantee that every area can provide services suited to its local economy and workforce.

For the next Labour government, joblessness will never be a price worth paying. People deserve the independence, inclusion and fulfilment of decent employment and security if they cannot work. The waste of human potential the Tories have overseen must end – and with our plan, it will.