Summary

  • 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: Henry Zeffman explains what welfare changes mean

Live Reporting

Edited by Emily Atkinson and Barbara Tasch

  1. Analysis

    Imperfect picture of what is to come

    Chris Mason
    Political editor

    There are a trinity of trade-offs for the government as it prepares to shake up the benefits system.

    How does it save money?

    How does it increase the incentives for people to find a job?

    And how does it protect those it has concluded are unquestionably reliant on the state, once it has defined who they are?

    If ministers tack too far in any of these directions, they will probably undermine at least one of the other two, so you can see how fraught this is.

    I am very aware at moments like this that we have an imperfect picture of what is to come.

    It is incumbent on reporters to be responsible, and clear about what we don't know, so as not to cause unnecessary alarm.

    There is a danger in under or over emphasising particular elements which may or may not happen or may, perhaps more likely, contain mitigations or nuances that we are not currently aware of.

  2. Projected uptick for disability benefits, Office for Budget Responsibility data shows

    BBC Visual Journalism Team

    Disability benefits are projected to see a sharp increase over the next five years, data from the Office for Budget Responsibility shows.

    Between 2024-2025, the benefit cost around £40bn but in 2029-2030 it is estimated to cost around £60bn.

    Money spent on Universal Credit will remain much higher, while child benefits and "other spending" will remain steady.

    Graph showing data for universal credit, disability benefits, other spending and child benefits. Other spending and child benefits show very little or no increase, universal credit shows an increase of around £10bn, but disability benefits show the biggest projected increase.
  3. BBC Verify

    Are the Tories right about increase in young people not in education, employment or training?

    By Gerry Georgieva

    When talking about the people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs), the shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said that "since Labour have been in office, there are 100,000 more young people in exactly that situation".

    This doesn’t seem correct.

    In April to June 2024, just before Labour came into power, there were 908,000 young people who were NEET.

    In the latest figures for October to December 2024, there were 987,000 young people who were NEET.

    So the number has gone up by 79,000.

  4. Watch: How welfare benefits could change, explained in 45 seconds

    How could welfare benefits change?

  5. Welfare spending on working-age adults to rise by 2030 - Office for Budget Responsibility

    There's been a lot of focus today on the amount of welfare spending for working-age adults.

    As we reported earlier, the prime minister's spokesperson raised the issue when defending the government's focus on reform.

    Asked by journalists if planned changes are coming as a result of the UK's fiscal backdrop, they said no.

    Instead they pointed to, among other things, the UK having the "highest level of working-age inactivity due to ill health in western Europe".

    Welfare spending on working age adults - defined as those aged between 16 and 64 - was £48.5 billion in 2023-24. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects it is due to rise to £75.7 billion in 2029-30, as the graph below illustrates.

    A graph showing welfare spending on rising from around £45 billion this year to around £75 billion in 2030, with the figures sourced from the OBR

  6. Pip eligibility changes will have significant impact on those affected, think tank chief says

    A think tank chief says tightening eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments (Pip) is "unlikely to have a huge effect on work incentives".

    Ruth Curtice, Resolution Foundation's chief executive, tells BBC's Radio 4's World at One that the change is "likely to concentrate all of the income losses on a small number of claimants".

    She warns this will have a "really significant effect" on those impacted. She adds that there is much about the benefits system, other than eligibility, which could be improved.

  7. BBC Verify

    How many people are out of work for health reasons?

    By Anthony Reuben

    Earlier today the prime minister’s spokesman told journalists: “Three million people are out of work for health reasons, and one in eight young people not currently in work, education or training. So we've got a duty to fix the system.”

    He is correct, according to the latest figures from theOffice for National Statistics (ONS), which show that of the 9.3 million people in the UK who were economically inactive between October and December last year, three million were not working because they were sick.

    On the second part of the claim, in the same period there were around 987,000 people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK who were not in education, employment or training, which wasaround 13.4% of the total – that’s about one in eight.

    But both of these figures come from the Labour Force Survey, which the ONS says should be treated with “caution” at the moment because fewer people have been agreeing to participate in it.

  8. Analysis

    Is this just a cost cutting exercise?

    Vicki Young
    Deputy Political Editor

    Since coming to power Keir Starmer has made some controversial decisions - reducing winter fuel allowance, hiking national insurance for employers and slashing the foreign aid budget.

    But the looming cuts to welfare will be the toughest test yet of Labour MPs’ loyalty. Many have only voiced their unease privately but that could change when they see the details of exactly how disability benefits will be cut.

    Remember, David Cameron’s Conservative government had to back down over similar plans in 2016. The government says the welfare system needs reform to help more people to work, but ministers need to persuade Labour MPs that this isn’t just a cost-cutting exercise.

  9. Kendall quizzed ahead of benefits announcement - five key takeaways

    MPs have just finished quizzing ministers at the regular work and pensions session in the House of Commons.

    The government's plans to bring forward welfare reforms came up several times. Here's what we heard:

    • Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall didn't provide any more details about the plans, but urged people to be patient adding that government proposals will come "imminently"
    • She said "treating people with dignity and respect is at the heart of this government’s plans"
    • Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately challenged Kendall over whether she has the Cabinet's full agreement on her plans given the "apprehension of disabled people"
    • Kendall again urged patience and claimed the Conservatives never had a plan
    • Elsewhere in the session, minister Stephen Timms said he was "concerned", "sad" and expressed "regret" about the level of anxiety and speculation in recent weeks

  10. Proposals will soon become clear, Labour MP urges

    Green Party MP Sian Berry says the government's "active trailing of welfare cuts has generated genuine fear".

    She asks if Kendall will apologise for this and reassure the public that benefit changes will not take place this year.

    Labour MP Stephen Timms, responds, saying he recognises that there has been a "good deal of anxiety".

    "I regret that that has occurred," he says, adding that the proposals will soon become clear and that he thinks Berry will welcome them.

    In our next post, we'll bring you a recap of the key lines, following questions on benefits reform in the House of Commons.

  11. Show a little patience, Kendall tells shadow secretary

    Helen Whately speaking in the Commons. She raises her hand while she makes her point, and the green benches and other MPs are visible behind herUK Parliament

    The shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately is back with another question, she asks if Kendall has a "collective agreement" on the plans she is due to announce on Tuesday.

    "Given all the media briefings, the apprehension of disabled people and the growing number of people not working, none of us would want to see that delayed," Whately states. She claims that Kendall still doesn't have the support of her cabinet with less than 24 hours to go.

    Kendall says Whately will have to "show a little patience".

    In response to Whately, she adds: "She talks about plans - we've seen her and the shadow chancellor writing in various newspapers claiming about their plan, but there never was a plan."

    Questions to Liz Kendall in the House of Commons have just concluded, stay with us as we continue to bring you the latest updates and analysis.

  12. Reforming Pip reassessment process would relieve burden, senior Tory suggests

    Former Conservative Cabinet minister Sir Jeremy Wright asks about reforming the Personal Independence Payments (Pip) reassessment process.

    He suggests that for those whose conditions are not going to improve "it would be sensible to relieve them of the burden" of that process.

    This would lead to "less distress for them, saving money in the system and allowing people who do need reassessment to be reassessed faster", he adds.

    Kendall says she agrees with a lot of what he says.

    She asks the House to be patient and look at the full proposals the government "will be putting forward imminently".

  13. Dignity and respect at heart of government plans, Kendall says

    Liz Kendall in House of CommonsUK Parliament

    Questions have now turned away from McGovern and back to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.

    Labour MP David Williams, referencing his constituent who was "badly let down by a flawed Pip assessment", asks what steps will be taken to ensure people are treated with fairness and dignity, and given the support they need.

    Kendall says treating people with dignity and respect is at "the heart of the government's plans".

    She adds that she regularly meets disabled people who are denied the chance of work.

    "That is what we want to put right, to make sure that the social security system is there for those who need it - not just now, but for years to come," she adds.

  14. Disabled people deserve better pathway back into work, minister says

    Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan, asks if McGovern will acknowledge that disabled people need more investment to help them, rather than freezes and cuts.

    "I do agree," replies Alison McGovern.

    The work and pensions minister adds: "We see potential in every single person in this country and many of those, who have been written off and left on the scrap heap, deserve a much better pathway back into work."

  15. Benefits scammers shown how to play the system, Tory MP says

    Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp says people in his Spelthorne constituency don't mind paying taxes for a safety net for the most vulnerable, but claims they "really do get annoyed when they see their taxes going to people who are scamming the benefit system".

    He asks ministers about "so-called sickfluencer sites" - where he says people are shown how to "play the benefit system".

    Alison McGovern, work and pensions minister, says the government's fraud bill is currently passing through Parliament and the issue he has raised is "at the forefront" of the relevant minister's attention.

    They will take "every step" possible to deal with issues in that area, she says.

    Alison McGovern speaks in the Commons, with MPs sitting behind herUK Parliament

  16. 'Will those unable to work see benefits cut?'

    Liberal Democrat MP Liz Jarvis asks Labour's Stephen Timms if he can assure those who are unable to work that they won't see their benefits cut.

    Timms says he is concerned about the level of anxiety and speculation in recent weeks.

    He says that he recognises the concerns, without directly answering the question.

    He adds that the current welfare system is failing, and the government is aiming to make the system sustainable so it is around in the future.

  17. Kendall hits back at Tory legacy on youth employment

    Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately asks Kendall why 100,000 more young people are "not in education, employment or training, since the Labour government came into power".

    Kendall responds by hitting back at the "legacy of 14 years of a Conservative government".

    "She had 14 years to solve that situation, and their record is clear - nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training - one in eight of all of our young people."

    She adds that the Conservative legacy is one her government is "determined" to change.

    Helen WhateleyUK Parliament

  18. Proper employment support included in government plans, Kendall says

    Liberal Democrat MP Max Wilkinson cites a report which he says finds that young people with disabilities face particular difficulty when trying to access work.

    He says when ministers make decisions to welfare changes, the report will be properly considered.

    "Absolutely," Kendall says, adding that he will soon hear more about the government's plans, which will include "proper employment support".

  19. Liz Kendall takes questions in House of Commons

    Liz Kendall speaks at the dispatch box in the CommonsUK Parliament

    We're now hearing from Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, who is answering questions about her department in the House of Commons.

    She says there has been lots of speculation about reforms to social security, and that she wants to reassure the Commons and the public that the government will be coming forward with its proposals imminently.

    She says this is to "ensure trust and fairness in the social security system, and to ensure it is there for people who need it now and for years to come".

    We'll be bringing you the key lines from Kendall, though it is unclear whether she will answer direct questions on Pip. You can also follow along from inside the Commons by clicking Watch live at the top of this page.

  20. Who is eligible for Pip?

    A person can claim Personal Independence Payment (Pip) if they find it difficult to do everyday tasks or get around because of disability or a long-term physical or mental health condition.

    They must have experienced these difficulties for three months before claiming and must expect them to continue for at least 9 months after claiming.

    There are two parts to Pip: a daily living component, for those who have difficulty with everyday tasks, and a mobility part, which applies to people who struggle with getting around.

    A person can be awarded one or both parts, depending on how their condition or disability affects them. This is assessed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

    A person can receive Pip at the same time as all other benefits, except the Armed Forces Independent Payment. A person with a job and savings can also receive the benefit.

    It is not yet known whether the changes that are expected to be announced tomorrow will change DWP's eligibility criteria, which you can read more about on their official website.