The government will save £5bn by cutting the number of people eligible for benefits, Liz Kendall has announced.
Speaking in the Commons, the Work and Pensions secretary said the number of new people claiming personal independence payment (PIP) is “not sustainable”.
She said the government will not freeze PIP – as reports had previously suggested – but instead make it harder to qualify from November 2026.
This will not affect the mobility component, she added.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is money for people who have extra care needs or mobility needs as a result of a disability.
The announcement comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves struggles to balance the books due to a poor economy and geopolitical events.
The cost of long-term sickness and disability benefits for working-age people has risen by £20bn since the pandemic and is forecast to hit £70bn over the next five years – a figure ministers say is unsustainable.
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The English town where almost a third of working-age people are economically inactive
Labour says there’s also a “moral case” for change, as people are written off too quickly instead of being supported back into work, with one in eight young people currently not in education, employment or training.
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