Public backs spending on disability benefits

A major UK survey has found 49 per cent of the population backs more spending on benefits for disabled people who cannot work, while just seven per cent are opposed. 

The findings have prompted disability campaigners to warn Andy Burnham ahead of the autumn budget that cuts to benefits for disabled people are out of step with public opinion.

The figures come from the latest British Social Attitudes survey, BSA 43 Attitudes to Welfare, published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), which examined four decades of changing attitudes towards welfare spending. A total of 4,680 completed surveys from across the UK were returned between August and October 2025.

The Labour government has attempted to reduce spending on welfare for those of working age. It has focused on younger people who are not working because of mental health difficulties, and older people who aren’t working because of long-term sickness or disability.

Proposed cuts to disability benefits were met with an outcry a year ago, causing revisions to last year’s budget and the launching of the Timms PIP review after a Labour revolt. The review is expected to report its findings shortly.

The Conservatives and Reform have meanwhile called for further reductions in welfare.

The research found that while support for welfare spending overall has weakened, attitudes towards disability benefits remain more positive. 

Among Labour supporters, 57 per cent backed increased spending on disability benefits and five per cent supported a reduction. 

And across the political spectrum, only seven per cent of Conservative supporters and 11 per cent of Reform UK supporters backed less spending – 40 per cent of right-leaning voters actually support more spending on benefits for disabled people who cannot work.

Dr Robert de Vries, senior lecturer in Quantitative Sociology at the University of Kent and BSA co-author, said: “Despite growing political divisions on welfare, support for disability benefits remains remarkably strong. 

“Very few people favour cuts, disabled people are seen as among the most deserving recipients of support, and proposals to reduce disability benefits appear politically risky across the political spectrum."

The researchers found two thirds (63 per cent) of respondents said benefits for disabled people should be prioritised for extra spending, compared with 53 per cent for retirement pensions. 

The report also examined public attitudes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) which meets the additional costs of living with a disability, and is awarded to people who work.

Respondents were asked about the thresholds for help with everyday activities before receiving additional financial support.

Eighty-three per cent said someone should receive additional financial support if they needed some level of help with cooking, 80 per cent said the same for budgeting, and 78 per cent for washing.

Only three per cent of respondents believed nobody should receive additional money. 

Rick Burgess, co-chair of deaf and disabled people’s campaign  group DPO Forum England, said: “This data now shows the democratic will of the country supports spending, and any political initiative to enforce further cuts will be a vote loser for the government.”

Julia Modern, Inclusion London’s senior policy and campaigns manager, said: “The political narrative is totally out of step with public opinion.

“It’s also wrong on the facts: the report shows that spending on social security for working-age people as a percentage of GDP… has actually reduced since the early 2010s.”

NatCen report authors concluded: “Attempts by the current government to cut spending will be in the face of 57 per cent support among Labour voters for more spending on disability benefits, with only five per cent favouring a reduction. 

“Polarisation of attitudes towards disability benefits has increased, and backing among right-wing voters is lower – but even a Conservative or Reform government would face very weak support for spending less on benefits for disabled people who cannot work.”

The British Social Attitudes Survey is the UK’s longest-running survey of social and political attitudes, conducted annually by NatCen since 1983.

Support for welfare spending fell when New Labour came to power in 1997, after the introduction of its ‘welfare to work’ policy.

By 2009, after the financial crash, only 27 per cent agreed the government should spend more money on welfare, half the proportion in 1987.

After 2010 when the Conservative government reduced the real value of welfare benefits during its austerity programme, public opinion began to swing back again.

By 2017, 44 per cent agreed welfare spending should be increased.