Benefit cuts LIVE: Labour to unveil £6bn crackdown despite backbench revolt

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will deliver a statement on welfare reforms in the Commons just after 12.30pm.

Labour is expected to target Personal Independence Payment in particular.

It’s unclear if the payments themselves will be cut, or maybe frozen – which is really a cut, because of the impact of inflation.

However, we know that measures will be announced making it harder to qualify for the payment, in an attempt to reduce the number of people who get it.

A total of 3.66 million claimants in England and Wales were entitled to personal independence payments (Pip) as of January 31 2025, according to new figures published by the Department for Work & Pensions.

This is up 12% from 3.27 million a year earlier in January 2024.

At the end of January 2020, before the start of the -19 pandemic, the figure stood at 2.14 million.

It then rose to 2.36 million by the end of January 2021, 2.57 million by January 2022 and and 2.93 million by January 2023.

The current total of 3.66 million is 71% higher than the equivalent figure five years ago.

The most common disabling conditions among the 3.66 million claimants in England and Wales entitled to personal independence payments as of January 31 2025 were psychiatric disorders (1.40 million claimants); general musculoskeletal disease (691,000), neurological disease (467,000) and specific musculoskeletal disease (437,000).

Disabling conditions involving psychiatric disorders accounted for 38.4% of claimants in January 2025, up from 35.0% five years earlier in January 2020, while general musculoskeletal disease accounted for 18.9%, down from 20.6%, and neurological disease accounted for 12.8%, down from 14.4%.

There are two main reasons why the Government wants to cut benefits.

One is that the cost has shot up, and will continue rising unless something is done. At the same time, the Government is running out of money, and a financial statement to be delivered by the Chancellor on March 26 is expected to show that cuts are needed.

Critics say this is partly the fault of Chancellor Rachel Reeves, because her decisions such as the increasing National Insurance has slowed down the economy.

The second reason is that large numbers of people are now working and the Government wants to get them into work.

Official figures show 2.8 million people aged 16 to 64 have dropped out of the workforce saying they have a long-term illness. They are not classed as unemployed because they are not looking for work, and the number is up from 2 million in 2019.

Incapacity and disability benefits currently cost £64.7billion but Treasury watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility warns this is set to rise to £100.7billion by 2030.

There has been an increase in payments of Personal Independence Payments, although you can actually get this even if you are working.

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said: “It is clearly the case that the forecast for the number of working age people claiming PIP is set to be too high.”

1,000 people are claiming PIP every day, they said.

The number is set to double from 2m to 4.3m by 2030. It is set to cost taxpayers more than £34bn every year.

The “work capability assessment” for universal credit, which is used to determine eligibility for incapacity benefit payments for those with illnesses or disability who have limited ability to find a job, is set to be abolished.

There is also expected to be a cut to the top rate of universal credit incapacity benefit, which will reportedly be partially offset by an increase to the basic rate and £1 billion pumped into support schemes to help claimants get into work.

The most controversial element of the package could be changes to the personal independence payment (PIP) – a benefit aimed at helping the disabled with the increased associated with their conditions.

The Government appears to have shifted away from rumoured plans to freeze PIP, meaning a real-terms cut by not increasing the payments in line with inflation, but reports have indicated they will be harder to qualify for in future.

One Labour MP said the reported benefit cuts have “spread terror” among his constituents. Andy McDonald, a former member of the shadow cabinet, said he was waiting to see the official announcement, but said he would fight the cuts if they did hurt vulnerable people.

He said: “It has spread terror amongst those people who are having a difficult enough time as it currently is. They are fearful that their lives are about to become even more difficult.”

And he told Times Radio: “If there is detriment to them as a result of this then I will be speaking up.”

The Cabinet is united behind Government plans to take on the growing benefits bill, Pat McFadden has insisted.

Asked whether the whole Cabinet supported the move, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told Times Radio: “Yes, I believe the Cabinet is united behind taking on the issue of the growing benefits bill.”

He said the current system “leaves too many people in a permanent state of dependence on benefits without the opportunity of work.”

Sir ‘s Government is poised to unveil an expected £5 billion to welfare today amid mounting backbench disquiet.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall will outline plans in the Commons to get more people back to work and cut the cost of the rising benefits bill.

Downing Street has said there is a “moral and an economic case” for an overhaul and that the changes would put the welfare system “back on a more sustainable path”.

But there has been growing upset on the Labour backbenches ahead of the anticipated changes.