Benefit cuts will cost the economy.

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/29/labours-benefit-cuts-will-cost-uk-economy-billions-charity-says

Interesting article which repeats what some of us have been saying about the likely consequences of the proposed measures, including increased pressure on services.

In hindsight, surely it will do the opposite and encourage the people who do not work but are physically able to work, to work? No?

Did you read the article? Because apparently not.

And let’s not worry about the genuinely disabled who will die? No?

I thought it was only new benefit applicants that are affected so don’t see much changing for years.

I agree with this - the impact of disability benefits cuts is going to be huge. Many families will no longer be able to care for adult disabled children if their support is cut and the burden will fall on social services. There is no subtlety to their cuts and they still haven’t outlined what they are going to do to get all these people into work. So they are generating widespread fear with no explanation of the plan. Appalling

Based on repeated attempts by governments to achieve the same thing - no.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/27/homelessness-crisis-councils-england-pay-above-market-rent

And this is one of the areas where poor management of homelessness already costs more than it should, not to mention compounding human misery.

I would say the opposite. Benefits and the state in general are far too large. Slashing them both and reducing the tax burden would be better for stimulating the economy. With the current situation, its no wonder all the NEETS don't fancy working. It's a perfectly rational decision for them.

What do we do about the benefit bill though? How do we ensure that those genuinely in need get the right support while those who can work do work?

I disagree. Benefits need to be cut. Absolutely ridiculous the amounts some folk are raking in.

Well not axing all the programmes that helped those who did want to work despite challenges in alot of cases might be helpful.

All these reports and analysis can be done to make it fit your narrative. If it was the IEA they'd be all about the "efficiency savings"

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/minister-suggests-cuts-are-coming-to-access-to-work-scheme/

This suggests putting the onus on employers to take on more challenging candidates for jobs, which I agree should be the case. But how many will? Small and medium businesses are being squeezed by new and increased overheads and costs all the time, and big corporations are purely profit driven.

If financial incentives come from the government to business, it's still just public money being driven into corporate hands, and I doubt that employees taken on for such reasons would be necessarily catered for appropriately. But then, I am rather cynical.

What an ignorant response. How many people do you think are claiming pip that are actually not entitled to it? I’d guess a very low amount. Firstly you can work and get pip it’s not means tested do the argument that disabled people are lazy is flawed. Secondly the application process is brutal and requires significant evidence from professionals to back up what you are saying. And lastly the basic rate is £73 a week, could you live on that ? Would you go to the trouble of deceiving the government and risking being taking to court for that?

Maybe ask yourself why all the propaganda about the disabled and the poor is constantly being fed to us? Maybe because if we look closely it’s not the poor that’s fleecing the country at all.

Yes but I'm asking a genuine question. What do we do? How do we get people who can work to work?

Yes I agree. I also read somewhere that apparently people over state pension age who are in receipt of PIP aren't going to be affected so these will no doubt carry on spending the benefit money they receive on cleaners, gardeners etc Obviously from next November we will start to see a lot not awarded PIP. The worry also will be if those get the LCWRA of UC taken away too. You can't take potentially 1k in benefits per month away from large numbers of people and not expect it to affect the economy - this will be massive. However I do think changes need to be made to PIP asap. The real problem is that it has been allowed to spiral so much out of control in the first place.

It feels like our whole welfare society model is collapsing due to a combination of factors, ageing population, people not willing to pay a fair wage and importing unskilled immigrants and their families to do all the dirty work for us etc etc - the whole population feels entitled from top to bottom.
My feeling is that cost of living is changing people’s behaviours in the middle and at the top of the income scale in the younger generations and there just won’t be the money to go around for a full welfare state. As we have mass immigration from poorer countries who do not have a welfare state and come here for it, not sure what we should do. One option is close borders and pay all and everyone for actual work a fair wage but apparently that is now considered right wing. The other option is to just let it call play its course pretty much but it means those who can and are strong and young and with high earning potential are leaving to other countries where they get to keep more of their wage and pay their way is cheaper for them.

Well, obviously it's complicated..... the wider global economy is struggling due to geopolitics as it stands. There's the whole impact of technology and the speed at which it is changing the face of employment, starting with recruitment which helps weed out many applicatnts before they get the chance to "prove" themselves at interview.

Figures suggest there are fewer vacancies than unemployed people as it stands.

Driving people to destitution then expecting them to slide into gainful employment regardless of circumstance is rather unrealistic. Every proposed solution comes with a problem.

What are your suggestions, given the state of the world we live in?

I suppose it depends who’s responsibility these things are, is everything the responsibility of the government and therefore their “thing” to cover the cost for, and also who you’re talking about.

Those who do genuinely need them will be unaffected, there was nothing to suggest that money is going to be taken from those who absolutely need it. But there is a movement to prevent people who actually could be working from claiming, those people will then start working and so the bill is reduced.

Provided they are also going to put support in place for helping people back into work then although short term there will be some impact, long term there won’t be. Those who genuinely can’t work will still receive their benefits, those who can work will be working. There will be an adjustment period, as with anything, because this has been allowed to spiral out of control, but the other side will come and hopefully there will be a better balance.

Come on, this is the Guardian. They have a political point to push (as do other papers) and they are not ever, ever going to argue that a smaller welfare state is a good thing.

Universal basic income would level things up and leave a safety net for those who are less well off.

but where are all these job roles and companys going to come from ?

thats the thing at some point any company will need only so many people or staff,. eg years ago farmers could use eg 30 people for the farm land, now its one tractor and 3/4 time saved etc

What about the fact that regardless of politics, the economy is at a point where the rich are allowed to get richer - I mean the really rich - not the poor beleaguered "My £100,000 doesn't cover my lifestyle any more", I mean the bunch who have engineered the biggest wealth transfer upwards since Covid, and who are hand in glove with government officials all scratching each other's backs for personal gain, while those who have the least find it harder and harder to engage meaningfully in a world that is regressing to "haves" versus "have pretty much nothing" and scant opportunity to change that as the basic cost of living spirals?

It is rather unrealistic to expect tax payers to keep bankrolling shirkers on more and more generous benefits. Thd whole system needs to be overhauled. Does any other country have this system of people working the fewest hours or not working at all getting more money than full time working people. I doubt it.