Economists say Rachel Reeves is wrong again on disability benefits – and they have the figures to prove it.
Reeves is planning to strip billions of pounds out of the government’s benefits bill, by getting DWP Secretary Liz Kendall to change the way disability is defined, thereby making it harder for people to claim – even if they have a real and urgent need.
She says it is important in order to fight fraud that takes around £1.6 billion out of the public purse every year – but the government’s own figures show that there is absolutely no fraud among claimants of the disability benefit, Personal Independence Payment. It stands at 0.0 per cent.
She never mentions the fact that around £23 billion worth of disability benefits go unclaimed every year, by people who genuinely deserve them. That would spoil her narrative.
And now economists have shown that these benefits improve recipients’ well-being and health.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Here‘s The Big Issue:
Pro Bono Economics researchers found that disability benefits improve people’s wellbeing and health.
Treasury guidance attaches a monetary value to wellbeing, and the economic value of claiming disability benefits is estimated to be around £12,300 per person.
Around 3.5 million people claim the personal independence payment (PIP), meaning a total of £42bn in annual economic benefits.
That far exceeds the annual cost of administering these benefits, which is approximately £28bn.
In other words, for every £1 spent on disability benefit support, there is an economic benefit in the improved wellbeing of recipients which could be valued at £1.48.
In other words, the value of providing PIP to recipients is greater than the cost.
The research showed that disability benefits enable people to engage in social activities, which helps combat loneliness – crucial for disabled people who were more than four times more likely to report feelings of loneliness “often or always” (15.1%) compared to non-disabled people (3.6%) in 2021.
I know this to be true as the former Mrs Mike, who you may remember is disabled, tells me she has few visitors and this can lead not only to loneliness but depression.
And in the article, if you read between the lines, Matt Whitaker of Pro Bono Economics states that the government actually attacks this improved well-being – by making the claiming experience as difficult as possible and putting up barriers to stop new claimants from benefiting as well.
Experts say the plan to restrict benefits from people who clearly deserve them “could have the adverse impact of worsening claimants’ mental and physical health, pushing people further away from employment and increasing pressure on health services” – exactly the opposite of what Rachel Reeves and her boss Keir Starmer are trying to tell us.
Mr Whitaker said charities like Z2K, which was a partner in the research, are helping disabled people navigate the benefits system to get the best results. But hang on – isn’t the government against that?
Ayla Ozmen, director of policy and campaigns at Z2K, puts the cap on the argument, saying that disability benefits actually provide a boost to the economy: spending on disability benefits should be seen not as a drain on public finances but as an investment in economic growth.
On a day when Reeves is out claiming that an environmentally-harmful new runway at Heathrow Airport is the best way to grow the economy, we are learning that she would be better-off withholding investment on that and giving the money to the disabled people she is victimising instead. How much more wrong can this Chancellor be?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Economists say Rachel Reeves is wrong again on disability benefits
Economists say Rachel Reeves is wrong again on disability benefits – and they have the figures to prove it.
Reeves is planning to strip billions of pounds out of the government’s benefits bill, by getting DWP Secretary Liz Kendall to change the way disability is defined, thereby making it harder for people to claim – even if they have a real and urgent need.
She says it is important in order to fight fraud that takes around £1.6 billion out of the public purse every year – but the government’s own figures show that there is absolutely no fraud among claimants of the disability benefit, Personal Independence Payment. It stands at 0.0 per cent.
She never mentions the fact that around £23 billion worth of disability benefits go unclaimed every year, by people who genuinely deserve them. That would spoil her narrative.
And now economists have shown that these benefits improve recipients’ well-being and health.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Here‘s The Big Issue:
In other words, the value of providing PIP to recipients is greater than the cost.
The research showed that disability benefits enable people to engage in social activities, which helps combat loneliness – crucial for disabled people who were more than four times more likely to report feelings of loneliness “often or always” (15.1%) compared to non-disabled people (3.6%) in 2021.
I know this to be true as the former Mrs Mike, who you may remember is disabled, tells me she has few visitors and this can lead not only to loneliness but depression.
And in the article, if you read between the lines, Matt Whitaker of Pro Bono Economics states that the government actually attacks this improved well-being – by making the claiming experience as difficult as possible and putting up barriers to stop new claimants from benefiting as well.
Experts say the plan to restrict benefits from people who clearly deserve them “could have the adverse impact of worsening claimants’ mental and physical health, pushing people further away from employment and increasing pressure on health services” – exactly the opposite of what Rachel Reeves and her boss Keir Starmer are trying to tell us.
Mr Whitaker said charities like Z2K, which was a partner in the research, are helping disabled people navigate the benefits system to get the best results. But hang on – isn’t the government against that?
Ayla Ozmen, director of policy and campaigns at Z2K, puts the cap on the argument, saying that disability benefits actually provide a boost to the economy: spending on disability benefits should be seen not as a drain on public finances but as an investment in economic growth.
On a day when Reeves is out claiming that an environmentally-harmful new runway at Heathrow Airport is the best way to grow the economy, we are learning that she would be better-off withholding investment on that and giving the money to the disabled people she is victimising instead. How much more wrong can this Chancellor be?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
you might also like
Let’s start the New Year with some hopeful news
More mistakes in the script? Correcting Cameron’s New Year speech
Three letters: F-O-X