CHANGES to the UK Government’s welfare reforms will cost around £2.5 billion in 2029/30, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.
Liz Kendall told MPs on Monday that the UK Government would be putting forward a number of changes to its welfare reform bill following a backbench rebellion ahead of a second vote in the Commons.
Kendall pointed to “real concerns” that had been raised regarding the changes and insisted that ministers were “making positive changes” after over 120 MPs forced ministers into a partial U-turn.
MPs are set to vote on the legislation on Tuesday, with 50 Labour backbenchers expected to vote against the Government.
Speaking to MPs, Kendall said the Government is “putting an additional £300 million into employment support for sick and disabled people”.
Kendall said “We will be delivering a total of £600m for support next year, £800m the year after, and £1 bn in 2028/29, increasing our total spending on employment support for sick and disabled people to £3.8bn over this Parliament, because disabled people who can work shouldn’t wait to have the same rights and chances to work as everybody else.
“And the measures we are announcing today will cost around £2.5bn in 2029/30.”
She said “the overall savings and costings” of the reform package “will be certified by the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) in the normal way”.
The Work and Pensions Secretary said that the welfare reforms will now only apply the four-point requirement for Personal Independent Payments (PIP) will only apply to those applying from November 2026, so no existing claimants will lose the benefit.
“Now, some people have said they’re concerned it will create a two-tier system, but I would say to the House, including members opposite that our benefits system often protects existing claimants from new rates or new rules, because lives have been built around that support, and it’s often very hard for people to adjust,” Kendall said.
Kendall also told MPs that the new proposals will mean no existing claimants of the Universal Credit standard allowance and health top-up “are put into poverty as a result of the changes” in the welfare Bill.
A review of PIP will also be “co-produced” with disabled people, Kendall said, adding that the Government had published the terms of reference for the review.
“The review will look at the role of the Pip assessment, including activities, descriptors, and the associated points, to ensure these properly capture the impact of long-term health conditions and disability in the modern world,” she said.
“And it will be co-produced with disabled people, their organisations, clinicians, other experts, and MPs, before reporting to the Secretary of State by autumn next year, and implemented as soon as possible thereafter.”
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said the changes showed a Government in “chaos” and attempts to quash a rebellion led to “un-funded U-turns costing billions and welfare plans that are not worth the paper that they are written on”
“Their latest idea is a two-tier welfare system to trap people in a lifetime on benefits and deny them the dignity of work while leaving the taxpayer to pick up the ever-growing bill,” the Tory MP said.
Whately said the increasing welfare budget was too high, as she said it will reach £100 billion by 2031.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman pressed Kendall on why the Labour party did not put the welfare cuts in their manifesto.
“Is it perhaps because she realised how deeply unpopular and wrong these changes would be?” Blackman asked.
Kendall replied: “I don't expect her to have read every line of our manifesto, but reforming the benefits system was in our manifesto, and so too is our commitment to tackling child poverty.”
Earlier, Scottish Labour MP Johanna Baxter, Paisley and Renfrewshire South, asked Kendall what discussions she had had with the Scottish Government about the impact on Scotland.
The Work and Pension Secretary said she hopes “that the SNP matches our ambition to get more people into work”.
Only one Scottish Labour MP, Brian Leishman, Alloa and Grangemouth, has publicly said he will vote against the welfare reforms. It has been widely reported that 50 Labour MPs are set to rebel during the vote on Tuesday.
