People with depression or anxiety may miss out on sickness benefits, UK minister says | Welfare

People with depression or anxiety could lose access to sickness benefits, the work and pensions secretary said, as part of major welfare changes that have been described as an all-out attack on disabled people.

On Monday morning, Mel Stride announced plans to overhaul the way disability benefits work and would address the Commons on the issue later in the day.

In a green paper to be published alongside the Strides Commons statement, ministers will set out plans to change Personal Independence Payments (Pip), the main disability benefit for adults, through changes to the criteria and assessments of suitability.

While he sought to portray the proposals as part of a grown-up conversation about the best form of welfare delivery, he also suggested that the focus on the plan was part of a Tory election strategy designed to put pressure on Labor a general election in which his party is expected to suffer a heavy defeat.

The plans, which will be consulted on over the coming months, also include proposals to move away from a fixed cash benefit system, meaning people with certain conditions will no longer receive regular payments, but instead this approach to treatment if their condition does not include additional expenses.

Stride dismissed suggestions that his government had created the problem by failing to properly provide such care in the first place, saying he was introducing a scheme in which some health support would be provided alongside job coaches.

During an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today program on Monday, Stride was told the Tories were picking on the system they designed themselves in the hope of starting a row over welfare claimants which they hoped could cause a bigger political problem for labor than for those.

As for Labour, Labor has nothing to say about welfare. In fact, the only thing they have said about welfare is that they are very mean about sanctions. They don't think it should be applied in the way we think, which we believe will cost billions of pounds, he replied.

In an interview with the Times, Stride had suggested the proposals would mean people with milder mental health conditions would no longer receive financial support. And they follow a speech in which the Prime Minister announced major changes to the welfare system earlier this month, saying people with less severe mental health conditions should be expected to engage in the world of work.

Stride said the system should not pay people to deal with the ordinary hardships of life and suggested many voters deep down agreed with him.

Describing the changes as perhaps the most fundamental reforms in a generation, he said: There are those who have perhaps milder mental health conditions, or where perhaps there has been a very big move towards labeling certain behaviors as certain. [medical] the conditions attached to it, where in fact the work is the answer or part of the answer.

What we need to avoid is being in a situation where we too readily say: Well, actually, we need you to benefit.

Stride said a whole host of things, such as speech therapy, social care packages and respite care, could be used as alternatives to benefit payments.

He added that the main reason for the changes was to provide better help and not to cut costs, but he acknowledged that cost should be one of the considerations.

James Taylor, executive director of strategy at disability charity Scope, called for an end to the reckless attack on disabled people and to fix the real underlying issues.

It's hard to believe this consultation is about anything other than cutting the benefits bill, regardless of the impact, Taylor said.

Life costs much more for people with disabilities, including people with mental health problems. Threatening to remove the small amount of income that Pip provides will not solve the country's problems.

The government needs to end this reckless attack on disabled people and focus on how to fix the real underlying issues.