The Government is understood to have dropped plans to freeze the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from upcoming reforms designed to reduce the size of the welfare bill
Wes Streeting says mental health issues are over-diagnosed in the UK
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned of an “overdiagnosis” of some mental health conditions and said too many people are being “written off” as he defended controversial welfare reforms.
Mr Streeting said the benefits system must be “sustainable” amid a furious backlash from Labour MPs to proposed cuts.
The Government is understood to have dropped plans to freeze the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from reforms designed to reduce the size of the welfare bill. One source said: “I think No10 were a bit surprised by the strength of the opposition.”
The Health Secretary did not deny plans had been ditched to impose a real terms cut to PIP for 3.6million people by cancelling an inflation-linked rise in Spring 2026. The benefit – which is not linked to employment status – helps people living with a disability or mental health condition with extra living costs.
Mr Streeting said he has not yet seen the full proposals, which are expected to be presented to the Cabinet on Tuesday. But he said Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall “wants to support people who need help the most” and will “make sure that there is a wide range of support”.
More than half of the rise in working-age disability claims since the pandemic is related to mental health or behavioural conditions, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Some 1.3 million people claim disability benefits primarily for these reasons – 44% of all claimants.
Asked if there was an issue with overdiagnosis of mental health condition, he said: “Mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis but there’s too many people being written off and, to your point about treatment, too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need.
“So if you can get that support to people much earlier, then you can help people to either stay in work or get back to work.”
Mr Streeting, who grew up in a council house and went to a state school, said the Labour “don’t want to take money from the poorest in society”. But he said the system wasn’t working as one in eight young people aren’t in training, employment or education, and some 3 million people are shut out of the labour market due to long term sickness.
He said: “Of course, there will be some people who because of serious disability, or because of chronic illness that can’t be turned around, will not be able to work and those people need to be supported.
“But the welfare state’s also got to be a springboard back to work and lots of people get written off, you know, if they can’t contribute when they can and should and want to.”
Ms Kendall will publish a green paper on welfare reform this week. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will then reveal the full scale of welfare cuts, believed to be between £5bn and £6bn, in the Spring Statement on March 26. Total spending on health and disability benefits is forecast to rise from £64.7bn in 2023-24 to £100.7bn in 2029-30.
The green paper is expected to tighten eligibility criteria to make it harder to qualify for PIP, which could affect those with mental health conditions, as well as those who need assistance with daily tasks such as washing and dressing themselves. There also expected to be changes to the basic rate of Universal Credit and the top rate of incapacity benefit.
Ms Kendall is expected to announce legislation to introduce a “right to try guarantee” that will prevent people receiving health-related benefits from having their entitlements automatically re-assessed if they enter employment.
It comes after disabled people and those with long term health conditions told the DWP they were worried about losing their benefits if they get jobs that don’t work out. A recent survey found 200,000 people receiving health-related or disability benefits were ready to work if the right job or support was available.