00:00It's been just under five months since Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented her first budget.
00:07It must feel much longer ago to the Labour government.
00:10Since their announcement to raise taxes and borrow more to finance public services back
00:15in October, the cost of borrowing has gone up, economic growth has been poor, and Donald
00:21Trump's return to the White House has shaken the global economy and European security.
00:27In October, the Office for Budget Responsibility told the government they had £10bn of leeway
00:34to avoid breaking its own self-imposed borrowing rules.
00:37Earlier this month, the OBR said that headroom has now vanished, and benefits have become
00:43the latest target of the government's aggressive cost-cutting measures ahead of next week's
00:48spring statement.
00:50£48bn was spent on benefits last year. That's forecast to rise to £67bn by 2030.
00:58The number of people claiming sickness or disability benefit has also risen from 2.8
01:04million in 2019 to 4 million today.
01:08Welfare reforms, the government says, are necessary, but have left many recipients feeling
01:17nervous.
01:18Millions of people who could work, trapped on benefits, denied the income, hope, dignity
01:25and self-respect that we know good work brings. And taxpayers paying millions more on the
01:32costs of failure.
01:34The government says it will get rid of what it calls perverse incentives, encouraging
01:38people into welfare.
01:40We will scrap the WCA in 2028. In future, extra financial support for health conditions
01:48in universal credit will be available solely through the PIP assessment. So extra income
01:55is based on the impact of someone's health condition or disability, not on their capacity
02:00to work.
02:02It will also rebalance universal credit, reducing premiums for new claimants and increasing
02:08them for those with severe conditions. More than £1bn of savings will be spent on helping
02:13people get back to work.
02:15And lastly, there are Personal Independence Payments, or PIP, claimed by 3.2 million people
02:21with disabilities to help with extra costs. The eligibility criteria for these will be
02:27tightened, with more frequent assessments for some.
02:31The Conservatives say these measures don't go far enough.
02:35The fact is, £5bn just doesn't cut it with a bill so big going up so fast. She needed
02:41to be tougher. She should be saying, no more hard-working taxpayers funding the family
02:47next door not to work.
02:49Murray Golder works for Royal Mail, but qualifies for PIP because of his epilepsy. He says reform
02:55of the system is needed, but worries about budget cuts.
02:58They may need money for defence and stuff like that, but I don't see how they've come
03:02to the conclusion that you should then go and attack disabled people and the allowances
03:08that helps a lot of them get on with their day-to-day life.
03:12Charities too are concerned about what these savings might mean for the most vulnerable
03:16in society.
03:18We know that already many disabled people who make use of the welfare system rely on
03:22food banks, are unable to heat their homes. We remain concerned that that's going to continue
03:28and possibly even increase.
03:30The government says today's reforms aim to save £5bn by the end of 2030. However, they've
03:37angered many of their own MPs, who worry they will make life harder for millions across
03:42the country.
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