Conservatives to halt rising welfare bill

The Conservatives will bring forward a major package of welfare reforms to reduce the rising numbers claiming welfare and get more people into work.  

Since the pandemic, the number of people inactive for health reasons has increased by 40 percent from 2 million to 2.8 million, and the number of working age people claiming benefits is projected to grow at an unsustainable rate. 

People are now three times more likely to be assessed as not fit for any work than they were a decade ago, suggesting the system is not functioning as designed and needs updating. Over half of those being signed off have a mental health problem such as anxiety or depression. 

Meanwhile, spending on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition is projected to increase from £69 billion to £90 billion by the end of the Parliament. 

So we will reform the welfare system to make it fairer and more sustainable. We will bring the numbers of working age people claiming benefits for a health condition or disability under control. We will take action across the welfare system to make sure that being on benefits is a safety net, not a lifestyle choice. 

With fewer people moving onto welfare and more people fulfilling their potential, we will save taxpayers £12 billion a year by the end of the next Parliament. 

With our plan we will: 

1. Introduce major £700 million step-change in NHS mental health treatment, with more than 500,000 more people a year able to access talking therapies by 2030 to reduce the number of people falling out of work due to poor mental health. We will roll out a mental health support team to every school and support hubs for young people will be in every community. 
2. Reform our disability benefits to halt the unsustainable rise in claims, while ensuring the right support is being targeted at those who need it most. 
3. Tighten up how the benefits system assesses someone's capability for work so that those with more moderate mental health or mobility issues can be supported back into work. 
4. Overhaul the fit note process by moving the responsibility for issuing fit notes away from our hard-pressed GPs towards specialist work and health professionals who have the dedicated time and expertise to provide an objective assessment of someone's ability to work. 
5. Introduce tougher sanctions rules so people who are able to work but refuse to take up suitable jobs after a year on benefits can have their benefits removed entirely, to boost fairness for taxpayers. 
6. Accelerate the rollout of Universal Credit to ensure it always pays to work and give people more access to the world of work.    
7. Continue to clamp down on fraudsters by giving DWP HMRC-style new powers to treat benefit fraud like we do tax fraud to build on our record delivering cumulative scored savings of £7.7bn since 2019. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:  

“Reforming welfare is a moral mission. Work is a source of dignity, purpose and hope and I want everyone to be able to overcome whatever barriers they might face to living independent, fulfilling lives. 

“That's why we have announced a significant increase in mental health provision, as well as changes to ensure those who can work, do work. 

“That's the choice at this election – between our clear plan that's fair to taxpayers and fair to people who need help, and Labour who have no plan to control welfare spending and will land working families with a £2,094 tax bill. 

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said: 

"As Conservatives, we believe that work brings a sense of purpose, identity and belonging, and that everyone should have the right to contribute and fulfil their potential. 

 “So we are taking bold action to help more people into work and make the welfare system fairer for the taxpayers who pay for it.   

“That's the difference between us and Labour – we'll take bold action to get more people into work and grow the economy, Labour don't have the courage or conviction to have a plan for the British people." 

ENDS

Notes to editors 

Benefits spending is unsustainable  

• Spending on benefits for sick and disabled people of working age has risen by two thirds over the last five years to £69bn. Unless we act, it is forecast to rise still further to £90bn by the end of the decade. Over the same period, spending on PIP alone is expected to grow by more than half. (DWP, Modernising Support Green Paper: Evidence Pack, 29 April 2024, link.) 

• Since the pandemic[1], inactivity due to long term sickness has increased by 850,000, from around 2 to 2.8 million. Of those inactive due to long term sickness, 53% report a mental health problem such as anxiety, depression or bad nerves. (ONS, Summary of labour market statistics, 14 May 2024, link; ONS, Rising ill-health and economic inactivity because of long-term sickness, UK: 2019 to 2023, 26 July 2023, link)) 

• People are now three times more likely to be assessed as not fit for any work than they were a decade ago, despite the population not being any sicker. The proportion of people on the highest level of award and assessed as having no work-related requirements through the Work Capability Assessment has risen from 21 per cent in 2011 to 65 per cent in 2022 (DWP, Press Release, 22 November 2022, link). 

• We will save £12bn from across the working age welfare bill, and this is a conservative estimate of the potential savings 

• If we simply kept the number of working age people claiming benefits for a health condition or disability at the level it was before the pandemic, by 29/30 we would spend £34.6bn less than currently forecast. And even if all we did was maintain the numbers of working age people claiming benefits for a health condition or disability at current levels, rather than allowing it to rise, that alone would save more than £14.2bn compared to current forecasts. (DWP, Modernising Support Green Paper: Evidence Pack, 29 April 2024, link.) 

• These are the potential savings just from benefits related to health and disability, they do not include the additional savings we would achieve in other areas. Our plans involve reforms right across the welfare system, not just health and disability benefits. This is in the context of a working age welfare bill which is expected to be more than £140bn per year by the end of the next Parliament. (DWP, Benefit expenditure and caseload tables, 19 April 2024, link) 

We are taking bold action to control the unsustainable rise in benefit claims for people of working age with a disability or health condition 

• We will dramatically expand mental health provision, reducing the numbers falling out of work with mental health problems. We will increase our planned expansion of talking therapies by 50% so that in total an additional 576,000 people can complete treatment by 2029/30, including those with more severe conditions. For those with the most severe mental illnesses, we will invest even more, increasing our Individual Placement and Support program by 140,000 places (70%) by 2028-29. In total this will mean 25,000 more people in work. (OBR, Economic and fiscal outlook, 22 November 2023, link.)   

• We will reform our disability benefits to halt the unsustainable rise in claims, while ensuring the right support is being targeted at those who need it most. We will improve PIP assessments to provide a more objective assessment of people's needs and stop the number of claims from rising unsustainably. While people suffering with mental health conditions face significant challenges, it is not clear that they face the same additional living costs as people with physical disabilities. We will look at the best way to provide support, including whether treatment or services could be more appropriate for some people than a monthly cash payment. At the same time, we will make the process simpler and fairer for those with the most severe conditions (DWP, Consultation, 29 April 2024, link). 

• We will tighten up how the benefits system assesses someone's capability for work. People are now three times more likely to be assessed as not fit for any work and put on the highest tier of sickness benefits than they were a decade ago. To reflect the changing world of work, we will reform the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) from September 2025 so that those with more moderate mental health issues or mobility problems who could potentially engage with the world of work are given tailored support, instead of being written off on benefits. The OBR has confirmed these reforms will reduce the number of people on these benefits by 424,000 by 28/29 when applied to new claims. (DWP, Work Capability Assessment Reform: update to estimated number of claimants affected, 18 April 2024, link).  

• We will overhaul the fit note process so that people are not being signed off sick as a default. Currently, 94% of fit notes are being signed off as ‘not fit for work'. We will design a new system which moves the responsibility for issuing fit notes away from our hard-pressed GPs towards specialist work and health professionals who have the dedicated time and expertise to provide an objective assessment of someone's ability to work. We will also test using this process to refer people to tailored support services that will help them to stay in or get back to work, such as the new WorkWell service (DWP, Press Release, 7 May 2024, link). 

• We will make sure that benefits remain a safety net, not a lifestyle choice 

• Introduce tougher sanctions rules so people who refuse to take up suitable jobs after 12 months on benefits can have their cases closed and their benefits removed entirely. We will bring forward the new claimant review point for the long term unemployed from 18 months to 12 months. At the claimant review, Work Coaches will set renewed conditions for claimants. If they fail to accept or comply with those conditions, such as refusing a suitable job or a mandatory work placement, their claim will be closed and their benefits will stop (DWP, News Story, 16 November 2023, link). 

• Accelerate the rollout of Universal Credit to ensure it always pays to work. We will move all those left on outdated legacy benefits onto Universal Credit, removing disincentives for them to work and ensuring they will always be better off if they try a job (PMO, Press Release, 19 April 2024, link). 

• Continue to clamp down on fraudsters. Since 2019 we have delivered cumulative scored savings of £7.7bn through measures we have taken to tackle fraud in the welfare system. Despite this, the level of welfare fraud remains far too high, having more than doubled during the pandemic. To deliver further savings in the next Parliament, we will maintain our zero tolerance approach to fraud. This will include a new Fraud Bill to give DWP powers similar to that of HMRC, so we can treat benefit fraud like we do tax fraud, including new powers to identify, investigate and pursue fraudster. (OBR, Policy measures database, accessed May 2023, link.)  

We will continue to support people with their mental health 

• By 2030 we will roll out Mental Health Support Teams to all schools and colleges in England, doubling the number that we have today so every school has access to specially trained mental health experts including senior clinicians and specialist educational mental health practitioners. 

• By 2030, every young person aged 11-25 will be able to access wellbeing support from around 150 walk-in hubs, one in every local community, without the need for a referral. 

• By 2029-30, we will support an extra 576,000 people complete talking therapies treatment. increasing by 50% the planned expansion of 384,000 we announced at the 2023 Autumn Statement and helping even more people stay in work. 

• By 2028-29, we will increase the capacity of the Individual Placement and Support for Severe Mental Illness by 140,000, as announced at the 2023 Autumn Statement, giving people with mental health issues more opportunities to find work. 

• We will introduce a Mental Health Bill to reform mental health legislation in the first session following a General Election. 

Costings 

• Spending on additional mental health provision would come from savings made by reducing the benefits bill. We would reduce overall welfare spending by £12 billion by 2029/30 compared to current forecasts, and part of this saving will fund the additional investment in mental health provision of almost £730m per year by 2029/30. This is a conservative estimate of the potential savings which could be achieved.