Yahoo News Long-term DWP sickness benefits claimants should have to look for work says Keir Starmer
The Prime Minister says people who claim long-term sickness benefits should be made to look for work if they can.
Sir Keir Starmer said support will be in place to help people get jobs, as the Government looks to reduce the number of claimants. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he added: "I think the basic proposition that you should look for work is right.
"Obviously there will be hard cases, but the way I would do it is to say yes, that's the basic proposition, but we also want to support that so that more people can get into work."
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He had earlier said: "I've gone out and looked at schemes where businesses are supporting people back into work from long-term sickness. Because quite often I think what lies behind this is a fear for someone who's been on long-term sickness, that can they get back into the workplace? Are they going to be able to cope? Is it all going to go hopelessly wrong?
"Yes they need to be back in the workplace where they can, but I do think that if we can put the right support in place, which I've seen pilots of, they work pretty well, and we want to see more of those across the country."
Some 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill-health, 500,000 more than in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics. A report by the BCG and NHS Confederation earlier this month found that 85% of those are long-term sick.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the bill for sickness and disability benefits will soar by £30 billion in the next five years, on current trajectories. Mr Starmer's comments came before Health Secretary Wes Streeting's speech to the Labour Party conference.
Mr Streeting said "a crack team" of senior doctors will be brought in to implement reforms aimed at getting patients treated faster and help people get back to work to reduce waiting lists, unemployment and economic inactivity. Mr Streeting told the conference in Liverpool: "We're sending crack teams of top clinicians to hospitals across the country to roll out reforms - developed by surgeons - to treat more patients and cut waiting lists.
"And I can announce today that the first 20 hospitals targeted by these teams will be in areas with the highest numbers of people off work sick. Because our reforms are focused not only on delivering our health mission but also moving the dial on our growth mission too. We will take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, get sick Brits back to health and back to work."
He had earlier told Sky News: "Where people are off ill and they are unable to work, the social security system is available, and it's up to us to make sure that we get them back to health and back to work quickly. Where people are fraudulently claiming benefits, that's a different kettle of fish, and people shouldn't be doing that, and we're not going to tolerate it, which is why, in her speech and through her work as the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall will be clear, as has the Prime Minister, that we've got to reduce the benefits bill.
"Part of that is also about recognising that the failure of the previous government means that the NHS hasn't always been there for people when they need it, we owe it to them to get them back to health and back to work, and that's exactly what we'll do."
