AROUND 250 people every day have been awarded disability benefits for anxiety since Labour’s election win, statistics show.
Disability payments have reached a record high — with 633,000 claiming for both anxiety and mood disorders by July this year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves can save billions and get 120,000 young people back into work by reforming benefits, according to a think tank
The Centre for Social Justice said 44,000 people, almost 250 a day, have been awarded PIP payments for anxiety since Sir Keir Starmer became PM in July 2024.
The think tank’s research also found that by next year one million benefits claimants will get £2,500 more than full-time workers on the national living wage after tax.
It says Chancellor Rachel Reeves can save £7billion and get 120,000 young people back into work by reforming mental health benefits.
The CSJ’s Ben Gregg insisted: “Abandoning young people to sickness benefits only increases the isolation feeding their struggles.
“It is neither kind nor helpful.
“The Government can and should redirect funding to tackling the root causes of mental ill-health.”
Shevaun Haviland, boss of the BCC, said: “Sickness absenteeism is a growing concern.
“The UK has more than nine million people who aren’t working with one third of them suffering from long-term health conditions.
“This is a devastating loss of potential – for these individuals, the businesses that need them and our local economies.”
A Government spokesman said: “We are shifting our focus away from welfare and on to work, skills and opportunities — especially for younger people.”
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