No More Punishment for being Disabled
I am here to say something that should not need saying: being disabled should not be a punishment.
But in this country, right now, it is.
Disabled people are punished when they apply for help and are made to feel like liars.
Punished when they are forced to fill out 40-page forms that ask them to prove, over and over again, how much pain they are in.
Punished when they are assessed by a stranger who has never met them, who watches them walk across a room and decides they are fit for work.
Punished when their benefits are cut, sanctioned, or delayed — and they have to choose between heating, eating, or paying for the transport to a hospital appointment.
Punished for needing care. Punished for needing time. Punished for needing support.
This is not the fault of disabled people. This is the fault of a system that was built on suspicion instead of support.
We have built a system that spends more time trying to catch people out than it does trying to lift people up.
A system that calls disabled people "a burden" while ignoring the billions they contribute as workers, carers, parents, volunteers, friends and neighbours.
I have met people who are terrified to get better, because if they show any improvement, they lose everything.
What kind of system makes people scared to recover?
What kind of system makes people feel guilty for existing?
Enough is enough.
We need to stop punishing disabled people for being disabled.
We need assessments that are done by people who understand the condition. Done with dignity, with medical evidence, and with respect.
We need a benefits system that trusts people. That provides security, not sanctions.
We need accessible housing, accessible transport, accessible workplaces — so disabled people are not punished for trying to take part in everyday life.
And we need to change our language. We stop calling support a "cost". Support is an investment. When you support a disabled person to live independently, to work, to study, to be part of their community — everyone benefits.
This is not about charity. This is about justice. This is about rights.
No one chooses to be disabled. But we do choose what kind of society we want to be. A society that punishes, or a society that empowers.
I am asking you today to choose empowerment. To choose dignity. To choose inclusion.
No more punishment for disabled people.
This motion was seconded by Nusrat Sultan
I am here to say something that should not need saying: being disabled should not be a punishment.
But in this country, right now, it is.
Disabled people are punished when they apply for help and are made to feel like liars. Punished when they are forced to fill out 40-page forms that ask them to prove, over and over again, how much pain they are in.
Punished when they are assessed by a stranger who has never met them, who watches them walk across a room and decides they are fit for work.
Punished when their benefits are cut, sanctioned, or delayed — and they have to choose between heating, eating, or paying for the transport to a hospital appointment.
Punished for needing care. Punished for needing time. Punished for needing support.
This is not the fault of disabled people. This is the fault of a system that was built on suspicion instead of support.
We have built a system that spends more time trying to catch people out than it does trying to lift people up. A system that calls disabled people "a burden" while ignoring the billions they contribute as workers, carers, parents, volunteers, friends and neighbours.
I have met people who are terrified to get better, because if they show any improvement, they lose everything. What kind of system makes people scared to recover? What kind of system makes people feel guilty for existing?
Enough is enough.
We need to stop punishing disabled people for being disabled.
We need assessments that are done by people who understand the condition. Done with dignity, with medical evidence, and with respect.
We need a benefits system that trusts people. That provides security, not sanctions.
We need accessible housing, accessible transport, accessible workplaces — so disabled people are not punished for trying to take part in everyday life.
And we need to change our language. We stop calling support a "cost". Support is an investment. When you support a disabled person to live independently, to work, to study, to be part of their community — everyone benefits.
This is not about charity. This is about justice. This is about rights.
No one chooses to be disabled. But we do choose what kind of society we want to be. A society that punishes, or a society that empowers.
I am asking you today to choose empowerment. To choose dignity. To choose inclusion.
No more punishment for disabled people.
Here is the wording of the motion which was agreed at the Unite Disabled Members Conference:
Motion 1. No More Punishment for being Disabled
Conference notes that:
Disabled workers, and disabled people more broadly, are routinely punished for their impairments by employers, the welfare system, and public services, rather than being supported to live and work with dignity.
In Unite workplaces, disabled members experience punishment through:
Rigid sickness absence and attendance management policies
Capability and performance procedures triggered before reasonable adjustments are implemented
Loss of pay, demotion, redeployment, or dismissal linked to disability
Withdrawal of flexible or hybrid working arrangements relied upon as reasonable adjustments
Outside the workplace, disabled people face a welfare system characterised by:
Sanctions and conditionality under Universal Credit
Invasive, inaccurate, and distressing benefit assessments
Overpayment clawbacks and debt recovery
Long delays and administrative failures that cause financial hardship
These punitive systems operate against a backdrop of:
Rising disability poverty
Cuts to social care, health, and support services
A cost-of-living crisis that disproportionately impacts disabled households
Despite legal protections under the Equality Act 2010, punishment is often normalised, hidden behind “policy”, “process”, or “cost pressures”, leaving disabled people to fight individual battles for survival.
Conference believes that:
Disabled people should not be punished for being ill, injured, neurodivergent, or requiring support.
Punitive workplace practices cv and punitive welfare policies are political choices, not inevitabilities.
Managing disabled workers out of employment is discrimination, not good
management.
A system that disciplines, sanctions, or impoverishes disabled people for
circumstances beyond their control is unjust and incompatible with trade union values.
Trade unions exist to challenge injustice collectively — and disabled members must be at the centre of that fight.
Conference resolves to ask Unite to:
Adopt a clear stance opposing all punitive practices that target disabled workers, including discriminatory sickness absence, capability, and performance management processes.
Encourage and support Unite reps and branches to:
Challenge the use of disciplinary and dismissal procedures where reasonable adjustments are outstanding
Demand disability-aware absence policies that exclude disability-related absence from punitive triggers
Resist the removal of flexible working and other agreed adjustments.
Negotiate collective agreements that:
Protect disabled workers from punishment linked to disability
Guarantee reasonable adjustments are implemented promptly and
effectively
Require dismissal and capability processes to be paused where adjustments or Access to Work support are delayed.
Campaign politically and industrially against:
Welfare sanctions and conditionality for disabled claimants
Benefit assessment systems that cause harm, distress, and poverty
Cuts to social care, health services, and support that force disabled people out of work.
Strengthen Unite’s disability equality work by:
Supporting Unite Disabled Members’ structures
Ensuring disabled members are meaningfully involved in policy, bargaining, and campaigning
Embedding opposition to punishment and sanction into Unite’s equality and
organising strategies.
Challenge the narrative that disabled people are a burden or cost, and assert instead that barriers, discrimination, and punishment are the real problems that must be addressed.
Conference resolves that the National Disabled Members Committee should encourage Unite to use its collective strength — industrially, politically, and organisationally — to fight for a society and workplaces where disabled people are supported, not sanctioned; valued, not punished; and able to live and work with dignity and equality.
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