Lee Anderson sparked laughter at a Reform UK press conference as he set out the party’s new pledges to crack down on abuse of the welfare system. Reform wants to rule out a number of eligibility criteria, such as the conditions for young people signing on to benefits for mental health conditions.
Speaking in Westminster on Wednesday, Mr Anderson said 1.4million people are claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for mental health disorders – a third of which are for various forms of anxiety disorders. He explained: “The symptoms of these disorders can include persistent worrying, sadness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and changes in sleep or appetite. Now, who in this room hasn’t suffered from any of the above symptoms? Persistent sadness? Tell me about it.”
“I’ve had persistent sadness since July last year with this awful Labour government, and over the next four years there’ll be many more people having persistent sadness and wanting to put a claim in for PIP.”
Reform’s Zia Yusuf warned there has now been an “enormous growth in PIP payments”, which now account for 1% of the UK’s entire GDP.
Much of this has been driven by post-Covid claims for mental health conditions, which Reform said is “betraying young people” who are “being labelled and tossed onto a scrapheap for the rest of their lives”.
Monthly new PIP claims for under-25s have already tripled, as the number of young people on out-of-work sickness benefits has climbed by 50% in just five years.
However, this is set to surge further over the coming years, rising from £25billion this year to £34billion by 2029.
Reform said its changes to the system would prevent this rise in costs, saving £9billion a year by the end of the decade, and £30billion over the following five years.
Mr Anderson said the “alarm clock generation”, who got up in the morning to go to work and support their families, is being replaced by the “anxiety generation”.
He told the press conference: “Many of you will have heard of the alarm clock generation … a generation that actually got up in the morning listening to their parents’ alarm clocks go off. I used to listen to my dad’s alarm clock go off in the morning at 5am, and he went to do a shift at the local pit.
“And for me, this was the best education a young man could get. It taught me that if you want to live a good life, in a great country, you must do your bit. You must get up in the morning and go to work for your family, your community and your country. And it also taught me that hard work pays.”
Reform’s changes would end PIP payments for “non-major anxiety”, which it said would apply to around 80-90% of all anxiety claimants, moving these people onto a Fast Track to Work programme, including talking therapy.
They would also restore face-to-face appointments for all assessments, which have still not been brought back following the Covid lockdowns, and result in higher approval rates for claims.
The party would also spend some of the savings on reintroducing regular reassessments to check whether payments for a condition are still required.
MIND, the mental health charity, was approached for comment.