Incapacity benefit claims have doubled under Labour, with around five thousand people being signed off work every working day. Analysis compiled by the Times shows that despite the Government’s assertion that the welfare bill needs to be trimmed, there has been a surge of sickness claims since a failed bid to reform the welfare system.
The figures demonstrate the rising cost of sickness benefit, with Keir Starmer last week making a “moral case” for halting an increase in claims for mental health conditions. He told the BBC: “I think we need to look again at this issue of mental health and ask ourselves a fundamental question, which is, ‘Would we not be better putting our money in the resources and support that is needed for mental health than simply saying it’s to be provided in benefits?’” Britain currently spends £80 billion a year on welfare, an increase of £20 billion from the start of the decade, with the figure set to hit £100 billion by 2030.
The rising costs of sickness combined with the squeeze being applied to the public purse saw Rachel Reeves use her speech at Labour’s conference last week to tell party members that “we can’t go on like this”.
It is understood that ministers hope to introduce reform to the welfare system, despite the humiliating climbdown they were forced into earlier this year when dozen of Labour MPs rebelled against proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
According to the Times, more than 100,000 people were signed off on to universal credit health benefits or employment and support allowance in March because they were deemed too ill for work.
This amounts to just under 5,000 for each working day of the month.
The figure is more than double the number in April 2024 and has risen steadily in the months since, totalling 3,500 in January and over 4,100 in February.
According to the figures, on a 12-month rolling average, 2,900 people per working day were signed off sick over the last year, up 43 per cent on the year before.
Joe Shalam, policy director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank said: “5,000 a day being signed on to long-term sickness shows something has gone deeply wrong in the benefit system. This is not a phenomenon seen in other countries.
“Having abandoned earlier measures, the government needs to respond now with much more urgency, and explain to backbenchers that it is both fiscally and morally wrong to throw thousands of working age people on the scrapheap.
“The failure to do so will be counted not just in squandered billions, but in wasted lives.”
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, believes that people are becoming “dependent” on benefits.
She said: “These numbers are the shocking result of the Government’s failure to get a grip of welfare and their job-destroying economic policies. The sad fact is that behind these figures are thousands of people who are now depending on benefits rather than living of their own earnings.”