November 1995
Ministers in the John Major administration approve decision to outsource medical assessments for benefits.
What: Ministers approve a recommendation to outsource the medical assessment of benefits, claiming this would improve performance and value for money
Why significant: Outsourcing has been key to the dehumanisation of benefit claimants (in favour of profit) but also key to governmental denial of policy responsibility in benefit-related deaths. Harm reduction is outsourced, which, in the later words of Lewis Elward, allows ‘the State to distance themselves from potential ramifications’.
Citations
The Medical Assessment of Incapacity and Disability Benefits
Corporate Welfare Crime: Two Case Studies in State-Corporate Harm.