Given she has been the most consistent figure in British politics in the past 20 years, Louise Casey is worth listening to far more than any of the prime ministers she has worked with. And this week, she said something particularly striking. Describing how the Government classifies people as being disabled, she said: “I would qualify, and I’m sitting here right now. I’m not disabled, but I could qualify if I answered those questions based on my medical records, it’s simple as.”

Casey was referring to a survey from the Department for Work and Pensions, which asks people if they have a long-term physical or mental condition which impacts their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. That Family Resources Survey allows the Government to estimate how many people in the UK could be described as disabled, and the latest figures put that at 16.8 million people in 2023-24 – or 25 per cent of the population. That’s up nearly five per cent in 10 years.

The FRS is a self-reporting study, and is different to the criteria used for assessing disability benefits. But Casey’s point was that we need to consider what disability really means, and the extent to which........

© iNews