Exclusive: Plans to replace key disability benefits for young people with work and training could affect adults
Downing Street is considering whether plans to replace key disability benefits with work and training for people under-25 should be expanded to older age groups, the Guardian has learned, in a move that risks reigniting Labour tensions over welfare changes.
Andy Burnham and other cabinet ministers are looking at applying the idea of “participation first” to all people of working age, meaning spending billions more on support to enter the workplace while cutting or removing some disability benefits.
The move would be politically risky given the difficulties that Keir Starmer faced in getting changes to health and disability benefits past the Labour parliamentary party last year, with a rebellion leading to a major U-turn.
The government is preparing to accept recommendations from its adviser, Alan Milburn, next week on overhauling the benefits system for young people.
In his report, Milburn will propose that under-25s should get training and support instead of the universal credit health element. Under the plans, young people with disabilities will also lose their personal independence payment (Pip) but will be able to apply to a local fund for specific short-term expenses and equipment, rather than an ongoing payment. Those with the most extreme needs who cannot work will have their entitlements protected.
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dizzy: It’s bad enough that Burnham & Co discriminate against young people, now it’s a generalised assault on benefits. It will be enforced unpaid labour to benefit business. There’s nothing new about that, a return to Thatcher-Blairism.
