Rishi Sunak has been accused of making mental illness ‘another front in the culture wars’, with his plans to cut benefits for some people with anxiety and depression Critics have warned that this is an attack on
In his speech on welfare, the Prime Minister said he would consider scrapping large cash benefits claimed by people living with mental health problems and replacing them with treatment.
But the charity said there were 1.9 million people on waiting lists for NHS mental health services, with some people having a worsening situation without support and many currently unable to access treatment. .
Disability equality charity Scope said these proposals were not only “dangerous and risk pushing disabled people into poverty” but would also increase people’s anxiety and worsen people’s illness and health conditions. He said that. James Taylor, the charity’s director of strategy, said the speech “feels like a full-on attack on disabled people”.
Mr Sunak launched a review of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a means-tested benefit that helps disabled people with extra costs due to health problems, and said the UK was suffering from a “sick note culture”. .
He said the review would require further medical evidence before providing benefits, consider whether some payments should be one-off rather than ongoing, and include some mental health It added that it would consider whether to suspend cash payments for health conditions.
The Prime Minister said he would seek to be “more precise about the types and severity of mental health conditions that are covered by PIP” and added: “It is not clear that there will be a similar increase in the cost of living to people with physical conditions.” Stated. ”.
Mr Sunak added: ‘The figures show that half of people have become inactive in the last year due to depression or anxiety, and the number of people diagnosed with the disease has tripled in the past 10 years. That doesn’t really shock us,” he added. exactly. ”
The announcement led to an outcry from disability charities, who said the rate at which people are made redundant from their jobs or claim benefits is due to collapsing public services, poor quality jobs and high poverty rates among disabled households. He claimed that there was.
Charities have also warned Sunak about mental illness, after the Prime Minister said there was a “risk of over-medicalizing what are essentially everyday worries and life challenges” in the welfare system. The statement sounded an alarm.
Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said the rhetoric conjured up an image of “a culture of mental health gone too far… that is harmful, inaccurate and contrary to reality for people across the country”. . .
“The truth is that mental health services have reached breaking point after years of underinvestment, and many people are becoming unwell while waiting for support,” she said.
Labor said people were already seeking mental health support from the NHS and there was an “unprecedented crisis in mental health care”.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The Conservative Party’s attempt to turn mental illness into another culture war issue is not only tone-deaf, it is shameless and irresponsible.” The next Labor government will give people the support they desperately need, rather than trying to hide the scale of the problem. ”
Mr Sunak presented proposed changes to disability benefits at the Center for Social Justice think tank in London. He said “something has gone wrong” since the pandemic, particularly with the number of people with mental health conditions increasing in the number of people who are economically inactive for long periods of time.
“What is most concerning is that the largest proportion of long-term illnesses are among young people on welfare,” Sunak said.
He said the country could not afford a “soaring” disability welfare bill of £69bn, which currently exceeds the core school budget, and claimed the PIP budget was expected to rise by 50% over the next four years. .
Other measures he laid out include:
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To encourage more people to return to work, responsibility for issuing fit notes, previously known as sick notes, will be transferred from GPs to other ‘work and health professionals’.
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Confirmed plans to legislate “in the next Parliament” to end benefit claims for people who have claimed benefits for 12 months but do not comply with the conditions for accepting available work.
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More people working part-time on Universal Credit will be asked to look for more work as their income threshold increases from £743 a month to £892 a month, with those earning below this amount forced to look for additional hours. There is.
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Confirmed plans to tighten work ability assessments to require people with “less serious conditions” to seek some form of employment.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News on Friday: You are saying that you are completely incapable of doing your job.
“What we want to do is change the system so that the person is referred. The government is setting up something called Workwell, where they get the medical support they need as well as a work coach. If you are employed, we will help you keep your job, and if you are not employed, we will help you get a job.”
Doctors and nurses’ unions insisted clinical decisions about diagnosis were always a matter for professionals, but Mr Sunak’s suggestion there was a risk of “over-medicalizing” mental health conditions expressed concern.
The British Medical Association said the Prime Minister should focus on ensuring people get the medical help they need to get back to work, rather than “imposing hostile rhetoric on ‘sick note culture'”. Ta.
Professor Pat Cullen, Secretary-General of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Nursing staff are the largest workforce in health and care, but they themselves suffer from poor long-term health conditions.
“The Prime Minister’s comments about a ‘sick note culture’ will be deeply offensive to a profession hit hard by the prolonged coronavirus pandemic and spiraling mental health crisis. This is not a problem that can be solved simply by government directives.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the current and incoming governments need to find ways to fund or cut rising disability benefit bills, but it remains unclear what is behind the rise in claims. Ta.
“About a year ago, it seemed plausible that the surge in people claiming health-related benefits was a temporary phenomenon related to the pandemic,” said IFS economist Sam Ray Chaudhry. That explanation now seems unlikely, and today’s new predictions reflect this fact.
“The rising cost of these benefits, and what will be done in response, is a pressing concern for the next administration and will make an already difficult fiscal situation even more difficult. It is unclear what is driving the increase, making it even more difficult to design appropriate policy responses.”
