BRITS with mild mental health issues could be told to get into therapy and go back to the office under a new major welfare crackdown.
Disabled people also face having their fixed cash benefits replaced with vouchers or one-off grants for things like home adaptations and improvements.
GettyBrits with mild mental health issues could be told to get into therapy and go back to the office under a new major welfare crackdown[/caption]
AlamyWork and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the welfare system should not be paying people to deal with the ‘ordinary difficulties of life’[/caption]
The proposals are part of the latest Government attempt to reduce the ballooning and “unsustainable” benefits bill.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the system should not be paying people to deal with the “ordinary difficulties of life”.
He told The Times: “There are those that have perhaps milder mental health conditions, or where perhaps there has been too great a move towards labelling certain behaviours as having certain (medical) conditions attached to them, where actually work is the answer or part of the answer.
“What we’ve got to avoid is being in a situation where we too readily say ‘well, actually, we need you to be on benefits’.”
The proposals – which focus on reforming the main disability benefit – were published yesterday in a green paper consultation, which will run for 12 weeks.
Around 2.6 million people of working age currently receive personal independence payments (PIP) every four weeks, which can amount to as much as £5,000 a year.
The changes proposed by ministers include updating PIP eligibility to reflect how conditions affect daily life, refining assessments and considering alternatives to fixed cash benefits.
These include vouchers, one-time grants for specific needs or other forms of support like better mental health treatment.
Rishi Sunak said the Green Paper marked “the next chapter of our welfare reforms” that will make the benefits system “fairer to the taxpayer, better targeted to individual needs and harder to exploit”.
Shadow Cabinet Minister Ellie Reeves accused the Tories of using mental health to stoke culture wars but the party has not yet ruled out supporting the changes.