Fury as Labour accused of making disability benefits EASIER to claim as welfare bill balloons

LABOUR was tonight accused of making disability benefits easier to claim while failing to tackle Britain’s ballooning welfare bill. PIP claimants could face a new “light-touch” initial assessment and be offered more digital services under reforms being considered. Labour was accused of making disability benefits easier to claim while failing to tackle Britain’s ballooning welfare bill Credit: Getty Burnham sparked uproar at PMQs this week by refusing to back Tory plans to cut welfare to boost defence spending Credit: AFP Those with lifelong or degenerative conditions could also be spared repeated reviews, while some awards could include services or other non-cash support alongside payments. The plans come with no overall cut to PIP spending, which is still forecast to hit an eye-watering £41.5billion by 2030/31. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately branded the review a “wasted opportunity” and accused Labour of watering down checks. She said: “The benefits bill is out of control. Yesterday the Prime Minister admitted Labour have no plan to cut it. Labour puts social security before national security. “Welfare should be a safety net for disabled people. Instead, the system is being abused. “But their ‘Timms review’ will do nothing to tackle that abuse or make savings. “Labour’s answer is to make PIP easier to claim, offer more online assessments, hire more people to wave claims through, and water down checks further. “It’s extraordinarily out of touch.” Most read in The Sun It comes as more than four million people now claim PIP in England and Wales – twice as many as in 2019. Annual spending has risen from an inflation-adjusted £16.3billion in 2019/20 to £27.3billion in 2024/25. The Timms Review must work within that forecast but has not proposed an overall cut to the cost of PIP. Its draft recommendations say cash should remain the “foundation” of the benefit while some awards could include services or other non-cash support. They also propose reducing “unnecessary” reviews and ending the suspension of PIP for people who spend more than 28 consecutive days in hospital. The review is also considering more face-to-face capacity alongside greater use of digital services. Sir Stephen Timms said PIP was “widely valued” but “no longer fit for purpose”. He was appointed after Labour was forced into a retreat over welfare reforms after a major backbench rebellion under Sir Keir Starmer. Sir Stephen is expected to publish his final recommendations later this autumn. It comes after Andy Burnham sparked uproar at PMQs this week by refusing to back Tory plans to cut welfare to boost defence spending. The Prime Minister said “national security can’t come at the expense of social security” as he rejected proposals to find billions from the benefits bill. Comment now