DWP boss says thousands will lose benefits under sweeping and brutal reforms
The Department for Work and Pensions minister Liz Kendall has said thousands will be taken off benefits in brutal reforms under the Labour Party government. Ms Kendall said more people needed to be moved off welfare and into jobs.
Ms Kendall issued an update over the planned "biggest" crackdown on DWP benefits in a generation. Ms Kendall told the PA news agency: “We’re going to get the benefits bill on a more sustainable course – and it has to be, we cannot accept these costs of failure, failure for individuals, failure for businesses and failure for the economy.
“But the way to do this is to get more people into work through the reforms that we’re putting in place in our Jobcentres and through reform of the benefit system. And we’ll be bringing forward our green paper on reforming sickness and disability benefits in the spring.”
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Ms Kendall told the Press Association just a week on from bank account checks being confirmed by the Labour Party government as part of its new Fraud Bill “This is our inheritance from the Conservative government. And the Tories failed on welfare because they failed on work.
“We have got almost record numbers of people out of work due to long-term health problems. That’s terrible for them. It’s terrible for their living standards. It’s terrible for employers who want to recruit and it’s terrible for the public finances. So we need big reforms in the way that we work to get more people into those jobs, which will help bring the benefits bill onto a more sustainable footing.”
In her major economic growth speech on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised “fundamental reform of our welfare system” including “looking at areas that have been ducked for too long like the rising cost of health and disability benefits”.