Measures must prevent people from abusing benefits system

A BIG announcement last week was that the Government will be consulting on proposed reforms to ensure benefits are targeted at those who need them most while ensuring those able to work get help to do so.

The Department for Work and Pensions provides a valuable service assisting people to find work and ensuring a safety net for some of the most vulnerable. The DWP offices in our constituency, St Austell and Newquay Jobcentres and St Austell Benefit Centre, do excellent work, with Newquay Jobcentre recognised as one of the best-performing in the South West for the way it works with businesses and community groups in innovative ways.

The Prime Minister’s announcement outlines reforms to deliver on his “moral mission” to give everyone able to work the best possible chance of staying in or returning to work. The package also includes further measures to crack down on fraud and removing benefits from the long-term unemployed who don’t accept a job when one is available.

Many more working-age people are being awarded benefit for mental health conditions than when it was first introduced over a decade ago, and there are concerns that the assessment process is significantly easier to abuse. Spending on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition has increased by almost two-thirds to £69 billion since the pandemic, and we now spend more on these than our core schools budget or policing. Given the significant change in caseload and unsustainable increase in costs, it’s clear our current disability benefit system for adults of working age is not fit for purpose.

A consultation on Personal Independence Payment will be published in the coming days which will explore changes to the eligibility criteria, assessment process and types of support that can be offered so the system is better targeted towards individual needs and more closely linked to a person’s condition. This is not about removing support for those who need it, but the money has to come from somewhere and hardworking taxpayers are footing the bill. The current situation, making it more difficult for businesses to find staff, is holding back our economy locally and nationally.

It is crucial those with long-term health conditions who most need assistance via the Department for Work and Pensions get appropriately targeted support but at the same time we also need to ensure those who abuse the system are not able to continue. I hope the Prime Minister’s announcement will enable both of these things to happen, and I will continue to support our local DWP staff in the delivery of their vital work.