Reform UK unveils plans to cut personal independence
payments, claiming £9 bn a year; MP Lee Anderson says he once “gamed the
system” to boost eligibility.
During Reform's third straight Westminster press conference of the week, Anderson and Zia Yusuf, the party's head of policy, stated that the party would not allow anyone with less severe psychological disorders, like anxiety, to claim Pip and would make sure that anyone receiving the payments first undergoes an in-person evaluation.
“We are betraying our young people,”
said Yusuf, who was formerly the party chair.
“Reassessments are basically not happening any more. These young people are being labelled. They’re being basically tossed on to a scrap heap for the rest of their lives. There’s nothing about that that we are remotely willing to accept.”
According to Anderson, who cited online videos that tutored people on how to complete eligibility surveys, the Pip application process was frequently manipulated. He noted this was a particular difficulty when persons were assessed remotely.
“If you do this remotely, it’s kind of like doing a driving theory test and having the answers online for you,”
he said.
“This is not to say, of course, that everybody is gaming the system. That’s obviously not what’s happening.”
However, Anderson, who spent some time at Citizens Advice before going into politics, claimed to have taught benefit applicants how to make sure they would be deemed eligible for benefits.
“We were the first point of contact for people who wanted to claim Pip at the time and we used to fill the forms out for clients before that application form went in. And I can tell you now, we were gaming the system,”
the Ashfield MP said.
“I know people who work with the CAB [Citizens Advice Bureau], they’ve got a 100% hit rate on benefit forms. I can take the fittest man in Ashfield, and we can get 100% claim on DLA [disability living allowance] – that’s our skill.”
Anderson denounced what he saw as "a generation of
young people that have forgotten about getting up in the morning and going to
work," even as he and Yusuf emphasized time and again that many
individuals did in fact need such benefits.
Moreover, he made fun of other signs of depression and anxiety, such as chronic melancholy, stating:
"I've had persistent sadness since July last year, this awful Labour government."
When asked if the reported savings included the cost of helping people return to work and reintroducing complete face-to-face sessions, Yusuf said that this would be around £100 million a year, which was little when considering the potential savings.
What would be the fiscal impact of cutting PIP for anxiety disorders?
Cutting Particular Independence Payments (PIP) for anxiety
diseases, as proposed by Reform UK, is ready to save up to £9 billion annually
by 2029. This proposed reform targets a significant share of internal health
related claims, which constitute about 40% of all working age disability
benefit claims, with anxiety and depression being the fastest growing
conditions among heirs.
Still, similar cuts could have profound social and profitable consequences beyond immediate wealth savings. Numerous affected individualities could lose a normal of around £4,500 per time in PIP benefits. This loss frequently cascades into reductions in other associated benefits like Universal Credit health and guardian's factors, which together may reduce ménage inflows by nearly half for some families.
The financial savings might come with increased costs, including advanced NHS charges due to worsening health conditions, lesser pressure on social services and charities, rising homelessness and food instability, and an increased burden on the legal system due to prayers.