Badenoch has endorsed CSJ analysis that recommended removing incapacity and disability benefits for those with less severe mental health claims and give them access to NHS Talking Therapies. This could save £7.4bn by 2029/30, according to the analysis.
Secondly, moving assessments from over the phone to in-person. Since the pandemic, most assessments for PIP and UC Incapacity have been via a phone or video call. At the Centre for Policy Studies, we found, through a FOI request, that in the year to November 2024, just 10% of UC Incapacity assessments and 5% of PIP assessments were face-to-face. Moving back to face-to-face will reduce the inflow. Reassessments were not mentioned, but these also collapsed after the pandemic and should be increased to get people off benefits they no longer to need.
She also criticised the Motability scheme, noting that 90% of cars have no adaptions made for disability. This cannot be right – surely the point of Motability is to compensate for increased costs for adapted transport, not giving out cars to everyone with a disability?
Thirdly, she described the welfare system as ideally acting like a trampoline, cushioning your fall and propelling you back to your feet. Better support for the disabled is a win-win. This needs to be fleshed out and should be a major focus of Conservative policy-making in the coming years. Often, job centres focus on ticking boxes for eligibility, rather than investing in evidence-based interventions that will move people into work. It’s an obvious area for reform, where more authority and funding – linked to appropriate incentives – could be given to job centres and local authorities to design or choose employment programmes that will be successful.
Author: Daniel Herring, Head of Economic & Fiscal policy at the Centre for Policy Studies.