The government plans to overhaul the benefits system and has unveiled proposals to get people back to work.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall criticised the former government’s “strivers versus profiteers” rhetoric as she unveiled plans to reform the DWP on Tuesday.
In her first major speech since taking over the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Kendall said she would seek fundamental reform of the department. She said the DWP would “move from a department for welfare to a department for work”. She said the current system was “too fragmented and centralised” and that “the Conservatives are more concerned with scoring political points than solving problems”.
However, some charities still have concerns about Disability Rights UK, telling Yahoo News that the proposals could be “extremely harmful” to people with disabilities.
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What has Labour said about benefits since the election? | What did Labour promise in its manifesto? | What have the reactions been like? | How much are benefits in the UK?
What has Labour said about benefits since the election?
Kendall said this week that jobseekers would still be required to seek support, look for work and take jobs if they were offered them. However, she said there would also be a greater focus on broader issues – such as health, skills, childcare and transport – that play a role in whether people can get work, stay in work and succeed in their jobs.
The Labour Party has stated that its aim is to achieve an employment rate of 80%, which means putting two million more people into work.
The plans include an overhaul of jobcentres to create a careers service merging JobCentre Plus and the National Careers Service, as well as a “youth guarantee” to offer training to 18- to 21-year-olds. The government will also devolve powers to local areas, in what Kendall called “a fundamental shift in the balance of power and resources”, with mayors and local areas leading jobs, health and skills plans for the economically inactive.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously said that benefits offer people less “dignity” than work. During the election campaign, he told The Telegraph that “state benefits don’t foster the same sense of self-reliant dignity that a fair wage does”. He added that he plans to “make work pay, so that people have the pay and security they need”.
What did Labour promise in its manifesto?
In Labour’s manifesto, released during last month’s general election campaign, the party pledged to tackle the backlog of Access to Work claims – government support to help you get into or stay in work while you have a physical or mental health condition or disability.
Labour said in its manifesto that the Work Capability Assessment – used to determine how much universal credit someone can get and under what conditions – “is broken and needs to be reformed or replaced”. The manifesto said Labour wants to give disabled people the “confidence to go to work without the fear of an immediate benefit review if it’s not working”.
Labour’s manifesto states that “too many people are unemployed or not earning enough”, although the party attributes long waiting times for treatment for health problems, including mental health problems, to this “increase in economic inactivity”.
What have the reactions been like?
Kendall’s reform plans have been widely welcomed, but there are concerns about continued barriers to some people returning to work. Helen Walker, the chief executive of Carers UK, said unpaid carers of vulnerable people felt “invisible and forgotten”.
She added: “It is vital that the government’s forthcoming white paper on ‘Get Britain Working’ includes the experiences of all working-age unpaid carers and examines the barriers and opportunities for unpaid carers in combining work and care. Unpaid care must be recognised as a reason why millions of people can be ‘economically inactive’.”
Walker argued that there are “significant numbers” of unpaid carers living in poverty, and that they “should be given the opportunity to work, while those who cannot should not face poverty and deprivation”.
Mikey Erhardt, a campaigner at Disability Rights UK, told Yahoo News UK the proposals would be “extremely harmful to disabled people, denying us the additional financial support we need to live our lives, and creating further barriers to our inclusion”.
He added: “Regardless of our background, no one should be without a financial safety net that means we can live an independent life. We should all be proud of the social security system, a piece of social infrastructure that 22 million people in the UK rely on to live the lives we all deserve.”
Helen Barnard, director of policy at anti-poverty charity Trussell Trust, said Kendall’s announcement was “a positive step in the right direction”. However, she said “this must be accompanied by a strategy to ensure everyone can afford basic necessities, whether they are working or not”.
James Taylor, executive director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said ensuring no one is excluded from the labour market “must include disabled people too”. He added: “While the opportunity to work is crucial, we also need a positive welfare system that provides the right support for disabled people.”
How much are benefits in the UK?
Spending on benefits in the UK has risen sharply in recent decades. In 2023/24, the government is expected to spend around £258 billion on benefits, up £16 billion on the previous year, according to government figures published on Statista.
In June, the think tank Resolution Foundation reported that spending on social security would rise by almost £21 billion a year by the end of the next parliament, with almost all of the increase coming from pensions and disability benefits.
The think tank, which focuses on improving the living standards of people on low to middle incomes, said 45% of the forecast increase in spending comes from a £9.5 billion real-terms increase in spending on the state pension between now and 2028/29.
About 47% of the expected expenditure would consist of disability and incapacity benefits for non-pensioners. This expenditure is expected to increase by £9.7 billion per year in real terms over the same period.