The Tories will put benefit reforms at the heart of their election campaign on Sunday as Rishi Sunak seeks to turn things around following a difficult week.
The party is promising to cut the cost of welfare to the tune of £12bn by the end of the next parliament through measures aimed at helping people back into work.
The plan includes a £700m investment in NHS mental health treatment to ensure 500,000 more people can access talking therapies by 2030.
It also includes previously announced measures, such as removing benefits for people not taking jobs after 12 months.
The number of working age people who are economically inactive has soared to record highs following the pandemic.
The trend is thought to be driven mainly by those who have taken early retirement and people with long-term health conditions waiting for treatment on the NHS.
But the Conservative Party has said the 40% increase of people out of work – from two million to 2.8 million since COVID – is unsustainable.
It claims the cost of providing benefits for working age people with health conditions could rise as high as £90bn by the end of the next parliament.
A recent study found people in their 20s are more likely to be off work with ill health than employees twice their age, with poor mental health driving the increase.
The access to talking therapies is a 50% increase on the already planned expansion of 384,000 announced at the 2023 Autumn Statement.
As well this, the Tories say they will reform the disability benefits system and target it at those most in need, tightening the criteria for work capability…
