EPAThe rising cost of sickness and disability benefits is “devastating” for the public finances, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said, after his government announced a major overhaul of the welfare system.
Sweeping changes were unveiled on Tuesday, which ministers say are aimed at saving £5bn a year by 2030 and encouraging people to work, while protecting those who cannot.
Sir Keir said the current system had “wreaked a terrible human cost”, with people who wanted to return to work unable to access the support they needed.
But the government’s reforms have faced criticism from Labour backbenchers, unions and charities, who fear the changes could push more disabled people into poverty.
Hundreds of thousands of people are likely to be affected by the benefit changes, which will make it harder for people with less severe conditions to claim disability payments.
Writing in the Times newspaper, Sir Keir said the current system was “actively incentivising” people away from work and represented an “affront to the values of our country”.
“This is not just unfair to taxpayers,” he said. “It is also a bad long-term outcome for many of those people.”
He pointed to the 2.8 million working age people out of work because of long-term sickness, saying this was a “damning indictment of the Conservative record” on welfare.
Responding to the government’s announcement on Tuesday, the Conservatives said the changes were “too little, too late” and needed to be “tougher”.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately asked why the government was only planning to save £5bn a year, when the annual bill for health and disability benefits was forecast to rise to more than £100bn by the 2029/30 financial year.
Central to the government’s reforms is a tightening of eligibility criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip) – a benefit aimed at helping those with increased living costs due to disability or long-term illness.
More than one million people could lose out on this payment under the changes, the Resolution Foundation think tank has estimated.
The government will also introduce a “right to try” guarantee, which will allow people to try out working without losing their entitlement to benefits if it goes wrong.
Reassessments to determine whether someone is still eligible for financial support will increase, but those with the most severe health conditions will never be reassessed.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the BBC the reforms would make the UK’s social security system “sustainable for the long term” but the overall benefits bill is still expected to rise.
Spending on health and disability-related benefits has ballooned since the Covid pandemic, and has been forecast to increase from £65bn a year currently to £100bn by 2029.
Some have spoken out against the government’s proposals amid fears of the potential impact on vulnerable people.
The Disability Benefits Consortium, which represents more than 100 charities and organisations, said: “These immoral and devastating benefits cuts will push more disabled people into poverty, and worsen people’s health.”
The SNP said the measures would “harm the most vulnerable” and “mark the start of a new era of austerity cuts”.
Work and pensions select committee chair Debbie Abrahams, a Labour MP, said there were “more compassionate” ways to balance the books “rather than on the back of sick and disabled people”.
But other Labour MPs have accepted the government’s argument that there is a moral case for what Kendall has called a more “pro-work system”.
Several benefits claimants spoke to the BBC after the announcement. Some welcomed aspects of the reforms, while others expressed concern.
“If I don’t have Pip I’ll be a burden to my family,” said Daisy, 22, from west London.
