Conservatives have launched a policy review to reduce the scope and cost of the benefits system, with Kemi Badenoch saying the “diagnosis age” of “low-level mental conditions” is quickly making it unaffordable.
While the review will have to develop specific policies, the Conservative leader hinted that some payments could be time-limited, saying one element would test “at what stage support should come and how long it should last”.
She also suggested the possibility of ending the use of relative poverty as a measure of deprivation, saying it does not take into account the improvement in people's situation if the economy grows.
Speaking at an event in central London, Badenoch said that as part of the party's “campaign to get Britain working again”, she and three other members of her frontline team will next year look at “the most complex and challenging aspect of work and wellbeing in this country”.
While Badenoch said it would be done in conjunction with medical and employment experts “to make sure we get it right”, a key refrain of her speech was that increasing the number of people receiving benefits for physical and mental illness was unacceptable.
This is especially true for “low-level mental health issues” such as ADHD, she said.
“A lot of people don't realize the scale of the problem,” she said. “Many people don't know how bad it is. Simply put, our health benefits system was not designed to cope with the diagnosis age we now live in.”
Badenoch said the Conservatives would significantly reduce the conditions under which people are eligible for help. “We're going to look at what conditions states consider disabilities when it comes to benefits,” she said.
“We will all have physical and mental health problems at some point in our lives, but in an era where one in four people now consider themselves disabled, it is clear that we will now have to draw the line on what health problems the government can support.”
She said changes would be needed to help the UK better cope with what she called “shocks” to the economy – using Brexit as an example of this, along with Covid and the financial crisis.
Badenoch proposed moving away from measuring poverty in relative terms (those earning less than 60% of median income).
“It’s not an indicator of poverty at all,” she said. “This is a bad measure because in a booming economy, as incomes rise, more people may end up in poverty, even as their real incomes rise.
“We need something better. I have long said that Britain is in danger of becoming a welfare state with an economy attached to it.”
In his speech and subsequent media Q&A, Badenoch repeatedly described rising welfare costs as partly a result of personal choice and abuse of the system, saying many people are turning down work “because they feel the work is beneath them.”
But she rejected the idea that talking about the age of diagnosis and what she again called the “benefits budget trick” could stigmatize people and seem disgusting. “I think politicians should always be careful with their language, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what I said,” she responded.
“We spend a lot of time trying not to upset people or say anything that might ruffle their feathers that we end up creating an unworkable system. I won't apologize for the language I use. I'm actually very careful with my language, but I use language that can get through.”
