Reform UK would overhaul the welfare system across the UK if it were to be in government, treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick has said. Writing for The Telegraph, , externalhe said the current system has created a "moral and economic catastrophe", and under their plans they could save more than £50bn. Their planned changes would save £22bn in reforms to the disability programme alone, he added, seeing nearly three million claimants have their payments withdrawn or modified.
It comes as the party prepares to publish its 50-page plan on Monday for what Jenrick described as the "most comprehensive redesign of the welfare system's machinery in a generation". Welfare cuts: What's been happening with Pip and universal credit? Reform UK pledges to cut welfare to keep pensions triple lock Under the plans, Jenrick said they would invest in talking therapies, physiotherapy and employment support to move away from people claiming health Universal Credit (UC) payments and Personal Independent Payments (Pip).
People with "lover-level conditions" would no longer receive payments, instead accounts run by local councils and mayors will provide for needs such as transport and equipment. Employers would see the creation of a return to work cover giving them a "strong economic incentive" to return an employee to work who has been off due to sickness. Those claiming benefits and who had not returned to work in two years would face a "single, rigorous disability needs assessment", conducted in person to screen out fraudulent claims.
A new regularly reviewed payment will be in place for those that are considered "gravely ill and severely challenged". Jenrick estimates after assessments of people already claiming, 2.16 million will keep their cash entitlement in full, while 2.89 million will see it modified or withdrawn. Pip is paid to 3.7 million people with long-term physical or mental health conditions in England and Wales.
It is not linked to someone's savings or income and does not affect other benefits, or the benefit cap. People can get Pip if they are working. Pip includes a daily living component and a mobility component.
Claimants may be eligible for one or both. "We will not pretend this is painless," Jenrick wrote of the changes, adding: "Dumping our young people onto welfare isn't compassion; it's neglect." The party has previously said it would cut the benefits bill by billions if the party was in power, in order to offset the cost of keeping the trip lock state pension. A Labour spokeswoman said: "Reform's £50 billion claim is fantasy economics, built on stripping support from disabled people and shifting costs onto employers." She added that the Labour Government's reforms to welfare "deliver credible, independently-costed savings, not arbitrary numbers with no credible plan behind them".
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