Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announces changes to the welfare system aimed at saving £5bn by the end of 2030 - BBC Verify has taken a look at this number
Personal Independence Payments (Pip): Eligibility for the main disability benefit will be narrowed
Changes to Pip are likely to be the most politically controversial element of today's announcements, our political correspondent Henry Zeffman writes
Universal credit: The measure used to determine if someone is able to work will be scrapped in 2028 and will instead be assessed through Pip
Merging benefits: The government will consult on merging jobseeker's allowance and employment support allowance
"Right to try": People will have the right to try returning to work "without the fear this will put their benefits at risk", Kendall says
The Tories say the announcements are "too little, too late" while the Lib Dems say real cultural change is needed at the Department for Work and Pensions
Watch: Kendall pledges to reform 'broken benefits system'
Kendall continues by saying the government will not means test or freeze Personal Independence Payment (Pip).
She says that instead claimants will need to score four points in at least one activity.
Chris Mason
Political editor
Here are the government’s ideas, written down — the so-called Green Paper. , external
Kendall says she wants to ensure that those on universal credit with the “most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve” won’t be reassessed “to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve”.
She says the government will “fundamentally overhaul” the DWP safeguarding approach to protect and support the most vulnerable.
Disability benefits will also be reformed to ensure the social security system “lasts for the long term into the future”, she adds.
Kendall now talks about a "right to try" scheme, so people can go back to work without fearing for their benefits.
She says the current system is based on a binary assessment of "can or can't work", which does not take into account fluctuating symptoms.
She says the government will balance the payments in universal credit from April next year.
There will be an additional premium for people who will never be able to work.
She also announces a permanent above inflation rise to universal credit to £775 by 2029/30.
Kendall says the government's second objective is to "restore trust and fairness" in the benefits system by fixing the "broken assessment process" and tackling the "perverse incentives that drive people into welfare dependency".
She outlines criticisms of the current work capability assessment, announcing Labour will not go ahead with the Conservative's proposals to change it, and instead will scrap it entirely by 2028.
In future, extra financial support for health conditions in universal credit will only be assessed through Personal Independence Payment (Pip) so extra income is based on the impact of someone's health condition or disability, not on their capacity to work, she says.
Liz Kendall continues, saying this is a "decisive shift toward prevention and early interventions".
There are four million people in work with limiting conditions, but 300,000 are falling out of work every year, she says.
We have to do more to help people stay in work, she says, adding that the government will help more employers give more disabled people more opportunities.
She goes on to announce that the Green Paper will consult on major reform of contributory benefits.
Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) and employment and support allowance (ESA) will be merged into a new time-limited unemployment insurance which will be paid at a higher rate, without having to prove you cannot work in order to get it, she says.
Kendall says she knows there “will always" be those who cannot work due to the "severity of their disability or illness” and ensures the system will be there for those under “genuine need”.
She says, however, that disabled people and those with health conditions who can work should have the same access to work as everybody else.
“That principle of equality is vital,” she adds.
She adds that many want to work with the right help and support.
Kendall points to what she calls a "legacy of 14 years of Tory failure".
"Today we say no more," she says.
She says the government is investing into the NHS to get people back to work, improving the quality of work and creating more good jobs across the country.
She adds the Green Paper sets out "decisive action" to get people working who can work and to protect those who cannot work.
Chris Mason
Political editor
The cabinet is out in force in the Commons to support the work and pensions secretary.
The prime minister, the deputy prime minister, the chancellor and others.
The Conservative benches are considerably more thinly populated. Kemi Badenoch is not here.
The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, and the shadow work and pensions secretary, Helen Whately, are though.
Liz Kendall begins her statement by saying the government is ambitious for "our people and our country" and believes unleashing the talents of the British people is the key to success.
But the social security system inherited from the Conservatives is failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding people back, she says.
One in 10 people of working age are now claiming a sickness or disability benefit, almost one million young people are not in education, employment or training, and the number of people claiming Pip is set to double this decade, she says.
Millions of people who could work are trapped on benefits, she tells the Commons, saying they're denied the income, hope, dignity and self-respect "that we know good work brings".
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
Often ministerial statements in the House of Commons are fairly sparsely attended. For this, the chamber is crowded.
And a cabinet minister making a policy announcement might usually expect to have a few junior colleagues join them on the frontbench.
Liz Kendall is flanked right now by Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, the prime minister and the deputy prime minister.
This choreography matters: it is a visible reminder that this is a massively significant moment for the government, and that what Kendall is about to announce bears the imprint of the prime minister as well as her.
Chris Mason
Political editor
Hello from the press gallery of the House of Commons.
The prime minister has just arrived, as has the deputy prime minister, the chancellor, the health secretary and the work and pensions secretar y— here goes with her statement.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is about to announce plans to cut the nation's benefits bill and reform the welfare system.
We'll be bringing you live coverage of the statement in the Commons, as well as analysis and reaction, and you can follow along by hitting watch live at the top of the page.
Faisal Islam
Economics editor
There has definitely been a crisis in mental ill health. It has risen around the world, particularly for young people and especially, though not exclusively, because of the pandemic.
In the UK, that has also led to rising levels of work inactivity and that’s really quite a UK phenomenon which suggests there may be something wrong in the system.
At the same time the government is trying to save money, several billion pounds, because next week there’s a forecast from the official forecaster, and the £10bn room for manoeuvre against hitting the chancellor’s self-set debt target is going to be missed.
So the question is about this balancing act. Is it really a reform? Is it actually a cost-saving exercise? Is it a bit of both? The devil here really will be in the details.
By Anthony Reuben
Government minister Pat McFadden told the BBC this morning: “We are the only G7 country that doesn’t have the same proportion or a higher proportion of the working age population in work compared to pre-pandemic.”
The government is talking about this figure because it thinks that welfare reform could be used to get people who are not working because of sickness, back to work.
The claim about the employment rate is nearly right, according to a comparison of the figure, externals for October to December last year from the OECD. Canada had previously beaten it’s pre-pandemic rate, although it has now fallen below it.
People of working age who are not working and not looking for work are referred to as economically inactive. You can read more about who they are here.
We've been talking a lot today about Personal Independence Payment (Pip), the main disability benefit.
The eligibility criteria is set to be tightened significantly in Liz Kendall's upcoming announcement, so here's a look at who is currently eligible:
Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent
While this announcement arrows in on certain benefits, claimants’ wider finances will always be crucial.
Take energy bills, for example. People with disabilities tend to have higher energy costs - such as the need to charge mobility aids or to keep homes warm. People struggling to leave their home for mental health reasons may need the heating on for longer.
Those prices have been going up again, although they’re not as high as their peak.
So, with finances already tight, some will be concerned that benefit reforms may squeeze them further.
James Kelly
UGC journalist
Kirsten from the Isle of Wight has a rare immune disease called sarcoidosis in several organs including her heart and lungs which flares frequently and causes inflammation and scarring that can interfere with organ function.
She says she has been ill for 10 years.
“I don’t know what the next hour is going to be like, let alone tomorrow, as I suddenly can need to sleep 18 hours a day, have disabling fatigue, breath-taking arrhythmias, violent cough, brain fog," she says.
“Whatever changes are coming, people with chronic diseases and conditions where physical and mental stress makes us sicker and can worsen our health and our disability need to be protected.
"Rare diseases are often forgotten in policymaking."
Tom Espiner
Business reporter
The government "faces an acute set of pressures on the public finances" according to Ben Zaranko, an associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank.
He says:
"The Ministry of Defence is not the only department asking for more cash, and June's Spending Review, at which multi-year budgets for departments will be agreed, is likely to be a tense affair," he says.
He says that taxes "are already heading to historic highs", and the government has "extremely limited ability to borrow more" while staying within self-imposed fiscal rules.
To stay within those rules, the government might need to announce further tax rises or spending cuts, Zaranko says.
"It then becomes a political choice about which taxes to increase, which budgets to cut - or whether the fiscal rules themselves should be revisited to allow for even more borrowing, at the risk of pushing up interest rates and the debt interest bill," he adds.
By Ben Chu
Many experts, such as the Resolution Foundation think tank and the Institute for Employment Studies, external agree that more working-age people should be helped and encouraged into work, and that there is a case for reform of the working-age welfare system.
But some argue that making sustainable, long-term savings requires upfront government investment in employment support programmes - schemes which aim to help people overcome barriers to getting into work.
Analysts also warn that reducing spending on the welfare bill has been historically difficult.