Prime Ministers Office 10 Downing Street
Today Id like to talk about the?growing number of people who have become economically inactive since the pandemic
?and the?moral mission of reforming welfare to give everyone who can, the best possible chance of returning to work.
The values of our welfare state are timeless.
Theyre part of our national character of? who?we are as a country.
Were proud to ensure a safety net that is generous for those who genuinely need it and fair to the taxpayers who fund it.
We know there are some with?the?most severe conditions?who will never be able to work.
And some who can no longer work because of injury or illness.
And they and their loved ones must always have the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will always be supported.
But we also have a?long-standing and proudly British view?that work is a source of dignity, purpose, of hope.
The role of the welfare state should never be merely to provide financial support
as important as that will always be
but to help people overcome whatever barriers?they might face to living an independent, fulfilling life.
Everyone with the potential should be supported
And not just to earn, but to contribute and belong.
And we must never tolerate barriers that?hold people?back?from making their contribution
and from sharing in that sense of self-worth that comes from feeling part of being something bigger than ourselves.
That is why this is a moral mission.
And why the value of work is so central to my vision for welfare reform.
And its fitting to be setting out that vision here, at the Centre for Social Justice.
Over your 20-year history, youve inspired far-reaching changes to welfare.
I want pay tribute to you and of course your founder, Iain Duncan-Smith
who began the journey of reform in 2010
a journey carried through so ably today, by Mel Stride.
Because when we arrived in office in 2010, people coming off benefits and into work could lose 9 for every 10 they earned
by far the highest marginal tax rate.
That was morally wrong.
So we created Universal Credit to make sure that work always pays.
We introduced the National Living Wage and increased it every year, ending low pay in this country.?
Were rolling out 30 hours of free childcare for every family over 9 months of age.?
Weve halved inflation, to make the money you earn worth more.?
And weve cut workers National Insurance by a third.
A tax cut worth 900 for someone earning the average wage
because it is profoundly wrong that income from work is taxed twice
when other forms of income are not.
For me, it is a fundamental duty of government to make sure that hard work is always rewarded.
I know - and you know - that you dont get anything in life without hard work.
Its the only way to build a better life for ourselves and our family; and the only way to build a more prosperous country.
But in the period since the pandemic something has gone wrong.
The proportion of people who are economically inactive in Britain is still lower than our international peers.
And lower today than in any year under the last Labour government.
But since the pandemic, 850,000 more people have joined this group due to long-term sickness.
This has wiped out a decades worth of progress in which the rate had fallen every single year.
Of those who are economically inactive, fully half say they have depression or anxiety.
And most worrying of all
the biggest proportional increase in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness came
from young people.
Those in the prime of their life, just starting out on work and family - instead parked on welfare.
Now, we should see it as a sign of progress that people can talk openly about mental health conditions
in a way that only a few years ago wouldve been unthinkable.?
And I will never?dismiss or?downplay the illnesses people have.
Anyone who has suffered mental ill health or had family or friends who have, knows that these conditions are real and they matter.
But just as it would be wrong to dismiss this growing trend
so it would be wrong merely to sit back and accept it
because its too hard; or too controversial; or for fear of causing offence.
Doing so, would let down many of the people our welfare system was designed to help.
Because if you believe as I do, that work gives you the chance not just to earn
but to contribute, to belong, to overcome feelings of loneliness and social isolation
and if you believe, as I do, the growing body of evidence that good work can actually improve mental and physical health
then it becomes clear: we need to be more ambitious about helping people back to work.?
And more honest about the risk of over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life.
Fail to address this, and we risk not only letting those people down.?
But creating a deep sense of unfairness amongst those whose taxes fund our social safety net
in a way that risks undermining trust and consent in that very system.
We cant stand for that.?
And of course, the situation as it is, is economically?unsustainable.
We cant lose so many people from our workforce whose contributions could help to drive growth.
And theres no sustainable way to achieve our goal of bringing down migration levels, which are just too high
without giving more of our own people the skills, incentives, and support, to get off welfare and back into work.
And we cant afford such?a spiralling increase in the welfare bill
and the irresponsible burden that would place on this and future generations of taxpayers.
We now spend 69bn on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition.
Thats more than our entire schools budget; more than our transport budget; more than our policing.
And spending on Personal Independence Payments alone is forecast to increase by more than 50 per cent over the next four years.
Let me just repeat that: if we do not change, it will increase by more than 50% in just four years.
Thats not right; its not sustainable and its not fair on the taxpayers who fund it.
So in the next Parliament, a Conservative government will significantly reform and control welfare.
This is not about making our safety net less generous.
Or imposing a blanket freeze on all benefits, as some have suggested.?
Im not prepared to balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable.
Instead, the critical questions are about eligibility
about who should be entitled to support
and what kind of support best matches their needs.
And to answer these questions, I want to set out today five Conservative reforms for a new welfare settlement for Britain.
First, we must be more ambitious in assessing peoples potential for work.?
Right now, the gateway to ill health benefits is writing too many off
leaving them on the wrong type of support
and with no expectation of trying to find a job, with all the advantages that brings.
In 2011, twenty percent of those doing a Work Capability Assessment
were deemed unfit to work.
But the latest figure now stands at 65 per cent.
Thats wrong.
People are not three times sicker than they were a decade ago.
And the world of work has changed dramatically.
Of course, those with serious debilitating conditions should never be expected to work.
But if you have a low-level mobility issue, your employer could make reasonable adjustments?
perhaps including adaptations to enable you to work from home.
And if you are feeling anxious or depressed, then of course you should get the support and treatment you need to manage your condition.
But that doesnt mean we should assume you cant engage in work.?
Thats not going to help you. And its not fair on everyone else either.?
So we are going to tighten up the Work Capability Assessment
such that hundreds of thousands of benefit recipients with less severe conditions
will now be expected to engage in the world of work and be supported to do so.
Second, just as we help people move from welfare into work
weve got to do more to stop people going from work to welfare.
The whole point of replacing the Sick Note with the Fit Note was to stop so many people just being signed off as sick.
Instead of being told youre not fit for work
the Fit Note provided the option to say that you may be fit for work
with advice about what you could do; and what adaptions or support would enable you to stay in, or return to work, quickly.
11 million of these Fit Notes were issued last year alone.?
But what proportion were signed maybe fit for work?
6 per cent.?
Thats right a staggering 94 per cent of those signed off sick
were simply written off as not fit for work.
Well, this is not right.?And it was never the intention.
We dont just need to change the sick note we need to change the sick note culture
so the default becomes what work you can do not what you cant.
Building on the pilots weve already started..