Rishi Sunak accuses benefits claimants of ‘gaming the system’

Rishi Sunak has accused some benefits claimants of “trying to game the system” as polls showed that voters who are vital to Conservative hopes back tough changes to sickness benefits.

The prime minister said he wanted to target welfare to those who “genuinely need it most” as he insisted the disability benefit system was not working and needed reform.

As campaigners accused ministers of a “reckless assault on disabled people”, Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, shrugged off such attacks and insisted change was fundamental to preserve public backing for the welfare system.

“People need to know firstly that it’s targeted and the right people are getting it. Secondly, that people aren’t abusing the system. And thirdly, that it’s affordable and sustainable,” Stride said.

James Taylor, executive director of strategy, impact and social change at the disability charity Scope, suggested the reforms were about “cutting the benefits bill, no matter the impact” and said: “Many of the issues the prime minister speaks about are due to our crumbling public services, poor-quality jobs and increasing rates of poverty. Not because of a so-called ‘mental health culture’ that’s gone too far. The government needs to end this reckless assault on disabled people and focus on how to fix the real underlying issues.”

Stride said that while he had “utter respect” for disability charities and would listen “extremely carefully” to their concerns, he would not be put off by vocal criticism from campaigners. He said he did not want to listen to “just a section of opinion” and wanted “the wider public to be perhaps more central to that debate” on reform.

“These reforms are pushing into areas and examining issues very publicly in a very grown-up way — extending the debate, for example, around labelling and mental health. And I sense that many in the public actually, deep down and probably quite quietly initially, had been agreeing with some of the steps that we’re taking,” Stride said.

Labour has attacked the government’s record on sickness, promising to get to the “root causes” of illness through better mental health support and shorter NHS waiting lists.

Stride accepted that “all government departments have a role to play in making sure that we have a stronger, healthier and fairer society” and that addressing long-term sickness “clearly needs the health service right at the centre of it”.

He said he had been “incredibly underwhelmed by Labour’s response” to his plans. “Here I am as secretary of state bringing forward probably the most fundamental reforms in a generation and Labour have had really nothing to say about whether they fundamentally support them or fundamentally oppose them,” he said.

He added: “I would expect that in any general election campaign to come that these will be important issues, and it remains to be seen whether they have anything to say at that point or not. But at the moment, they have no plan and they appear to have nothing to say about this. Which is extraordinary.”

Polling for The Times found that voters who voted Conservative in 2019 strongly back making more people on sickness benefits find jobs. Sixty Some 60 per cent say that disability benefits are too easy to get and that many claimants should be made to look for work instead, against only 14 per cent saying such benefits are too hard to claim and ministers are being needlessly harsh.

Both sides want to win over disaffected 2019 Tory voters, but matching the government on welfare would harm Labour among progressive voters, who are already expressing dissatisfaction with Sir Keir Starmer.

In a clear division with the Tories, Labour supporters think benefits policies are too harsh rather than too lax by a 41-22 split, slightly less than the 47-17 split among those who backed the party in 2019.

Voters overall are more evenly split, with 36 per cent saying more claimants should be made to work, against 28 per cent saying benefits are too difficult to claim, a YouGov poll of 2,100 voters found.

Younger people and those in London and Scotland are the least supportive of toughening the sickness benefit system, but those under 25 are the only age group where more people favour a more generous system than a tougher one.

Stride argued that there were “similarities” between today’s need for fundamental change and that which underpinned the Beveridge report, which laid the foundation of the modern welfare state in the 1940s. “The commonality is very clear that Beveridge faced huge challenges in his day. But we equally face huge challenges,” he said.

While Sir William Beveridge identified “five giants” of disease, ignorance, idleness, squalor and want, Stride said today’s equivalent was “wasted potential”.

Stride said: “We have many people who in some cases are suffering from mild, fairly mild conditions, who are going on to benefits, who are becoming distant from the labour market, who would benefit enormously through being in work. And I want to free up that potential.”

On Monday morning he denied that the government was “uncaring” but insisted it had to deal with the “spiralling” cost of welfare, telling Times Radio: “There is a sustainability issue here that we need to have a grown-up conversation about.”

Sunak said: “It’s clear that our disability benefits system isn’t working in the way it was intended, and we’re determined to reform it to ensure it’s sustainable for the future, so we can continue delivering support to those who genuinely need it most.” He said proposed reforms would “make the benefits system fairer to the taxpayer, better targeted to individual needs and harder to exploit by those who are trying to game the system”.