Speculation has been growing over the extent of proposals to reform health and disability benefits set to be published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in a new Green Paper this Spring. Minister for Social Security and Disabilities, Sir Stephen Timms, recently confirmed it will be published, along with a public consultation on the proposals, before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers the Spring Statement on March 26.
People of working age on disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit along with charities, organisations and disability campaign groups will be able to share their views on the proposals once the consultation has been published. In another new update, Sir Stephen said people will also be able to give their views in person or at a virtual event as the Green Paper and consultation will be available in various accessible formats.
His comments came after Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard, asked what steps are being taken to “help support health and disability benefit recipients to respond to her Department’s forthcoming consultation on proposed changes to these benefits”.
In a written response, Sir Stephen said: “To ensure that our consultation is accessible, we intend to produce a range of accessible formats of the Green Paper.
“Additionally, throughout the consultation period, we will continue to listen to and work with disabled people and their representatives through a number of accessible public and virtual events where individuals will be encouraged to give their views on the consultation in person or virtually.”
He added: “Full details on how to sign up and attend these events will be shared in due course, and we will work with partners to publicise them.”
Last month, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall said the welfare budget has to be put on a “more sustainable course” as she warned the country could not keep meeting the “costs of failure”.
The DWP boss said more people needed to be moved off welfare and into jobs.
Ms Kendall blamed the Conservative administrations for failing to control welfare spending. She told the PA news agency: “We’re going to get the benefits bill on a more sustainable course – and it has to be, we cannot accept these costs of failure, failure for individuals, failure for businesses and failure for the economy.
“But the way to do this is to get more people into work through the reforms that we’re putting in place in our Jobcentres and through reform of the benefit system. And we’ll be bringing forward our green paper on reforming sickness and disability benefits in the spring.”
The £137.4 billion welfare cap set by the previous government for 2024/25 is on course to be exceeded by £8.6 billion.
Ms Kendall told PA: “This is our inheritance from the Conservative government. And the Tories failed on welfare because they failed on work.
“We have got almost record numbers of people out of work due to long-term health problems. That’s terrible for them. It’s terrible for their living standards. It’s terrible for employers who want to recruit and it’s terrible for the public finances.
“So we need big reforms in the way that we work to get more people into those jobs, which will help bring the benefits bill onto a more sustainable footing.”
In a major economic growth speech on January 29, Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised “fundamental reform of our welfare system” including “looking at areas that have been ducked for too long like the rising cost of health and disability benefits”.