‘Broken’ welfare system holding people and economy back – Number 10
Downing Street said there has been an ‘unsustainable rise in welfare spending’ and reforms will be set out in ‘the coming weeks’.
The “broken social security system is holding our people back”, Number 10 has said, ahead of an anticipated welfare overhaul.
Downing Street said on Friday there has been an “unsustainable rise in welfare spending” and it promised reforms in “the coming weeks”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves suggested the system is currently “letting down taxpayers” due to the costs, with curbs expected to make up a chunk of Government savings anticipated at the Spring Statement later this month.
Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer agrees with Ms Reeves, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Our broken social security system is holding our people back, our economy back.
“We’ve got three million people out of work for health reasons, one in eight young people is not currently in work, education or training, and that is a shocking situation to be in.”
He said there has been an “unsustainable rise in welfare spending”, and added: “Left as it is, the system we’ve inherited would continue to leave more and more people trapped in a life of unemployment and inactivity, and that’s not just bad for the economy, it’s bad for those people too, and it’s why this Government is going to set up plans to overhaul the health and disability benefits system in the coming weeks.”
Ms Reeves told Sky the welfare system is “letting down taxpayers” because it is costing too much.
“We don’t need an Office for Budget Responsibility forecast to tell us that we’ve got to reform our welfare system,” the Chancellor told the broadcaster’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
Ms Reeves will deliver her statement on March 26 in response to the latest forecasts from the budget watchdog, with increased borrowing costs and weak economic growth likely to require spending cuts in order to meet her commitments on managing the public finances.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told Cabinet colleagues earlier this week that the current system is “bad for people’s wellbeing and health”, with the sickness and disability bill for working age people rising by £20 billion since the pandemic and forecast to hit £70 billion over the next five years.
