Benefits crackdown unveiled with aim to save £5bn a year by 2030 | Global News Avenue

The government has made comprehensive changes to the welfare system, aiming to save £5 billion per year by 2030.

Work and Pension Minister Liz Kendall said the overhaul will create a more “pro-work system” to encourage people to work while protecting those who can’t work.

These changes will make it harder for people with poorer conditions to claim payment for disability. The current claimant will also freeze additional benefits payments for health status, while new applicants will almost cut it in half.

and People under 22 can prevent universal credit Payment for health status.

The government does not have an exact breakdown of predicted savings, but is expected to be eligible for disability payments from changes.

The overall interest bill will continue to rise – but Kendall told the BBC that the changes will make welfare more “sustainable” by making people go to work.

Health and disability-related welfare spending has surged since the Alliance pandemic, projected to increase from £65bn per year to £100bn in 2029.

proposal It is the result of months of work, but as the economic background worsens, they become more pressing, making it difficult for the government to comply with its self-imposed rules on borrowing and spending.

Charities and some Labor MPs fear that cuts to welfare will put people with disabilities in poverty.

The government responds to their concerns by eliminating plans to freeze individual independent payments (PIPs), which provides additional living expenses for people with long-term or mental health conditions.

But Kendall said starting in November 2026, PIPS eligibility will be tightened – the main disability benefits of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This will become harder to get the daily life part of PIP for those who need help with daily tasks and start at £72.65 per week.

For those in need, the mobility component won’t change.

Kendall talks about the BBC details next week along with Prime Minister Rachel Reeves’ spring statement.

The Resolution Foundation think tank estimates that 800,000 to 1.2 million people may lose support due to restrictions on PIP.

Kendall also announced a job competency assessment that determines whether someone is suitable for work and whether additional benefits payments are received due to health status or disability, which will be abandoned in 2028.

The assessment is “complex, time-consuming, and often stressful for the claimant”, and “binary-based can not-can not Divide.”

In the future, financial support for a health condition can be obtained through a PIP assessment only based on a person’s health status rather than his or her ability to work.

Reassessment to determine whether someone is still eligible for benefits, although those with the worst conditions that will never improve will not be reassessed.

Starting next April until 2029/30, existing claimants will additionally freeze general credits for health status or disability and cut nearly half for new claimants.

There is an additional premium for people suffering from severe, lifelong conditions, which means they will never work.

Meanwhile, there will be a permanent inflation rate rising to the standard allowance of General Credit, which is equivalent to a cash term of £775 by 2029/30.

The government will also introduce a “right to try” to ensure that those who try to work will not lose their existing benefits if they do not work.

“These immoral and devastating benefits will put more people with disabilities in poverty and worsen people’s health,” said the Disability Welfare Consortium, which represents more than 100 charities and organizations.

The SNP said the measures would “damage the most vulnerable” and “sign the beginning of a new era of austerity”.

Debbie Abrahams, Labour MP who chairs the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, believes that “there are more compassionate ways to balance books than to balance behind the sick and disabled.”

However, other labor MPs agree with the government’s view of ethical cases where reforming the welfare system encourages people to go to work.

Conservatives say these changes are “too few, too late” and need to be “harder”.

Shadow Work and Pension Minister Helen Whately asked why the government only plans to save £5 billion a year, while the total bill for health and disability benefits is expected to rise to more than £100 billion a year by 2029/30.

“If the government takes reducing welfare spending seriously, it will take the level of seriousness of health and social care and the broken work and pension sectors,” said Steve Darling, a Liberal Democratic work and pension sector.

Some changes will require new legislation, thereby increasing the prospects for some labor MPs’ rebellion during the Parliamentary vote.

However, the size of government majority seats limits the threat of voting.