Reform UK Targets £50 Billion Welfare Cuts, Overhauling Benefits System
Proposed reforms include replacing Personal Independent Payments and reintroducing the two-child benefit cap, impacting nearly 3 million individuals.
Sarah Connor
Reform UK has unveiled plans to slash Britain's benefits bill by £50 billion.
Robert Jenrick, the party's economic spokesman, declared, "This is not an epidemic of broken backs and lost limbs."
Existing non-mental-health claimants will receive protection from reassessment for three years under the new proposals. For those who qualify, or for non-severe cases, cash payments will be replaced by local council-run Disability Support Accounts (DSAs) to reimburse approved expenses.
This is not an epidemic of broken backs and lost limbs.
New claimants meeting a strict severity threshold will receive a flat-rate monthly payment of £429.80 at 2026/27 rates. The proposals also mandate long-term claimants judged capable of working to contribute through 20 hours of compulsory community work per week if jobless for over a year, with potential sanctions on unemployment benefits.
British citizenship will become a prerequisite for accessing nearly all forms of benefit. Approximately 1.3 million non-UK citizens currently claim universal credit; about 660,000 are not in employment.
An inquiry found that only three in 10 autistic adults hold a job, compared to five in 10 for all disabled people and eight in 10 for the general population. Disability minister Sir Stephen Timms’ interim report into PIP found it “not fit for purpose”; authors cited that too many claimants found the application process “dehumanising” and “degrading.”
Sir Stephen Timms' interim report into PIP indicated that Too many claimants found the application process 'dehumanising' and 'degrading.'.
The number of PIP claimants with psychiatric disorders has risen since 2019. A Supreme Court ruling has been described as a rollback of disability rights.