Rishi Sunak targets ‘mental health’ sicknotes with £12bn benefit cut vow – that will limit claimants citing anxiety as a disability
Rishi Sunak promises to cut £12 billion from the social security bill by restricting claimants’ ability to claim mental health problems such as anxiety as a disability.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the Prime Minister said he was determined to end the ‘lifestyle choice’ of not working.
Spending on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition is expected to rise from £69 billion to £90 billion by the end of the next parliament. Mr Sunak said: “Our social security costs have soared since the pandemic. We need to make sure we put people into work because it’s essentially good for them.
‘We need to provide people with the right support in the right way, for example by offering people mental health care.’
He added: ‘We must ensure that the welfare system is a safety net and not a lifestyle choice… we must be careful about over-medicalising the challenges of everyday life, and recognize that work can be incredibly positive for human health. mental health’.
Rishi Sunak promises to cut £12bn from the welfare bill by restricting claimants’ ability to claim mental health conditions such as anxiety as a disability
In other developments:
- A senior Labor figure has said the party will renegotiate Brexit to restore freedom of movement. Fiona Urquhart, chair of Labor International, the group tasked with encouraging British expats to vote Labor in next month’s election, has also pledged to give EU-based Brits their own MP in Westminster;
- A Mail on Sunday poll put Labor on course for a majority of 416;
- Mr Sunak said he had been in ‘contact’ with Boris Johnson about the former Prime Minister’s role in the campaign;
- A Reform Party candidate who left the Tories has claimed Mr Sunak made an error of judgment over the D-Day commemorations because his grandparents did not serve in the war;
- The treasurer of Michael Gove’s former seat of Surrey Heath resigned with a letter accusing the minister of ‘conspiracy, scheming and disloyalty’ and ‘catastrophic errors of judgement’.
Since the pandemic, the number of people who are inactive for health reasons has increased by 40 percent, from two million to 2.8 million. People are now three times more likely to be judged unsuitable for any work than they were ten years ago, with more than half of them having a mental health problem such as anxiety or depression.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the Prime Minister said he was determined to end the ‘lifestyle choice’ of not working
The Tories would implement a ‘£700m step change in NHS mental health treatment’, with more than 500,000 more people a year accessing talking therapies by 2030, saying they would overhaul the way the benefits system assesses a person’s abilities ‘tightening up’ for work. This would include a review of the ‘fit notes’ process, by shifting responsibility for issuing the notes from GPs to ‘specialist work and healthcare professionals’.
The party would also introduce stricter sanctions for people who can work but refuse to take on a suitable job after a year on benefits, including withdrawing their benefits completely.
Mr Sunak said: ‘Work is a source of dignity, purpose and hope and I want everyone to be able to overcome the barriers they face to live an independent and fulfilling life. That’s why we’ve announced a significant increase in mental health services, as well as changes to ensure those who can work, do work.”
