Record numbers claiming PIP as £5bn welfare cuts plan to be revealed ...Middle East

Number 10 said it was “committed” to the package of reforms which had been set out, as figures showed that the number of people claiming personal independence payments hit a record high of 3.7 million.

The figure is up from 3.69 million in January and a jump of 200,000 from 3.54 million a year earlier

The package is designed to save £5bn a year through a range of measures such as tightening the criteria for claiming Personal Independence Payments and cutting the incapacity element of universal credit for new recipients.

While ministers argue that the current system is financially unsustainable and failing recipients, dozens of Labour backbenchers claim the plans will hit vulnerable people.

Last week, a group of leading rebels rejected the Work and Pension Secretary Liz Kendall’s attempt to extend an olive branch in the form of a 13-week transition period for those who no longer qualify for PIP, objecting that the fundamentals of the plans were unchanged.

A No 10 spokesman said: “We are committed to the reforms that we’ve set out. You’ve heard that from the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Work and Pensions Secretary on the principles behind this and the urgent need for this.”

Increasing numbers claiming PIP

Teenagers and young adults account for a growing proportion of those getting PIP.

Commenting on the figures, the No 10 spokesman said: “We have the highest level of working age in activity due to ill health in Western Europe, we’re the only major economy whose employment rate hasn’t recovered since the pandemic.

square ANDREW FISHER

Cutting PIP benefits will be Starmer’s undoing

“Spending on incapacity and disability benefits for working age adults is forecast to reach 70 billion by 2030, or 1 billion pounds a week if we do nothing.

“So PIP will always remain an important non means tested benefit for disabled people and people with long term health conditions, regardless of whether they are in or out of work to help cover the extra living costs that we know come a bit but through our reforms.”

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