Labour welfare reforms threaten to backfire as benefit claims hit record high
Disability benefits have surged by 200,000 claims ahead of Labour's plan to scale back eligibility rules, official figures show.
Figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show there were 3.74 million people in England and Wales claiming personal independence payment (Pip) as of April this year.
Pip is the main non means-tested benefit for those with disabilities, with payments of up to £9,500 a year to help people with living costs. Around £3bn a year of the support is paid to people with mental health conditions, such as ADHD.
The figures come as Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is expected to announce cuts to Britain's ballooning benefits bill which continues to hit record levels.
The number of successful Pip claimants has jumped by 2pc since the start of the year, 5.6pc in the past 12 months and 77pc since 2019.
The benefit has spiralled since lockdown, and is on course to climb from £15bn in 2019-20 to £36bn in real terms by the end of the current Parliament.
Official figures show mental health conditions have driven a substantial share of the increase in claims since lockdown, with one in four working age Britons now classed as disabled. Claims for mental health problems is set to cost taxpayers £3.5bn this year.
The bill has alarmed ministers and officials, who are poised to introduce a £5bn welfare cut on Wednesday in the face of mounting criticism from backbench Labour MPs.
It comes after it emerged face-to-face assessments for disability benefit claims have collapsed to a record low under Labour.
Official figures show that more than 80pc of Pip assessments conducted before the pandemic were in person. However, this dropped to a record post-Covid low of less than 2pc in September last year, when just 1,270 of 74,000 assessments were carried out face-to-face.
Ms Kendall said last month: 'With Pip caseload and costs forecast to continue rising, reforms are needed now to make the system sustainable, while supporting those people with the greatest needs.'
The changes to the welfare system include stricter eligibility for claiming Pip, and reducing payments for new claimants of the health element of Universal Credit.
The age group most likely to claim Pips is the 60 to 64 age bracket, with 514,392 successful claimants, according to the DWP.
In a report published earlier this year, the DWP reported that £6.5bn of its total benefits outlay was lost to fraud last year. Government figures show that 2,235 benefit payments were sent abroad.
Elsewhere, new figures show the number of benefit claimants provided with cars from the Motability scheme has rocketed by 97,000 in the past year.
Motability Operations, which previously admitted to finding thousands of cases of abuse of the taxpayer-subsidised scheme, provides cars to disabled people in exchange for a portion of their benefits.
The scheme, which is not run by the Government, has come under intense scrutiny amid concerns about its spiralling cost. It accounted for one in five of all new cars bought in the UK last year, with the customer base now standing at 860,000.
The Department for Work and Pensions was approached for comment.
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