The average working taxpayer is on track to pay £580 more a year towards Personal Independence Payments (PIP) by the end of the decade, a new analysis warns. The Conservatives have accused Labour of letting the disability benefits bill run away from the workforce that funds it.
Forecasts Show Rising Costs
They point to forecasts that spending on PIP will climb from £26 billion in 2024-25 to £44.7 billion in 2030-31. The Tories warn that over the same period, the number of people in work is expected to grow by less than 4%, so the same shoulders carry a heavier load every year. They predict the cost stumped up by each worker will rise from £884 to £1,464.
The findings arrive as the Government faces calls to cut benefits spending and increase investment in the armed forces. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who will this week give his first annual conference speech as Labour leader, came under fire this month for saying that national security cannot come at the expense of social security.
Political Reactions
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: “Working people are footing a bill of nearly £1,500 a year each for the broken PIP system. Labour has given up trying to control the ballooning bill. Andy Burnham has told us wants to put social security before national security, and Labour MPs are queuing up to raise taxes to pay for it. People who get up and go to work are propping up a system that has lost sight of who it is for.”
She pledged the Conservatives would get a grip through their root and branch review of PIP and end sickness benefits for lower-level mental health conditions and bring back face-to-face assessments, so support goes only to those who need it.
Expert Warnings
Gareth Lyon, head of health and social care at the Policy Exchange think tank, said: “These alarming figures show how our health and disability benefits system has got completely out of control. [We have] led calls for a radical overhaul of this system [and pushed] for measures including in-person assessments and making it conditional for 18-30-year-olds. We hope that politicians of all parties take notice and take action.”
Emmanuel Igwe of the Prosperity Institute warned: “Thirteen years since it was introduced, PIP has become one of the fastest-growing expenses in the welfare budget. Spending on PIP has grown by more than 70% while the workforce that pays it has grown by less than 4%. It is clear this system is untenable and needs to be replaced.”
Government Response
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “The increase in the PIP caseload has slowed under this Government, falling from 400,000 in the 12 months to July 2024, to 260,000 in the 12 months to July 2026, having doubled from 2019 to 2024. We are already reforming the welfare system across the country by narrowing the gap between Universal Credit standard and health rates, restoring face-to-face assessments, and investing £3.5 billion in employment support to end the culture of people being signed off and written off. But as the Timms Review report made clear, PIP is no longer fit for purpose and the recommendations from its final report, alongside the Milburn Review, will lay the foundation for sustainable reform.”
