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Rishi Sunak has called for an end to “sick note culture”, vowing to crack down on sickness benefits.
Giving a major speech on welfare reform later today, the Prime Minister has called for the focus to shift to what work people might be able to do.
This comes amid Government concerns some are being unnecessarily written off as sick and “parked on welfare”.
The speech comes a month after Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride faced criticism for an interview which saw him say there was “a real risk” that “the normal ups and downs of human life” were being labelled as medical conditions which then held people back from working.
Rishi Sunak has called for an end to “sick note culture”, vowing to crack down on sickness benefits
PA
The remarks were dubbed “disappointing” by the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, while the Centre for Mental Health charity said they risked “belittling people’s struggles”.
Scope, a disability equality charity, said it would question whether Sunak’s announcements are being “driven by bringing costs down rather than how we support disabled people”.
Sunak is today outlining a vision for a “new welfare settlement for Britain”. He has pledged not to dismiss or downplay illness, but instead called for a “more ambitious” approach to helping people back to work.
The PM said: “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 would’ve been unthinkable, and I will never dismiss or downplay the illnesses people have.
“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 it’s 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.”
Mel Stride faced criticism for an interview which saw him say there was “a real risk” that “the normal ups and downs of human life” were being labelled as medical conditions which then held people back from working
PA
He said there is a “growing body of evidence that good work can actually improve mental and physical health”.
Sunak continued: “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.”
He said the current situation is “not fair on the taxpayer”.
The number of people out of work due to long-term sickness has risen significantly since 2020, hitting a record high of 2.8 million people in February 2024, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A large proportion of those report suffering from depression, bad nerves or anxiety, although most of those report these as secondary conditions rather than the main condition keeping them from wor.
Responding to a trail of the speech, James Taylor, Scope director of strategy, said: “We’ve had decades of disabled people being let down by failing health and work assessments; and a broken welfare system designed to be far more stick than carrot.
“Much of the current record levels of inactivity are because our public services are crumbling, the quality of jobs is poor and the rate of poverty amongst disabled households is growing.”
He added: “We hope this system has been designed with disabled people and has been crafted to work with them not against them.”
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Alison McGovern, Labour’s acting shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “A healthy nation is critical to a healthy economy, but the Tories have completely failed on both.
“We’ve had 14 Tory years, five Tory prime ministers, seven Tory chancellors, and the result is a record number of people locked out of work because they are sick – at terrible cost to them, to business and to the taxpayer paying billions more in spiralling benefits bills.
“Today’s announcement proves that this failed Government has run out of ideas, announcing the same minor alternation to fit notes that we’ve heard them try before. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak’s £46 billion unfunded tax plan to abolish national insurance risks crashing the economy once again.”
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