{"id":124369,"date":"2026-08-16T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=124369"},"modified":"2026-08-16T09:44:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:44:25","slug":"nearly-3-million-affected-welfare-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/nearly-3-million-affected-welfare-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 3 Million Could Be Affected by Reform\u2019s \u00a350bn Welfare Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The proposals, due to be set out in detail on Monday, represent one of Reform UK\u2019s most extensive policy announcements on welfare. According to the BBC, the party says a new <strong>Health Security Allowance <\/strong>would replace the existing system, while support for some claimants would shift away from regular cash payments towards locally administered help with disability-related costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A New System Would Replace PIP and Health-Related Universal Credit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Under Reform UK\u2019s plan, PIP and the health element of Universal Credit would be removed for working-age adults. Cash support would instead be reserved for people considered to have the most severe, enduring and high-risk conditions through a new Health Security Allowance that would be reviewed regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/members.parliament.uk\/member\/4320\/career\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Jenrick<\/a>, Reform UK\u2019s Treasury spokesman, said 6.9 million people were receiving disability benefits. He argued that the rise had been particularly marked among claims linked to mental health and behavioural conditions. According to The Telegraph, psychiatric disorders accounted for 1,503,508 PIP cases with entitlement in 2025, while musculoskeletal conditions accounted for 1,197,871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Existing claimants would be reassessed over a period of three to four years. Jenrick said 2.16 million people would retain their current cash entitlement in full, while 2.89 million would have payments modified or withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For people no longer receiving cash payments, Reform proposes<strong> disability support accounts <\/strong>managed by councils and mayors. These would cover what the party describes as verifiable additional costs associated with disability, including equipment, home adaptations, transport and personal assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The BBC also reports that Reform would spend an additional \u00a31.85 billion a year on support including cognitive behavioural therapy, physiotherapy and employment assistance. Changes to children\u2019s disability benefits for anxiety, depression and ADHD would apply only to new claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 NEW: Reform UK has pledged to scrap PIP and the health element of Universal Credit for working-age adults<br><br>Only people with severe disabilities would receive cash payments to save \u00a350bn a year on benefits<\/p>&mdash; Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PolitlcsUK\/status\/2088705224781279357?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Employers Would Take on More Responsibility for Long-Term Sickness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A second part of the plan would shift some responsibility for long-term sickness from the state to employers. Businesses with more than five employees would be required to take out \u201cReturn to Work Cover\u201d, an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/home-insurance-warning-cash-settlements-cost\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"113310\">insurance <\/a>scheme designed to meet the cost of the first two years after an employee is signed off sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reform says the proposal is modelled on the Dutch system. According to The Telegraph, the party argues that disability benefit applications fell by 40 per cent under that approach. Employers would receive an initial 0.2 percentage point reduction in National Insurance contributions, which Reform says would make the change cost-neutral for businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jenrick said the arrangement would give employers a financial incentive to help staff return to work and keep workers connected to their workplace. After two years, people who had not returned would undergo a single in-person assessment conducted by clinicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reform estimates that \u00a322 billion of the proposed \u00a350 billion in annual savings would come from changes to disability benefits. Labour has rejected the overall figure as \u201cfantasy economics\u201d, saying the policy would remove support from disabled people and shift costs to employers. Conservatives have also criticised the proposal while promoting their own plans for welfare reform, including face-to-face assessments and tighter eligibility rules for some claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reform UK has proposed cutting around \u00a350 billion a year from Britain\u2019s welfare bill through an overhaul that would abolish Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the health element of Universal Credit for working-age adults. The plans would affect almost three million people whose disability or sickness-related payments could be reduced, changed or withdrawn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":124372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124369"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124373,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124369\/revisions\/124373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}