Welfare

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Helen Whately]

The hon. Member—for Harlow—has indeed found an opportunity for consensus across the House. We do want to see face-to-face assessments brought back. In fact, we want to see the Government get on with it—the sooner, the better.

If the Government are asking people to fund our welfare system, that system needs to do what the public want it to do. Our plan is grounded in five clear and widely held principles: fairness; contribution; responsibility; welfare as a safety net, not a lifestyle choice; and living within our means. Unlike the Timms review, we will not shy away from reforming sickness and disability benefits. We should not be telling millions of people that they need handouts from the state for milder conditions, neurodiversity and anxiety. The state is telling people that what matters is what they cannot do or what they find difficult, not what they can do. We will stop giving PIP for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain, and shift from cash handouts to support, backed by an extra £1 billion of funding. This will save £13.7 billion a year.

The same tragedy is unfolding in children’s benefits. The number of child disability living allowance claims for behavioural conditions, learning difficulties and ADHD has doubled since 2020, as Policy Exchange’s recent excellent paper has highlighted. Even the Government’s own adviser, Professor Fonagy, has said that the actual prevalence is not going up at the same rate, yet half a million more children will be signed on under this Government. That is half a million children being told that they have something wrong with them, that they cannot succeed and that they need handouts, which can be up to £20,000 a year. I have heard stories of children saying that they do not want these labels foisted on them, but they are not being given a choice. Child disability living allowance is a conveyor belt on to PIP and then a clear path to becoming another of the 1 million NEETs, so we will reform DLA. Yes, cash should go to the families of seriously disabled children, and we will provide £1 billion of extra support for those with milder conditions. After that, we will save £2.8 billion from these reforms.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is not often that I disagree with the hon. Lady, but I have to put this on the record. In my constituency, a large number of children are assessed by specialists, be it privately or through the NHS, and the number is rising greatly. They are assessed by professionals, who agree that they have ADHD, dyslexia or another challenging disability. The figures in my constituency tell me that things are getting worse, and the medical evidence proves it. Does the hon. Lady not agree?

[Helen Whately]

I did refer to the Government’s own review and the work of Professor Fonagy, because that review says that the prevalence is not rising at the same rate as the claims. Clearly, something must be done to make sure that assessments are being done properly. That is very serious and it requires further work.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and the increase in the number of NEETs at the end of the Conservatives’ term in office was particularly staggering.

Just setting out a list that adds up to a big number does not solve the problem. The Conservatives should have realised that by now. Theirs was a catastrophic record—waste, lost potential, moral failure—and we are not going to leave that unchanged. Too often, their system was writing people off instead of giving people the help and support they need. We are absolutely determined to fix the system we inherited, in the interests both of those who depend on benefits and of taxpayers who pay for them.

We have already narrowed the gap between what people get on the health element and the standard allowance in universal credit. That feature of the system, which the Conservatives left behind, was forcing people to aspire to be classed as too sick to work. The social security system simply should not force people to do that. The system should be encouraging people to look for work and providing the support to make work feasible. That is what we are reforming the system to do.

We are restoring face-to-face assessments for health benefits, and I am glad the shadow Secretary of State supports that. The number collapsed under the Tories, as they were never reinstated after the pandemic. We have also started to change the equation under which the last Government spent £25 on benefits for every £1 spent on opportunity, because the best way to bring benefits spending down is to put opportunity at the heart of the system and get people into work.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the Minister for setting out a very distinct way forward. None of us in this House on either side of this Chamber is against sensible savings in benefits, which are welcome, but that can never, ever be at the cost of the genuinely disabled or the terminally ill. I always try to be helpful to the Minister in these debates. Gordon Lyons, the Minister for Communities in the Northern Ireland Assembly, has taken a zero-tolerance approach to benefit fraud. By ramping up investigations, and tackling and catching benefit fraudsters, he has saved £60 million in the last year. Does the Minister agree that tackling fraud and getting those who can work into jobs has to be the way forward?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the importance of tackling fraud—my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment took the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill) through this House—and about ensuring there is always support for those who have no alternative but to depend on the social security system, and we will always do so.

Since the general election, 1 million more people are in work and the rate of increase in welfare spending as a share of GDP over the new Office for Budget Responsibility forecast is expected to be half what it was in the previous Parliament. That is very positive progress, but there is a great deal more to do, and turning that inactivity-opportunity equation around is key for young people, because the longer they are left on benefits or out of work at the start of what should be their working lives, the harder it is to come off those benefits, and the worse and longer lasting are the consequences. That is why we are making a £2.5 billion additional investment in the youth guarantee to get more young people earning or learning.