Prioritising Mental Health

A functionary of the National Liberal British Workers' Party has conceded that the Stakhanovite work ethic might be a bit unprofitable to impose in some cases, notably when the beneficiary is unconscious. A woman with bipolar disorder was harassed by the Department of Workfare and Privation until she suffered a breakdown, and while sectioned under the Mental Health Act she had a heart attack which left her in a coma. None of this deterred the DWP's merry men or the iron-hard cadres of Seetec, the private company hired to push sick people into work. They went right on trying to drag out the lady's inner entrepreneur, dispatching a message of hope "that all the activity or training intervention completed so far has not only supported you to achieve your aspirations but has moved you closer to the job market", along with an invitation to have her aspirations supported even more.

The election cycle is approaching the point at which Labour feels it should make some sort of show of caring about the disabled, so the local MP raised the matter in Parliament. Mike Penning, the minister for disabled people (not, you will note, the minister for work and pensions) issued an apology and generously permitted the family to be aggrieved, while controversially claiming that the procedure for forcing sick people to work "clearly has gone wrong" in this doubtless very nearly isolated case. Since Seetec have not admitted to a decline in profits this quarter, it is as yet unclear exactly what the minister believes went wrong.