'I don't want to live on benefits, I want to work'

Kailee Kember-Brown says she has only heard back from 10 of the 40 job applications she's sent

"I don't want to live off benefits all my life."

Teenager Kailee Kember-Brown, a wheelchair user, says she has so far applied for more than 40 jobs without success.

Kailee, from Dover, in Kent, is currently entitled to a top-up to her Universal Credit income because of her disability.

It means the 19-year-old is not required to look for a job, but she wants one to avoid having to stay at home getting bored. Most of her friends are also in work.

And her financial situation could soon be changing too, under government plans to cut the Universal Credit health top-up for under-22s with long-term illnesses or disabilities, currently worth £423-a-month to people like Kailee, as part of their wide-ranging welfare reform proposals.

A government consultation on the proposed cut to the top-up for under-22s is due to end on Monday.

The wider reforms, many of which are set out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, have prompted a rebellion from over 120 Labour MPs, who have signed an amendment calling for the proposals to be scrapped.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that he planned to press ahead with the plans despite the criticism, adding that his party was "pretty united" on the need for reform.

Overall, the government says it will save £5bn a year by 2030 through the cuts to disability and sickness-related benefits payments.

Ministers also say they want the changes to help those who are "trapped" in the benefits system to find work.

But Kailee, whose functional neurological disorder means she feels physically weak and struggles to walk, says she has only heard back from a quarter of the job applications she has sent out.

Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that he plans to press on with the planned reforms

Her disability means she requires certain adjustments from employers, such as accessible facilities and flexible hours to allow her to attend physiotherapy and doctor's appointments.

A lot of the jobs she has applied for are with companies listed in the government's Disability Confident scheme, which encourages employers to hire and retain disabled staff, and Kailee says it's particularly "disheartening" when she fails to hear back from them.

"When you apply for it and you're like, 'Oh my God, I tick all the boxes,' and then they never get back to you or even look at your CV, it's kind of like, well, what am I meant to do now?"

Jane Hatton, who runs a jobs platform for disabled job seekers and only employs disabled staff, says many employers harbour misconceptions that disabled employees won't have the necessary skills for the job or might take more sick days than their non-disabled colleagues.

"As an employer, if you interview two candidates of equal value in every other respect - one of them is non-disabled and one might need adjustments - [you might be] tempted to go with a non-disabled person," she says

But those stereotypes are not borne out of reality, she says, adding that prospective employers should support all their candidates with whatever adjustments they may need.

"The barriers that people face tend to be inaccessible recruitment processes," she says.

"What we say to employers is that it's about making adjustments so that people can flourish."

She also says government schemes like Access to Work (AtW) have not been working effectively enough to get jobs for the disabled people it's designed to support.

Ministers have previously acknowledged the problems with AtW and say they will look at how it can be updated.

It's one of a long list of issues the government hopes to fix in order to get more disabled people into work, while reducing the benefits bill.

Disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms told the BBC he acknowledged that the jobs market was tough for disabled people, adding that the government was "making the changes that are needed to welcome disabled people into employment".

One of the biggest concerns for disabled people and campaigners among the government's welfare reforms is the plan to change the eligibility criteria for the Personal Independence Payment (Pip).

The benefit is designed to pay for the additional living costs many disabled people face, from travel and transport to home adaptations and care.

The proposed changes to Pip is one of the reasons given by many of the Labour backbenchers who have decided to oppose the government's legislation.

But Timms said Pip does need reform, adding that the rising cost of delivering the benefit has been "unsustainable", and that if the government "didn't act then it would end in tears".

"I want to make sure that Pip is going to be there in full, uprated properly every year, for those with severe impairments who are very dependent on it," he said.