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Tom Pollard
@PollardTom
Head of Policy, Campaigns & Public Affairs @Mind | NHS Mental Health Social Worker | Previously @NEF & DWP | Views expressed here my own
London
Joined June 2011
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  • Pinned
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Jul 24, 2024
    🚨New @NEF research out today on benefits conditionality: 🫵strict & prescriptive conditionality is pushing people into poor quality work or away from support altogether 📋the public is open to a more flexible & supportive approach that prioritises engagement Find out more👇🧵
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Jul 7, 2021
    Man with a salary of £1,575 a week tells people who have to live off £96 a week that he reckons they'll be fine getting by on £76 a week.
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    BBC Politics
    BBC News (UK)
    @BBCPolitics
    Jul 7, 2021
    “I think there are people that quite like getting the extra £20 but maybe they don’t need it” says Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell on temporary universal credit rise Labour MP Carolyn Harris says £20 is “food for a week" for some people #PoliticsLive bbc.in/3yxhFUB
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Mar 15, 2025
    Hi @DavidTWilcock. I just wanted to flag that your @MailOnline piece from Thursday is hugely misleading & seems to be based off a fundamental misunderstanding of the statistics I'll explain why, then maybe you can retract the piece & issue an apology... 🧵1/6
    Daily Mail online headline: The great benefit con? Just 14% of people claiming disability cash can actually PROVE they are too ill to work - as total getting handouts nears 2.5m
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Oct 7, 2021
    Sajid Javid said this the day before his government cut the income of the poorest 20% of households by 7%. Allow that to sink in.
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Mar 14, 2025
    This, from a DWP press release yesterday (gov.uk/government/new…), is outrageous In two short paragraphs it peddles multiple falsehoods about the current system that will be used to justify upcoming cuts & changes Here's what MPs & journalists should be challenging... 🧵
    Text from a DWP press release: In the current dysfunctional system, a person is placed in binary categories of either “fit for work” or “not fit for work” through the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) – an assessment the government has said it will either reform or replace, so it no longer drives people who want to work to a life on benefits. Through this process, those not fit for work are told they have Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) – meaning they won’t receive employment support or further engagement from the system at any point following their assessment – effectively abandoning and locking them out of work indefinitely.
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Mar 25, 2025
    This is wild. Announcing changes to the PIP assessment with little rationale beyond saving £5bn, which is downgraded to £3.4bn by the OBR, then scrambling around to make further cuts to help meet fiscal rules based targets. None of this is being led by evidence or people's needs
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    Steven Swinford
    @Steven_Swinford
    Mar 25, 2025
    Exclusive with @Smyth_Chris   Rachel Reeves will announce further welfare cuts after the Office for Budget Responsibility told ministers their benefit reforms will save £1.6billion less than planned   The OBR rejected ministers' £5billion welfare savings estimate, putting it at
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Jan 13, 2025
    I've noticed a real explosion in affluent men self-diagnosing as experts in mental health & telling people who are facing brutally tough circumstances that they just need to learn to cope with life's "ups and downs"
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    LBC News
    @LBCNews
    Jan 13, 2025
    Tony Blair tells Brits to stop self-diagnosing with depression as 'UK can't afford spiralling mental health benefits bill' buff.ly/4gQNfTN
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Jul 10, 2025
    It seems completely reasonable to me that someone who has been assessed by DWP as unable to work due to disabilities/poor health & as facing significant health/disability related extra costs should be supported by the government to around the level of a minimum wage salary 1/2
    Headline from the Telegraph: "Benefits pay more than being in work", with a graph showing that someone on incapacity benefits with PIP would receive £2,500 over a full time living wage job and someone also receiving child DLA and carer benefits would receive £14,000 more that a full time living wage job
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Mar 15, 2025
    Replying to @PollardTom
    At a time when many people on these benefits are incredibly anxious about the changes being floated, it's incumbent on journalists to report accurately & responsibly. Always happy to have a chat before you publish something to help you make sure it's not a mistake like this 6/6
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Jul 18, 2023
    Beyond the nastiness & terrible impact of the two child limit itself (& therefore the disappointment that it may be around even longer), I think there are three deeper reasons why Labour's position has caused so much concern among those working on poverty & social security...🧵
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Aug 5, 2023
    Totally irresponsible for that Matthew Parris benefits piece in the Times to be so uninformed & inaccurate: -PIP has nothing to do with your ability to work -It isn't more generous than its predecessor -It isn't comparable to Jobseekers Allowance (which barely exists now anyway)
    Quote from Matthew Parries piece in the Times reading: Ten years ago, the Conservative-led government brought in a new way for the state to support those whose ability to work was hampered by physical or mental disability. It was called the personal independence payment (PIP) and was simpler and more generous than the allowance it replaced. It can also pay (depending on circumstance) notably more than jobseeker’s allowance.
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Jul 16, 2023
    "Abolishing the two-child limit would lift 250,000 children out of poverty, and a further 850,000 children would be in less deep poverty at cost of just £1.3bn" @CPAGUK Keeping this policy in place is irreconcilable with a serious commitment to tackle child poverty
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    Hugo Gye
    @HugoGye
    Jul 16, 2023
    A Labour govt would keep the two-child cap on benefits, Keir Starmer confirms in @bbclaurak interview.
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Oct 17, 2022
    "There are a lot of very desperate people who are feeling vulnerable because of the cost-of-living crisis & they need to be given some reassurance too, as well as the markets" Great to hear @MartinSLewis call for an immediate commitment to uprate benefits in line with inflation
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    Tom Pollard
    @PollardTom
    Oct 7, 2024
    A quick heads-up to DWP wonks that a huge tranche of almost 30 research reports has been published today (presumably held back under the previous government?) covering Universal Credit, childcare, disability & pensions - lots of interesting stuff in there
    gov.uk
    Research and statistics
    Find statistics from government
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