Data has revealed that one in 30 people, 2,289 individuals, in a UK town are claiming benefits for anxiety as the government battles to reduce welfare spending. The constituency of Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney in Wales is reportedly in the grips of widespread unemployment. Lucrative coal seams, iron works and steel mills that used to be the source of jobs and revenue for the area were located in the hills looming over the area. But these have now vanished.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a benefit awarded to people aged 16 and above with long-term health conditions or disabilities. A number of those claiming the support are citing “depression” and “anxiety” as the reason, The Telegraph reports. “There’s actually a phrase round here; ‘off on a Pip trip’, to describe when someone gets their money and goes on a minibreak,” Robert Andrew, 75, a company director and owner of various hospitality businesses, told the newspaper.
He then suggested that people may be suffering from anxiety because of the lack of employment. Mr Andrew added: “Claiming benefits is easier than working and they get more money for it – apart from factory work there are no jobs around here.”
Standing behind the bar at his Royal Arms Hotel, he added that his trade is a “dying” one, and there has been “nothing to replace” the heavy industrial jobs that were once available in the area.
The Welshman then pointed out that the government brought in an emergency bill to save Scunthorpe steelworks, but “nobody lifted a finger” to help Port Talbot’s Tata Steelworks.
In September 2024, workers drilled the final hole in the last remaining blast furnace, bringing to an end the traditional method of steelmaking in south Wales.
Factory worker Libby Lewis, 18, is joining the army to “get away” from Rhymney. “I want to make something of myself and this is not the place to do it,” they said.
One of Lewis’s friends, aged 17, called the town “depressing”, adding that its streets and parks are empty. Residents, he claimed, just “sit at home being depressed and anxious because they can’t see a future”.
“Those who do leave the house only want to cause trouble; windows get egged or smashed, bins get stolen. Not so long ago a bus broke down near the community centre and a 14-year-old jumped on board and drove it off.”
It comes as Labour MPs are urging the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to do “something different” by introducing a new wealth tax rather than making cuts to benefits payments.
Sir Keir Starmer’s former transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said today that Labour’s “unpopular decisions are overshadowing the good ones” after huge gains by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK at the local elections.