Keir Starmer has been accused of quietly weakening welfare safeguards after ministers moved to lengthen the period between disability benefit assessments amid mounting fears that the system is struggling to cope with a record number of claimants.
The changes, which come into force this week, will allow many recipients of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to go significantly longer between reviews, prompting warnings from critics that the Government is prioritising administrative convenience over proper scrutiny of welfare claims.
Under the new rules, claimants aged 25 and over will be able to receive awards lasting up to four years following an initial assessment and a further six years after a subsequent review.
The move comes as the number of people receiving PIP has climbed to a record 3.9 million, with annual costs reaching £26 billion and forecast to rise to £41 billion by the end of the decade.
While ministers have publicly argued that the reforms will improve efficiency and save money, internal discussions have reportedly revealed a more pressing concern: that the welfare assessment system is at risk of becoming overwhelmed.
According to evidence presented to the Social Security Advisory Committee, the Government’s independent welfare watchdog, officials warned that there was an “immediate need to act” because capacity pressures had become so severe that the assessment system risked “falling over”.
The disclosure has intensified criticism from the Opposition, which argues that extending review periods will inevitably reduce oversight and increase long-term spending.
Helen Whately, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, accused Labour of weakening checks designed to ensure benefits remain appropriate.
“Reviews are the only way we can check whether an award is still correct,” she said.
“Fewer reviews mean more people receiving handouts for longer, at greater cost to the taxpayer.
“People who could work will instead be left on payments for years without anyone asking whether that is right for them or fair to the taxpayer.
“Instead of gripping the crisis, Labour is watering down the checks that decide whether awards are fair.”
The controversy comes amid a dramatic rise in claims linked to mental health conditions, which now account for the largest share of PIP recipients.
Psychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression and ADHD now make up 39 per cent of all claims, reflecting a sharp shift in the composition of the welfare caseload.
At the same time, officials are grappling with a system increasingly reliant on remote assessments. Between July 2024 and July 2025, only around 49,000 PIP assessments were conducted face-to-face, compared with approximately 1.1 million carried out virtually.
Senior Department for Work and Pensions officials have argued that extending the duration of awards will free up resources, allowing staff to focus on claimants whose circumstances are more likely to change and enabling more in-person assessments.
Ministers insist the reforms are part of a broader effort to repair a welfare system left under severe strain.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said the Government had inherited significant backlogs and contracts signed under the previous administration that favoured virtual assessments.
He said the reforms would help ensure that health professionals’ time is directed towards those who most need support while increasing face-to-face assessments and work capability reviews.
The Government estimates the changes will save £1.9 billion during the current Parliament.
However, welfare experts warn that the relentless growth in disability spending presents a much wider fiscal challenge.
Eduin Latimer, a senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has argued that failure to tackle the long-term drivers of rising welfare expenditure will leave ministers facing increasingly difficult choices in future budgets.
Those choices, he suggested, could ultimately involve spending cuts elsewhere, tax rises, or a departure from Labour’s fiscal rules.
For critics, the latest reforms are evidence of a Government struggling to reconcile soaring welfare demand with mounting financial pressures. For ministers, they are a necessary step to prevent an overstretched system from buckling under the weight of record caseloads.
Either way, the battle over Britain’s rapidly expanding welfare bill is only just beginning.
Leave a Comment