How will welfare changes impact health and worklessness? Committee to take evidence
The Work and Pensions Committee will take evidence from disability campaigners, and academic and health industry experts on the impact that proposals to change incapacity and disability benefits will have on health and worklessness.
Meeting details
Retiring the Work Capability Assessment, PIP eligibility changes, freezing payments for the health element of Universal Credit (UC health) for existing recipients and reducing it for new claimants are some of the proposals made in the Government’s Pathways to Work Green Paper. The Government has cited the need to encourage more people into work to reduce the welfare bill and improve health outcomes as reasons for the proposals.
Since the pandemic the cost of health-related benefits has grown £20 billion, with 2.5 million people on UC health in December 2024, a half a million jump on the previous year.
MPs are likely to question witnesses on the drivers of this, the experiences of disabled people in the system now, and the potential impact of the Green Paper proposals on them