More people will need social workers as a result of Labour's welfare cuts, chancellor is told
Rachel Reeves' welfare reforms will put increased pressure on already over-stretched social services, BASW and the Social Workers Union have warned.
SWU's general secretary John McGowan predicted “dire consequences” while BASW's chief executive Ruth Allen said the chancellor has "chosen to inflict further cuts" on the most vulnerable in society.
in her Spring Statement, Reeves announced additional cuts to welfare on top of those announced in a green paper just days earlier to save £4.8 billion in sickness and disability benefits.
She told the Commons: “We are reforming the welfare system, making it more sustainable, protecting the most vulnerable and supporting more people back into secure work, lifting them out of poverty.”
But the reforms have been condemned by disability charities and campaign groups who accuse the government of failing to protect the most vulnerable and forcing disabled people out of work.
The reforms
- Reintroduction of mandatory reassessments for most people on incapacity benefits
- Tightening the eligibility criteria for personal independence payments (PIP) paid to people with disabilities
- Delaying the health element of universal credit until the age of 22
- Increased face-to-face assessments for PIP
- Freezing of the health element of universal credit for existing claimants until 2029/30
- Reducing the health element of universal credit by 50 per cent for new claimants from next year, with payment frozen thereafter until 2029/30
Reeves said the government will invest £1 billion in “guaranteed, personalised employment support to help people back into work”.
The government says this will help get the 2.8 million people who are currently economically inactive due to long term sickness working.
It claims action is needed to stop spiralling health and disability benefit spending which the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts is set to rise from £64 billion a year currently to £100 billion by the end of the decade, including a doubling in PIP payments to £34 billion.
Reassessments will end for people with disabilities and lifelong conditions that mean they will never be able to work.
The impact
The government's own analysis estimates the reforms will plunge a further 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into poverty by the end of the decade.
The forecast, in the Department for Work and Pensions' Spring Statement 2025 Health Disability Benefit Reforms – Impacts assessment, also states 3.2 million families will lose an average of £1,720 a year as a result of the welfare cuts.
Some 370,000 people will lose their PIP entitlement after review and 430,000 people who would have been entitled to PIP in the future will now not gain the benefit, says the analysis.
However, the impact assessment says 3.8 million families will gain an average of £420 a year.
Reaction
John McGowan, general secretary of SWU, said: "The governmental neglect of the most vulnerable people in society and the caring professions that support them has been a political choice.
"I urge Rachel Reeves to think very carefully about the dire consequences of these welfare cuts and to make a different choice for this government.
"As Labour considers prioritising balancing the books over all else – even if it would plunge 250,000 people into absolute poverty and impact 3.2 million families – let them be reminded that cruelty has its own compounding costs.
"These cuts may end up costing the state more as falling living standards will cost people their physical health, mental health, and their lives.
"As social workers we fully expect to see the impact of these latest government plans on the people we work to support and these cuts will be a sharp blow to people who are already struggling."
Ruth Allen, chief executive of BASW, said: “It is unacceptable that the chancellor has chosen to inflict further cuts on welfare support for the most vulnerable and marginalised in society in ways that undermine the government’s own aim to enable more people to work.
"This will add to demand for adult and children’s social work and other care services, as well as stretching community and charitable support systems.
“The government’s own figures show that their welfare changes will plunge 250,000 more people, including 50,000 children, into poverty. This will be causing understandable worry and distress for many disabled people and low-income households across the UK."
Allen said instead of cutting welfare, the chancellor should raise revenue by taxing "those with the broadest shoulders".
She added: "BASW will be responding to the government’s consultation on their welfare changes where we will be advocating for those on the lowest incomes to be protected.
"We will also continue to urge ministers ahead of June’s spending review to deliver the long-term investment in public services and social care that is still desperately needed.”
Reshma Patel, a service user consultant and co-chair of BASW's Expert by Experience Forum, said the reforms were "offensive" and would widen the inequality gap.
She added support systems to enable disabled people into work are non-existent: "Access to Work has the longest waiting list and many people have had to give up or not accept work because of this. Furthermore, not all employers are able to meet the different needs of different disabled people.
"Then you have disabled people who want to work but genuinely cannot due to their fluctuating health. What employer wants to employ someone who has high needs when, in the current climate, employers want people who are reliable, productive and timely?
"I really believe the cuts to PIP and universal credit will enhance the two-tier society where the rich get richer and the poor and vulnerable people are pushed into poverty."