Reform UK has outlined a plan to reduce the country's welfare bill by £50 billion per year, a move that would significantly alter disability and sickness benefits for approximately 2.89 million people, according to Robert Jenrick, the party's Treasury spokesman.
Jenrick described the current welfare system as embodying "suicidal empathy" and stated that the proposed reforms would represent the most substantial shake-up of the welfare state in a generation. Under the proposals, Reform aims to abolish Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and the health component of Universal Credit for working-age adults. A new, regularly reviewed, health security allowance would be introduced to support those deemed "gravely ill and severely challenged."
For individuals with less severe conditions, cash payments would cease and be replaced by disability support accounts. These accounts would be managed by local councils and mayors and could be used for expenses such as equipment, adaptations, transportation, and personal assistance. The plan also suggests that employers could be mandated to purchase "return to work cover" insurance to finance the initial two years of an employee's sick leave, providing them with a financial incentive to facilitate an employee's return to work.
Individuals out of work for over two years would undergo a stringent, in-person assessment to filter out what Jenrick termed "vexatious and fraudulent claims." Jenrick acknowledged that the changes would not be painless, estimating that while 2.16 million existing claimants would retain their full benefits, nearly 2.9 million would see their entitlements modified or withdrawn. He asserted that the proposed savings from welfare changes, particularly from disability benefits, would more than double the £23 billion target set by the Conservative party.
Reacting to the announcement, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately suggested the proposal was a diversionary tactic. She criticized Reform UK's previous stances on welfare reform, including their position on the two-child benefit cap and their stated intention to limit benefits only for non-citizens. The Conservatives, she stated, are focused on measures such as restoring the two-child benefit cap, ending benefits for low-level mental health conditions, restricting benefits for foreign nationals, and reinstating face-to-face assessments.
A Labour spokeswoman dismissed Reform's £50 billion savings claim as "fantasy economics" built on reducing support for disabled individuals and shifting costs to employers. She contrasted this with Labour's approach, which she described as offering "credible, independently-costed savings" rather than arbitrary figures without a clear plan.