𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Kemi Badenoch has vowed to ban long-term jobless benefits claimants from spending their welfare cash on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling.

Jobless claimants who have not paid enough into the system will have their benefits cut by 30% and loaded onto a “Back To Work” card that bans alcohol, cigarettes, cash withdrawals, and betting.

Under the Tories’ plans, anyone fit to work will get six months on full Universal Credit benefits to find a job, but the full rate will only be kept after that by those who have earned it through paying taxes.

Mrs Badenoch said: “Some will say this is unfair on people claiming benefits. What is unfair is a system where someone who can work chooses not to and earns more from benefits than someone in a job.

“If you can work, you should work. Helping people into work is not punishment. The best welfare is a well-paid job. So, we will be tough on those who exploit the system because the current system is unfair to workers, taxpayers and those who truly need support. We should not be borrowing from our children and grandchildren to support people who simply refuse to work.

“Welfare must be a safety net for those who genuinely need it, not a lifestyle choice for those who can’t be bothered.”

The reforms could save the taxpayer £538million a year by moving 350,000 benefits claimants onto a new “subsistence allowance”, the Tories estimated.

Under the plans, every two years, a Universal Credit claimant who has worked would buy them an extra year on the full rate of the benefit.

The so-called subsistence rate available to those who have not contributed enough would be worth 70p for every pound of the full rate.

Those on the subsistence rate would be given a pre-payment card to access their benefits.

This could be used to buy food and other everyday essentials and pay for bills, but it would prevent users from buying alcohol, cigarettes, placing bets or withdrawing cash.

People who are off sick, who are disabled or who are claiming universal credit while in work, would be exempt and unaffected by the plans.

More details for welfare reform are likely to be unveiled at the Conservative party conference later this month.

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said the Tories’ plan will not put a dent in the benefit bill.

“This welfare plan is so weak the Lib Dems could have authored it,” he said.

“The Tories left more people on long-term benefits and benefit fraud at record levels.

“Now they offer a spending card that won’t even put a dent in the coming £400billion bill. It’s a sticking plaster on a wound they opened.

“Kemi’s latest decision to let the permanently unemployed go on claiming forever is tantamount to stabbing workers in the back.”

A Labour spokesman said: “The Conservatives had 14 years to fix our welfare system, but they completely failed to make meaningful reforms.

“Now they are proposing an unworkable new card scheme, which does nothing to tackle the numbers of people their system left signed off and written off.”

It comes as Andy Burnham has been urged to tackle the UK’s ballooning welfare bill after disability claims for autism and depression more than doubled in five years.

PIP claims for mixed anxiety and depressive disorders (MADD) rose 108.5% between 2021 and 2026.

Autism PIP claims rose 136.6% over five years, an analysis by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) showed.

Shimeon Lee, policy analyst at the TPA, said: “The extraordinary growth in PIP claims for psychiatric conditions goes far beyond the headlines about ADHD.

“With the surge in people claiming for mixed anxiety and depressive disorders, autism, and ADHD driving an ever-growing burden on taxpayers, the PIP system is clearly unfit for purpose.

“The Government should use its review of PIP to fundamentally rethink eligibility, with support focused more closely on serious limitations and genuine extra costs, while introducing means testing so help is targeted at those who need it most.”

The number of people claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in England and Wales has hit a record high.

As of July, a record of nearly 4.1million people were entitled to claim the benefit, compared to 3.83million the previous year, an increase of 7%, data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed.

Wales had the highest regional average for MADD claims, at 13.1 per 1,000 residents, almost double the national constituency average.

MADD refers to cases where symptoms of anxiety and depression are present but not severe enough to warrant a separate diagnosis of either disorder.

Despite this, there were four times as many PIP claims for MADD than for ADHD in April 2026, and 68% more than for autism.

Psychiatric disorders accounted for an average of 39% of PIP claims across constituencies in April 2026, the TPA said.

ADHD, autism and mixed anxiety and depressive disorders together accounted for over half of PIP claims for psychiatric conditions.

Spending on PIP stood at £16.3billion in 2019-20, when adjusted for inflation to today’s prices, and had increased to £27.3billion by 2024-25.

But it is forecast to rise to £41.5billion by 2030-31.

John Healey and Mr Burnham are under pressure to sort out the ballooning welfare bill.

Reporters flying to New York with the Prime Minister this week pressed him on whether this will be addressed at the Chancellor’s first budget on October 28.

He appeared to hint there could be more tax rises to come, but not as much as Reeves’s two tax-raising budgets.

When the Prime Minister was asked whether the UK has got the balance right between taxing wealth and taxing income in the UK, he said: “We have two Budgets in 2024 and 2025, and we have to be conscious of the extent to which we have raised revenue. And we have to make sure we get the balance right.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “PIP is awarded based on how a condition impacts a person’s day-to-day needs, as opposed to the condition itself.