FACE-TO-FACE welfare claim assessments are needed to stop taxpayers’ money being used to fund cars for people with minor conditions like food intolerances, Kemi Badenoch says.
The Tory leader called for a crackdown yesterday — with the health and disability benefits outlay set to spiral to £100billion by the end of the decade.
[email protected] scheme allows benefit claimants to swap payments for new cars[/caption]
She wants to stop flagrant abuse of the taxpayer-subsidised Motability scheme, which was designed to provide cars for the disabled — and also to target online “sickinfluencers” who tell claimants what to say in interviews to play the system.
Ms Badenoch said in a speech the number of in-person checks has slipped because of the pandemic, being replaced with cheaper phone interviews.
She said: “Approval rates have soared, and we now have online ‘sickfluencers’ selling people scripts to maximise their scores on an assessment.
“We need to build in proper medical evidence to the system. And go back to face-to-face assessments which never recovered after Covid.
“Food intolerances are a medical fact, but they’re not something we should be handing out new cars for.
“That is not a joke. This actually happens.”
Stats show around £600million went on Motability last year from the Department for Work and Pensions, and 589,000 claimants had cars as of April.
Ms Badenoch said it needed to go as it was a “perfect example” of a welfare system out of control. She said: “People are qualifying with conditions like drug misuse, ADHD and obesity.
“The assessment system surely can’t have been designed with that intention. And we can’t allow it to continue for a moment longer.”
It comes as PM Sir Keir Starmer braces for another brewing backbench Labour revolt — this time over the two-child benefit cap.
Figures show almost 40,000 more children are now living in households affected by the threshold.
Ms Badenoch said: “Right at this moment there are probably Labour MPs behind closed doors drawing up plans to force his hand.”
Ms Badenoch said: “Right at this moment there are probably Labour MPs behind closed doors drawing up plans to force his hand.”
PAKemi Badenoch says in-person checks are needed to curb rising costs of schemes like Motability[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
