In a response provided under the Freedom of Information Act, ODI claimed there was no conflict of interest involved in a member of Equality 2025 – the government’s high-level advisory body of disabled people – working for the insurance giant Unum.

Maria Miller, the Conservative minister for disabled people, this week refused to say whether she was aware of this response or endorsed the ODI position.

Unum is the UK’s largest provider of “income protection insurance” (IPI), and tougher welfare rules – such as those replacing incapacity benefit with the new employment and support allowance (ESA) – could persuade more people to take out IPI, boosting Unum’s profits.

Equality 2025 has played a major part in advising the government on its controversial welfare reform bill, which this week became law after receiving royal assent and will make it even harder to claim ESA.

Disability News Service had asked ODI whether it was aware that Dr Rachel Perkins ran a half-day training event in late 2010 for nurses and occupational therapists employed by Unum, and that she had admitted failing to declare this paid work in the Equality 2025 register of interests.

The event took place several months after Perkins was appointed to the body in April 2010, but before she became its chair in April 2011.

There is no suggestion that Perkins has acted improperly on behalf of Unum, but her actions again highlight serious concerns about Unum’s links to parliament and the government.

Disabled activist Phil Lockwood said the government’s position that there was no conflict of interest in a member of Equality 2025 “carrying out work for a company that is set to make millions out of welfare reform” was “totally abhorrent”, and added: “It just beggars belief.”

Mo Stewart, the disabled activist who has done most to highlight concerns about Unum, said: “I totally challenge ODI’s claim that there is no conflict of interest when someone involved with a government disability advisory body accepts paid work from a company that influenced the very welfare reforms from which it will inevitably profit.”

An ODI spokeswoman said that as Equality 2025 membership was not a full-time role, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) “does not therefore consider it unreasonable for members to participate in other paid activities connected with disability”.

She said ODI – part of DWP – was aware that Perkins had delivered a training session to Unum staff, but said that the company “has no financial or commercial links” with DWP.

She added: “Dr Perkins was entitled to share her disability insight and expertise with such a company and the department does not consider that this activity represented a perceived or actual conflict of interest in relation to her role as a member of Equality 2025.”

Perkins says she has never spoken to anybody from Unum about welfare reform and has turned down work with other organisations because she considers it a conflict of interests with her Equality 2025 position.

Mounting evidence suggests Unum has been trying to influence government policy on incapacity benefit reform for nearly two decades, claims the company has repeatedly denied.

Last year, Unum launched a major media campaign to promote the need for IPI just as the coalition began a three-year programme to reassess about 1.5 million existing claimants of incapacity benefit through a new, stricter test, the work capability assessment.

Unum has admitted there has been widespread criticism of its past actions in the US, mainly over its refusal to pay out on large numbers of genuine insurance claims by disabled people.

When asked whether Miller was aware of and endorsed ODI’s Freedom of Information Act response, a DWP spokeswoman said: “DWP does not wish to comment any further on this matter.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Dr Rachel Perkins, chair of the government’s Equality 2025 high-level advisory body of disabled people, ran a half-day training event in late 2010 for nurses and occupational therapists employed by the US company Unum.

But she has so far failed to declare this paid work in the Equality 2025 register of interests, even though the event took place several months after she was appointed to the body, although before she became its chair in March 2011.

There is no suggestion that Perkins has acted improperly on behalf of Unum, but the revelations are likely to raise questions about her judgement, and again highlight serious concerns about Unum’s links to parliament, government and the civil service.

Unum is the UK’s largest provider of “income protection insurance” (IPI), and tougher welfare rules – such as those replacing incapacity benefit with employment and support allowance (ESA) – could persuade more people to take out IPI, boosting Unum’s profits.

Perkins’ admission that she has carried out work for Unum came as the government’s highly controversial welfare reform bill was completing its final parliamentary stages. Equality 2025 has played a major role in advising the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on its welfare reforms.

Disabled activists have raised repeated concerns about Unum’s influence on the welfare reforms of both coalition and Labour governments, including the introduction of the much-criticised “fitness for work” test, the work capability assessment (WCA), which tests eligibility for ESA.

Unum has admitted there has been widespread criticism of its past actions in the US, mainly over its refusal to pay out on large numbers of genuine insurance claims by disabled people.

Perkins told Disability News Service this week that the training session – which focused on helping people with bipolar disorder return to work – was the only time she has worked for Unum, and was unconnected with the subject of welfare reform.

She said: “I wasn’t aware that doing training on mental health and employment was a conflict of interests.”

She added: “I have never worked with Unum [on welfare reform] or spoken to anybody from Unum about welfare reform.”

She also stressed that she had been unaware of Unum’s troubling history in the US.

And she made it clear that she regularly seeks advice from civil servants on each piece of freelance work she is offered, and has been particularly selective about taking on work since she became chair of Equality 2025.

But she said: “Retrospectively I will do what I do at the moment: I will check with officials whether they consider it to be a conflict of interests. I have turned down work because I considered it a conflict of interests.”

Mo Stewart, the disabled activist who has done most to raise concerns about Unum’s influence, said: “Unum remains one of the most discredited insurance giants in the world and planned long ago to reap the rewards of these benefit cuts.

“With their mass marketing on commercial TV, Unum continues to benefit from the welfare reform measures that they helped to influence and it is totally unacceptable that any government adviser should fail to declare an interest with this diabolical corporate giant.”

The DWP has refused to comment on Perkins’ failure to register her Unum work as a potential conflict of interests with her Equality 2025 role.

DNS revealed evidence last year that strongly suggested that Unum has attempted to influence incapacity benefit reform over the last decade, particularly under the Labour government.

Unum has denied doing so and that it stands to gain from the reforms, even though it launched a major media campaign last year just as the coalition began a three-year programme to reassess about 1.5 million existing IB claimants through the new, stricter test, the WCA.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com