Speaking at last night’s Progress event, ‘The Purple Book: what does the something-for-something welfare state look like in practice’, IPPR fellow Graeme Cooke was right to say that, increasingly, ‘welfare’ is seen almost as a dirty word. Much of the overall narrative – around ‘workshy’, ‘scroungers’ and ‘spongers’, which is so visible in the media these days – supports this. Cooke said that there has been an over-reliance on increasing conditionality in the benefits system to get public support for the overhaul of welfare spending. And yet, despite renewed emphasis, particularly by the left, on conditionality and ‘something for something’, the need for a welfare state that protected people was greater than ever, he admitted.

Last night’s event provided a fascinating insight into where the left may be heading on welfare. Among the panellists, which included Frank Field MP, former minister for welfare reform, and Kate Green MP, shadow minister for equalities, was Liam Byrne MP, shadow work and pensions secretary and the coordinator of Labour’s policy review.

As suggested by the title of the event last night, ‘something for something’, the discussions focused (strongly) on entrenching the principle of contribution into the welfare state. Frank Field suggested an end to unconditional benefits, drawing on stories of young people who wouldn’t get out of bed for £300 in payments. Possible policy solutions included building an insurance-style welfare scheme to ensure that people ‘get out what they put in.’

And yet, the question left, only very partly answered, remains: what about disabled people who cannot work? Who have never been able to, and so have not had the opportunity to, pay in the contributions that a ‘something for something’ system demands. Serious concerns have arisen following proposals by the government to remove arrangements that allow disabled young people, who have not yet had the chance to work and pay contributions, to claim Employment and Support Allowance. There is a real worry that disabled people – like those currently in the support group of ESA who are unable to work – could be shoehorned into a welfare system seemingly designed around Jobseeker’s Allowance.

At Scope we have been calling for a solution where disabled people who are able to work with support have a conditionality agreement built around their needs and capabilities. The need for this is critical: in the current system disabled people have too often been left on the wrong benefit with the wrong level of support, exposed to the effects of inappropriate conditions and sanctions. Disabled people who cannot work should be supported in achieving their aspirations and ambitions and explore positive ways of contributing to, and participating in, their local communities.

Designing, as Kate Green termed, an ‘enabling welfare system’ – one that rewards ‘something for something’, but is still built around protecting those who cannot pay in – is a task of paramount importance. It confronts all political parties, both out of government and in. With the Welfare Reform Bill currently being debated in the House of Lords, the need to achieve this balance between conditions and protection has never been more urgent.

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Eugene Grant is public policy adviser at Scope