Liz Kendall says benefits system ‘holding our country back’ and claims crackdown will save £5bn by 2030 – UK politics live
Kendall confirms benefit changes to save more than £5bn by 2029-30
Kendall confirmed that the reforms she is announcing will save more than £5bn by 2029-30.
She said the Office for Budget Responsibility would publish its assessment of the savings next week, alongside the spring statement.
Key events
In the Commons the Labour MP Clive Lewis said these cuts would provide pain for millions of people. He asked Liz Kendall:
When she made the decision to go down this route, did they understand the pain and difficulty that this will cause millions of people, millions of our constituents who are using food banks, who are using social supermarkets, people who are on the brink.
This £5bn cut is going to impact them more than I think her department is giving credit for, and I would like her department to be able to look my constituents in the eye when I go back to them to tell them that this is going to work for them. Because as things stand, my constituents, my friends, my family are very angry about this and they do not think this is the kind of action that a Labour government takes.
Kendall replied:
I’ve spent years chairing Feeding Leicester, the programme to end hunger in my city and I know that I can look my constituents in the eye and say to them, I know that getting more people into better paid jobs is the key to their future success, I know dealing with their mental health problems which we know are so prevalent is so essential.
We, the Labour party, believe that if you can work, we will give you the help to get back on your feet, because that is the long-term route to tackling poverty, tackling inequality which is what this Labour party is all about.
Tory DWP spokesperson Helen Whately says £5bn cuts do not go far enough
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told the Commons that she thought the government should be going further.
In her response to Kendall, she said:
This is a now or never chance to seize the moment, a now or never for millions of people who will otherwise be signed off for what could end up being a lifetime on benefits, but this announcement today leaves me with more questions than answers.
How many people will this help back into work? By when? Surely we haven’t been waiting eight months just for another green paper? Where is the fit note reform, crucial to stem the flow of people onto benefits? Where is the action on people being signed off sick for the everyday ups and downs of life?
Why is she only planning to save £5bn when the bill is forecast to rise to over £100bn?
Fundamentally, this is too little, too late. The fact is £5bn just doesn’t cut it. With a bill so big, going up so fast, she needed to be tougher. She should be saying no more hard working taxpayers funding the family next door not to work. No more free top of the range cars for people who don’t need them.
Back in the Commons, Liz Kendall told MPs that impact assessments for her plans would be published alongside the spring statement.
DWP publishes Pathways to Work green paper
The DWP has now published its 84-page green paper.
Kendall says under-22s could be prevented from claiming health top-up for universal credit
Kendall ended her statement by saying the DWP would be spending an extra £1bn on employment support.
This would involve “tailored and personalised support to help people on a pathway to work, the largest ever investment in opportunities to work for sick and disabled people”, she said.
Kendall also said the government would consult on stopping people getting the health top-up for universal credit until they are 22. She said the savings would be “reinvested into work, support and training opportunities so every young person is earning or learning and on a pathway to success”.
Kendall confirms benefit changes to save more than £5bn by 2029-30
Kendall confirmed that the reforms she is announcing will save more than £5bn by 2029-30.
She said the Office for Budget Responsibility would publish its assessment of the savings next week, alongside the spring statement.
Kendall confirms Pip eligibility rules to be tightened, and assessment process to be reviewed
Turning to Pip, Kendall said the government had to make the system sustainable.
Social and demographic change means more people are now living with a disability, but the increase in disability benefits is double the rate of increasing prevalence of working-age disability in the country, with claims amongst young people up 150%, for mental health conditions up 190% and claims for learning difficulties up over 400%, according to the IFS.
Every day there are more than 1,000 new Pip awards. That’s the equivalent of adding a population the size of Leicester every single year.
That is not sustainable long term, above all, for the people who depend on this support, but the Tories have no proper plan to deal with this just yet more ill thought through consultations.
So today, I can announce this government will not bring in the Tory proposals for vouchers, because disabled people should have choice and control over their lives.
We will not means test Pip, because disabled people deserve extra support, whatever their incomes.
And I can confirm we will not freeze Pip either.
Instead, our reforms will focus support on those with the greatest needs. We will legislate for a change in Pip so people will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of Pip from November 2026.
This will not affect the mobility component of Pip and only relates to the daily living element.
And alongside this, we will launch a review of the PIP assessment led [Stephen Timms] in close consultation with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts, so we make sure Pip and the assessment process is fit for purpose now and into the future.
Kendall says universal credit claimants with most severe disabilities will not face reassessment
Kendall said people on universal credit with the most severe disabilities would not face reassessment.
I can also announce for people on universal credit with the most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve, we want to ensure that they are never reassessed, to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve.
Kendall says reassessments for people on universal credit with health top-ups to be beefed up
Kendall says the government is also increase the reassessments for people getting universal credit with a health-top up.
We will also fix the failing system of reassessments. The Conservatives failed to switch reassessments back on after the pandemic, so they they’re down by more than two thirds, with face to face assessment going from seven in 10 to only one in 10.
We will turn these reassessments back on at scale and shift the focus back to doing more face to face.
And we will ensure that they are recorded as standard to give confidence to claimants and taxpayers that they’re being done properly.
Kendall says UC payments being rebalanced, with standard rate going up, and some health top-ups frozen or cut
Kendall says the current universal credit system creates “perverse financial incentives”, because people out of work who say they are too sick to work get paid a lot more than other people out of work. She says:
The Tories ran down the value of the universal credit standard allowance. As a result, the health top-up is now worth double the standard allowance at more than £400 a month, and in 2017 they took away extra financial help for the group of people who could prepare for work.
So we’re left with a binary assessment of can or can’t work, and a clear financial incentive to define yourself as incapable of work, something the OBR, IFS and others say is a likely factor driving people on to incapacity benefits.
Today, we tackle this problem head on. We will legislate to rebalance the payments in universal credit from April next year, holding the value of the health top-up fixed in cash terms for existing claimants, and reducing it for new claimants, with an additional premium for people with severe lifelong conditions that mean that they will never work to give them the financial security they deserve.
And alongside this, Mr. Speaker, we will bring in a permanent above-inflation rise to the standard allowance in universal credit for the first time ever, a £775 annual increase in cash terms by 2029-30 and a decisive step to tackle the perverse incentives in the system.
Kendall says ‘right to try’ will let people on sickness benefits try work without immediately having benefits cut
Kendall confirms the government will legislate for a “right to try” – meaning that people claiming sickness benefits can try out a new job, without immediately having their benefits cut.
We will do more by legislating for a right to try, guaranteeing that work, in and of itself, will never lead to a benefit reassessment, giving people the confidence to take the plunge and try work without the fear this will put their benefits at risk.
Kendall says WCA being scrapped, with Pip assessment process being used instead
Kendall says the government is scrapping the Tory proposals to reform the work capability assessment (WCA). She points out that the proposal was found unlawful by the courts.
She goes on:
Instead, we will scrap the WCA in 2028.
In future, extra financial support for health conditions in universal credit will be available solely through the Pip (personal independence payment] assessment.
So extra income is based on the impact of someone’s health condition or disability, not on their capacity to work, reducing the number of assessments that people have to go through and a vital step towards de-risking work.
Kendall says government to consult on merging JSA and ESA benefits
Kendall says the first priority is prevention.
Almost 4 million people are in work with a work limiting health condition, and around 300,000 fall out of work every year.
So we’ve got to do far more to help people stay in work and get back to work quickly, because your chances of returning are five times higher in the first year.
She says the government wants to help more employers offer support for disabled workers, including through reasonable adjustments.
And she says the government is going to consult on a new benefit.
Our green paper will consult on a major reform of contributory benefits, merging contributions-based job seeker’s allowance and employment support allowance into a new time-limited unemployment insurance, paid at a higher rate, without having to prove you cannot work in order to get it. So if you have paid into the system, you’ll get stronger income protection while we help you get back on track.
Kendall says there will always be people who can never work.
The social security system will always be there for people “in genuine need”, she says.
That is a principle the government will not compromise on.
But disabled people and people with health conditions who can work should have the same right choices and chances to work as everybody else.
Liz Kendall tells MPs benefits system ‘holding our country back’
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is speaking now.
She says the government is ambitious for people.
But social security system we inherited from the Conservatives is failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back.
She give figures to back this up.
The facts speak for themselves. One in 10 people of working age now claiming a sickness or disability benefit, almost 1 million young people, not in education, employment or training. That is one in eight of all our young people.
2.8 million out of work due to long term sickness and the number of people claiming personal independence payments set to double this decade from two to 4.3 million.
With the growth in claims rising faster among young people, and mental health conditions, and with claims up to four times higher in parts of the Midlands, Wales and the north where economic demand is weakest, places that were decimated in the 80s and 90s.
She says other countries do not have the same problem with inactivity in the workplace.
Where support is available for mental health and benefits issues
We may have a lot of readers today with mental health and benefit concerns who may be worried or alarmed at what is happening. If you are in this category, and you would like help, here are some organisations you can contact.
Quick Guide
What mental health and benefits support is available?
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Mental health support
• Mind runs a support line on 0300 102 1234 as a safe and confidential place to talk openly. It also has an information line, on 0300 123 3393, for details of where to get help near you. And its welfare benefits line – 0300 222 5782 – supports anyone with mental health problems who is navigating the benefits system.
• Samaritans is there to talk to you for free 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call them on 116 123 or email [email protected].
• The disability charity Scope has a forum where you can chat in a supportive atmosphere to people going through the same experiences.
• NHS England has an online mental health triage service.
Benefits support
• The Trussell Trust’s Help through Hardship helpline, on 0808 208 2138, is a free and confidential phone service offered alongside Citizens Advice that provides advice to people experiencing hardship. You can also find your local Trussell Trust food bank here.
• Benefits and Work provides guides, forums and newsletters to help people navigate the benefits system and get the support they are entitled to. This includes benefit applications and appeals.
• Turn2Us provides a free benefits calculator to help you find out what benefits you can claim, as well as a grants search service and a Pip Helper to assist you in applying for the benefit.
• The Law Centres website helps people find their local service for benefits support and more, while Advicelocal provides a search directory tool to find your local advice provider.
