Burnham says Britain ‘must get serious’ about curbing welfare bill

Andy Burnham is risking a fight with Labour MPs on тιԍнтening benefits rules as he warned Britain ‘must get really serious’ about curbing welfare.

The Prime Minister suggested his plans for reform could make payments more ‘conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them’.

But he pushed back against pursuing a ‘crude approach’ to bringing down spending, as he warned about ‘crude cuts to benefits to get the welfare bill down’.

The number of people in England and Wales claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the main disability benefit, has pᴀssed four million for the first time. 

The number of claimants has roughly doubled since 2019, with spending on PIP forecast to rise to more than £41billion by the end of the decade.

PIP is intended to help with everyday tasks and extra living costs if someone has a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability. It has been revealed that teenagers claiming PIP for conditions such as anxiety receive £100 a week more than part-time workers on a minimum wage.

Keir Starmer’s efforts to тιԍнтen rules for claiming PIP were derailed last year by a huge rebellion from his own Labour backbenchers. But Mr Burnham, now that he has ousted Sir Keir from Downing Street, suggested he is ready to make a renewed case for benefits changes to his party.

He is also expected to this week make an intervention on the one million young people not in education, employment or training – so-called NEETs.

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Andy Burnham is risking a fight with Labour MPs on тιԍнтening benefits rules as he warned Britain ‘must get really serious’ about curbing welfare

Data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed there were  four million claimants enтιтled to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) at the end of April

‘I think we’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting the welfare bill down,’ the PM said in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Asked if there were people claiming benefits who don’t need them, Mr Burnham replied: ‘I wouldn’t necessarily go straight to blaming those people.

‘What I would say is that there are people in the benefit system, young people in their 20s, who have been, I would say, quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there.

‘So I’m talking about a school system that doesn’t have the right support for young people with special educational needs or disabilities.

‘I’m talking about an education system that for a very long time has been obsessed on the university route but hasn’t done enough… for young people who want technical qualifications and in many ways has treated them as second class students, hasn’t done enough for young people at 16 who want to get an apprenticeship, a work-related opportunity.’

Pressed on how he might attempt to cut the ballooning welfare bill, the PM added: ‘It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.

‘I think it’s a good thing that the Government has given guarantees of opportunities for young people, and I think we need to continue down that approach, and where mental health support is needed, for instance, it’s provided in work to support people in an opportunity.’

Mr Burnham also claimed that his promise of a council house building boom would, over time, help cut the welfare bill as it would reduce spending on housing benefits.

He added: ‘I’m just pushing back on is this idea that we go to a kind of crude approach, crude cuts to benefits to get the welfare bill down.

‘Often that just pushes people into even more crisis and then even more public spending in another part of the system. We need a system that sets people up for success rather than pays for failure.’

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According to an analysis from The Times, more than 87,000 16 and 17-year-olds are claiming PIP.

More than two-thirds of those on the upper tier (£194 a week) are claiming for mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions such as anxiety, depression, autism and ADHD.

A 16-year-old on the under-18 minimum wage, working the legal maximum of 12 hours a week during term time, takes home about £94 a week – less than half the amount they could receive if signed off with anxiety without having to work, the analysis found.

Helen Whately, the Tory shadow work and pensions secretary, said: ‘Our sickness benefit system is broken. Instead of being there for the seriously disabled, thousands of teenagers are getting nearly £200 a week for anxiety and ADHD. This is absurd.

‘Young people are being told they have disabilities and pointed towards welfare. Worse still, those teenagers will be better off than their classmates who manage to get a part-time job.’

Official statistics have previously revealed how the number of people being paid disability benefits with ADHD has soared by 40 per cent since Labour took power.

A Government review of disability benefits has found the system is ‘no longer fit for purpose’, with promises of ‘bold’ reform of the system.

The review was launched last year after Sir Keir was forced to climb down on plans to reform PIP, including for those with mental health conditions, in the face of fierce backbench Labour opposition.

Instead of immediate reform, the review led by disability minister Sir Stephen Timms was put in place to gather views on PIP and how it works, with the Government promising no changes to the benefit until it is completed.

The final report, which will include recommendations for change, is due in the autumn and the Government has insisted the review will ensure PIP is ‘fit and fair for the future’.

The review team said their recommendations will be ‘bold in nature and bold in recognition of the wider environment in which disabled people in the UK are living’.

Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer on Monday said he believes Labour MPs will support proposals to reform welfare under Mr Burnham – despite last year’s rebellion against Sir Keir’s plans.

‘I think the PLP, the Parliamentary Labour Party, do recognise that there is an issue that they want to see reform of, and I think they’ll support the PM in his intent that he set out over the weekend,’ he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

‘It is vital that we make changes. There are far too many people who are currently being failed by the benefits system, because if you’re not in work then you often will live a much less full life than if you are.

‘Most people I know who are NEETs… do want to work, and the PM has set out why that’s so important to him at the weekend.’

Asked about teenagers on PIP receiving more than working in a minimum-wage job for 12 hours a week, Mr Falconer told Times Radio: ‘Well, it sounds to me like where people need serious help because they have health conditions that they cannot address in any other way, that’s what the PIP system is there for.

‘But I think what you’re asking me is: is the system creating bad incentives for young people to not get into work and not take the steps that they need to launch themselves into working life? That is exactly the issue that we’re focused on.’

A Government spokesman said: ‘PIP is an in and out-of-work benefit, to help with the extra costs of disability and health conditions.

‘The Timms review interim report is clear PIP, as designed in 2013, is no longer fit for purpose, and the final recommendations due this autumn will lay the foundation for reform.

‘We are investing a record £16.1billion in NHS mental health services this year to ensure every person gets the mental health support they need as early as possible, and have met our target to hire 8,500 more mental health workers, three years early.’