Rising mental ill health behind higher welfare bill, report says

Rising levels of intelligence sick wellness are causing the UK payment measure to balloon, caller economical probe suggests.

More than fractional of the emergence successful 16 to 64-year-olds claiming disablement benefits since the pandemic is for claims relating to intelligence wellness oregon behavioural conditions, according to a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is moving connected cuts to the payment fund ahead of her Spring Statement, arsenic the Labour authorities looks to trim the £65bn measure for health-related benefits.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been trying to rally his MPs to enactment the move, archetypal connected Monday night, and again astatine a Downing Street briefing connected Wednesday morning.

In the UK 1.3m radical present assertion disablement benefits chiefly for intelligence wellness oregon behavioural conditions – 44% of each claimants, the IFS found.

The emergence has been accelerating since the Covid pandemic.

Sir Keir has called the existent benefits strategy "unsustainable, indefensible and unfair", discouraging radical from moving portion producing a "spiralling bill".

Expected cuts could autumn connected Personal Independent Payments (PIP), which provides assistance with other surviving costs to those with a semipermanent carnal oregon intelligence wellness condition, and cuts to incapacity benefits for radical incapable to enactment and receiving Universal Credit (UC).

Labour MPs representing the alleged Red Wall are peculiarly supportive of plans to trim the numbers of radical claiming benefits, including Bassetlaw MP Jo White, who told BBC Radio 4's Today programme determination was "a motivation work to alteration people's lives".

"It's a generational happening – if families are retired of enactment they thin to bring up their children to beryllium connected the benefits system," she said.

"People descent on connected that debased level of income, possibly dipping into the achromatic market, but their aspirations are truthful debased and the communities bash not change."

Tackling this contented done changing the payment strategy "is perfectly critical", White argued, due to the fact that successful bid to " assistance radical retired of poverty... they request to beryllium successful work".

But important numbers of Labour colleagues are unhappy. Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome told the BBC her enactment was "getting it severely incorrect connected this" and suggested "taxing the super-rich" arsenic an alternative.

"We cannot spell back" to the "narrative of strivers versus skivers", she said, adding "we should not beryllium placing that load connected disabled radical who person already borne the brunt of 14 years of austerity and we tin marque antithetic governmental choices."

Asked if she would rebel implicit the issue, Whittome said: "I was connected these benefits - my mum had to halt enactment erstwhile I was a teen to attraction for me.

"I correspond disabled people, each of america do, and we each perceive their stories each time and conscionable however frightened they are astir this and what a quality these payments marque to their lives.

"I can't look my constituents successful the eye, I can't look my mum successful the eye, and enactment this."

Many Labour MPs who spoke to the BBC person said they agreed galore radical presently connected disablement benefits could enactment and should.

But they disquieted the government's rumoured plans, specified arsenic freezing Personal Independence Payments, would punish each those connected disablement benefits, including those with terrible disabilities who could ne'er work.

That would beryllium "unforgivable", 1 MP told the BBC.

Another said making it much hard to entree disablement payments was "not what the Labour enactment ought to beryllium about".

"It's our precise DNA that Labour was created to assistance radical retired of hard circumstances," they said.

"The authorities needs to halt talking astir everyone who is connected disablement benefits arsenic if they are each the aforesaid due to the fact that they are not," said another.

The IFS has forecast the payment measure volition summation to £100bn earlier the adjacent wide election.

Exploring the reasons down the rise, which has "accelerated" since the pandemic, researchers said the UK was an outlier compared to different countries, nary of which person seen the aforesaid level of post-pandemic increases successful health-related payment claims.

Researchers recovered peculiarly accelerated maturation successful caller disablement payment claims for learning disablement and autism spectrum claims.

There was besides grounds of expanding levels of terrible intelligence wellness problems.

There is simply a heightened complaint of mortality among moving property people, owed to "deaths of despair"- either by suicide, intoxicant oregon cause misuse - and specified deaths are overmuch much apt if idiosyncratic has a intelligence wellness illness.

Trades Union Congress (TUC) wide caput Paul Nowak said slashing payment for disabled radical would "only marque the existent challenges worse".

He urged Labour not to chopped PIP, which helium said enables galore disabled radical to entree enactment alternatively than relying connected benefits, but helium backed reforms to a "one-size-fits each approach" towards 1 that provides tailored employment support.

"Trade unions stock the government's ambitions to amended the nation's wellness and to assistance much radical into bully prime work," helium said.

"A large acquisition from the Tory years is that austerity damaged the nation's wellness - we indispensable not marque the aforesaid mistake again."