Benefits claimant says work must be 'meaningful' despite spiralling unemployment figures

Official figures show there were 8.4 million people on Universal Credit in May this year. Of these, 4.27 million had no requirement to look for work.

Yesterday, Gigi El-Halaby, a disability and mental health campaigner who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, spoke to Simon Marks about how "difficult" the job market is - but also that work needs to be "meaningful".

"It can't just be put going into any work. I think work can be good for your mental health and bad work can be really terrible for it.

Simon then probed her on what she thinks constitutes a meaningful job.

She replied: "Well, I think my definition of a meaningful job will be very different from someone else's definition of a meaningful job. So I think what we need to do is take a more tailored, individualised.

"So for some people, maybe it will be a meaningful job to want to work in Sainsbury's or to work in Boots, and it'll be an accessible job.

"For other people, it won't be meaningful and it won't be fulfilling. We do know that if the work is not meaningful and fulfilling, then it won't be good for mental health and ultimately can lead to much worse mental health.

"That's something I've personally experienced," she added.

Simon responded with: "Okay, but with respect, I can hear lots of listeners out there saying, I go to work every day, I don't find my job particularly meaningful. And I'm sure they're sorry about the fact that they don't find their job particularly meaningful, but they go to work, they earn a wage, they come home, they pay their bills, they pay their tax.

"Unfortunately, it is not possible for a society to create only jobs that every employee finds to be meaningful.

Ms El-Halaby said she agreed with Simon.

She added: "But if we're talking about getting people who are mentally unwell to a better place, ultimately finding meaning and purpose in their life is going to be a really important part. To get them out of that hole, and not only that, we need to think about the workplace environment.

"I have been in many workplace environments where it has not been accessible for me. Ultimately, for example, working in Boots is not an accessible job for me, and for some people it will be. And I think we need to think about the workplace environment as well.

"And I just want to say one more thing: time and time again, mental well-being is conflated with the ability to be economically productive, and I do think this is slightly wrong and dangerous. I think for me, being well means being happy, calm, and having agency and choice.

She added a meaningful life doesn't always have to centre around work.

"For some people on long-term health issues, ultimately going to work is not the goal. For some people, work is part of that. For some people, going to work is going to be a fulfilling thing, and for others it's more harmful."

She concluded people's well-being needs to be prioritised, rather than their ability to work.

'Beyond patronising'

"Is that not the most luxury position possible?", said Tom Swarbrick in response to Ms El-Halaby's comments - which he described as "beyond patronising".

"I'm going to wait until I find a job that I believe has enough meaning for me while sitting on the taxpayer's money."

He added: The idea that you can choose to sit on benefits for the rest of your life until you find something that you deem to be meaningful work I think is unreasonable."

Also on Tom Swarbrick, Pat McFadden warned Britain’s benefits system is flawed and leaves people written off from work.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said Britain’s main unemployment benefit, Universal Credit, was too “black and white” and caused many people to be signed off from work indefinitely.

He said: “There’s a design flaw in the universal credit system, which too readily separates people into fit for work and unfit for work, and when they are unfit for work, leaves them without any support or any conditions.”