Health Secretary declines to be drawn on benefit freeze ‘speculation’ March 16, 2025 A senior minister has declined to be drawn on whether the government will freeze personal independence payment (PIP) as uncertainty continues to surround Labour’s upcoming benefits reforms. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to announce reforms on Tuesday aimed at cutting a welfare bill that ministers have described as “unsustainable”. Ahead of the [...]
Ministers must get a grip of broken benefits system, Reeves insists March 15, 2025 Rachel Reeves has doubled down on the need to reform the welfare system, insisting the government must “get a grip” on it amid concerns from Labour MPs about the impact of expected cuts to the budget. The benefits system is “broken” and is “not working for anyone”, the Chancellor said. Backbench Labour MPs have made [...]
The welfare system isn’t working – here’s how to fix it March 10, 2025 Claims for incapacity benefits have gone up by 27 per cent while 35 per cent more have no obligation to look for work. The system needs radical reform, starting with these four changes, say Jean-Andre Prager and Dr Sean Phillips Britain’s health and disability benefits system isn’t working. The Office of Budget Responsibility estimates the [...]
‘Unsustainable’ sickness benefits cost UK more than defence, Lords warn January 20, 2025 The UK is spending more on “financially unsustainable” sickness benefits than defence, and “urgent” reform to the welfare system is needed to rein in costs, a group of Lords has said. In a letter to the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, the cross-party Lords Economic Affairs committee said the current benefits system penalises people [...]
Sick Brits to be helped back to work by ‘crack teams’ of doctors, Streeting says September 25, 2024 Sick Brits are set to be helped “back to health and back to work” by “crack teams of top clinicians”, Wes Streeting has announced in a bid to tackle rising economic inactivity. The health secretary today pledged reforms created by surgeons would be rolled out in hospitals across the UK “to treat more patients and [...]
Government plan to get people back into work and tackle economic inactivity announced July 11, 2024 Labour has laid out its first steps to get people back into work as the new government attempts to tackle the worrying rise in economic inactivity.
Election 2024: Benefits ‘less dignified’ than work, Starmer toughens welfare line June 23, 2024 State handouts don’t deliver the “same sense of self-reliant dignity as a fair wage”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as he toughens his party’s line on welfare.
Focus on health to cut ballooning welfare bill, new report argues June 20, 2024 The next government should focus on addressing underlying health conditions rather than embarking on a benefits "clampdown", a new report has argued.
Sunak’s clampdown on ‘sick note culture’ is Back to Basics 2.0 – and it may end as badly May 1, 2024 Sunak’s clampdown on 'sick note culture' has the whiff of John Major’s Back to Basics… and risks the same results, writes Simon Neville.
Will Rishi Sunak’s clampdown on ‘sick note culture’ tackle long-term sickness? April 20, 2024 "Reforms to fit notes...won’t help the 2.8m people currently out of work due to their long-term health conditions," David Finch, assistant director at the Health Foundation, said.