Wes Streeting today admitted that doctors are ‘overdiagnosing’ mental health conditions as Labour tries to get a grip on Britain’s ballooning benefits bill.
The Health Secretary said there were ‘too many people being written off’ and ‘too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need’.
Almost four million working-age adults in England and Wales currently claim incapacity or disability benefits, up from 2.8 million before the Covid pandemic.
Annual spending on incapacity and disability benefits already exceeds Britain’s defence budget and is set to top £100billion by 2030, according to official forecasts.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is due to announce reforms on Tuesday aimed at cutting what ministers have bemoaned as an ‘unsustainable’ welfare bill.
Plans for around £5billion to £6billion of welfare cuts have sparked a revolt by Labour MPs, while some ministers are said to have expressed disquiet about the proposals.
Mr Streeting this morning refused to be drawn on claims that Downing Street and Ms Kendall are poised to perform a U-turn on cutting benefits for disabled people.
According to reports, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is about to backtrack on imposing a real-terms cut to the personal independence payment (PIP).
It follows claims that PIP – the main benefit for working-age adults – would be frozen rather than increased with inflation, meaning a real-terms cut for 3.6 million claimants.
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme, the Health Secretary claimed he had not yet seen the full proposals being prepared by Ms Kendall.
‘I haven’t seen the proposals but you’ve seen the briefing, you’ve seen the speculation, I think the moral of the story is wait for the plans,’ he said.
‘We’ve got to make sure the welfare system is sustainable – there are 1,000 people signing on to PIP every single day.
‘Those three million people who are shut out of the labour market because of long-term illness, I mean that’s a population the size of Greater Manchester.
‘So you can see the scale of the problem.’
Asked about some health experts warning there is now an ‘overdiagnosis’ of mental health conditions, Mr Streeting replied: ‘I want to follow the evidence and I agree with that point about overdiagnosis.
‘Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis
‘But there’s too many people being written off and, to your point about treatment, too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need.
‘So if you can get that support to people much earlier, then you can help people to either stay in work or get back to work.
‘And that’s why we’re recruiting 8,500 more mental health staff to make sure we can get the waiting list down.
‘And also starting early, so making sure we’ve got mental health support in every primary and secondary school in the country so we can give people that resilience and those coping skills they need in life.’
The Health Secretary also confirmed that Ms Kendall would bring forward measures to give welfare claimants the right to try working without the risk of losing their benefits.
The Work and Pensions Secretary is expected on Tuesday to announce legislation to introduce a ‘right to try guarantee’ for those on health-related benefits.
This will prevent people from having their entitlements automatically re-assessed if they enter employment.
A DWP survey found 200,000 people on health-related or disability benefits were ready to work if the right job or support was available.
But it is said that many disabled people, or those with long-term health conditions, fear they will not get their benefits back if they try employment but it does not work out.
A Government source said: ‘The broken welfare system we inherited is trapping thousands of people in a life on benefits with no means of support, or any hope for a future of life in work.
‘It doesn’t account for the reality of people’s health conditions, many of whom fear that they will be punished for taking a chance on work.
‘As part of our plan for change, our reforms will deliver fairness and opportunity for disabled people, and those with long-term health conditions, protecting the welfare system so it is sustainable for the future and will always be there for those who need it.’
James Taylor, executive director at disability charity Scope, said giving disabled people ‘greater confidence to try work’ was ‘a good move’, but warned against making significant cuts to benefits.
He said: ‘We hope that releasing news of this scheme at this time isn’t a smokescreen designed to blur the lines between in and out of work benefits.
‘PIP exists because life costs more if you are disabled. It isn’t an out of work benefit.
‘Making it harder to get benefits will just push even more disabled people into poverty, not into jobs.’
Asked about Labour’s welfare plans during a press conference on Saturday, Sir Keir said: ‘I have made the principles clear enough. We need to support those who need support, and to protect them.
‘But at the same time we need to make sure that we support and protect those who need to and are able to get into work, which the current arrangements I don’t think adequately do.
‘That’s why it’s important we make the case for reforming welfare, which is what we are doing.’
Tory MP Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: ‘Labour are divided when it comes to tackling welfare, meaning they cannot deliver the decisive change we need.
‘The Government’s dithering and delay is costing taxpayers millions every day and failing the people who rely on the welfare system.
‘Under new leadership, the Conservatives are the only party united in the need to reduce spending on benefits – which is why we committed to save £12billion a year from the welfare bill which Labour scrapped.
‘Labour must come forward with a serious plan to deliver savings.’
