Benefit claimants with mild anxiety need support to live better, fuller lives – not cash handouts
4 min read
Nobody would expect to visit their GP and be given cash instead of care and support.
Yet that is the system increasingly run from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) when responding to people with ADHD, anxiety and less severe mental health conditions.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – the principal benefit through which people are supported to assist with the additional cost of living with a disability – is not means-tested and is paid out regardless of whether someone is working. The number applying with mental health conditions has risen sharply in recent years, with less severe mental health conditions representing 41 per cent of all new PIP cases since 2021.
Meanwhile, DWP figures show that two million are waiting to have their universal credit sickness benefit reassessed, stuck in a backlog with an average waiting time of two years.
These are people whose condition could improve, hence being marked for reassessment. There could be tens of thousands – possibly more – receiving cash benefits for years longer than they require.
Covid changed the relationship between the individual and the state. When the economy was largely shut down, people became more reliant on handouts and that legacy has embedded itself in parts of the welfare state. In 2019/20 the welfare bill cost £228bn; by 2030, the OBR predicts it will cost £400bn. It will take serious political will to change this trajectory, but it is essential for the health and economic wellbeing of our country.
The Conservatives would see all mild PIP claims for anxiety, depression and ADHD reassessed face-to-face, and the majority moved away from a cash payment system. Reliance on long-term benefits often starts with a sick note (or ‘fit note’) from a doctor: 11 million were issued last year and 93 per cent were marked not fit for work. So, we would change that system too.
If someone seeks time off from work that would take them beyond a month, they would be referred to an occupation health professional, not a GP, to make an assessment which could come with advice to keep them working in some capacity.
Disability Living Allowance, which is the equivalent benefit for people aged 16 and under, has grown too. Learning difficulties, behavioural disorders or ADHD now make up 85 per cent of cases. The total number of children on DLA has grown by 75 per cent since 2019/20 – yet plainly there are not 75 per cent more disabled children now than there were six years ago.
Many people living with more mild mental health conditions will of course go through periods of genuine distress, but the need is not generally satisfied by money
There is a significant cash incentive for a diagnosis followed by a successful claim: typically around £10,500 a year for a child starting secondary school if carers allowance is included.
A report by Professor Peter Fonagy – commissioned by the government – finds that autism diagnoses in young people has surged to more than four per cent of the population and is continuing to grow sharply. This compares to an estimated population prevalence rate which has stayed relatively stable at 1.2 per cent in the most recent figures (2017). ADHD diagnosis has grown above the estimated population prevalence rate too. Professor Fonagy prefers the term “misdiagnosis” to “overdiagnosis”, but the broad conclusion is that incorrect diagnosis and a huge backlog for those waiting for a diagnosis means that too many in serious need are left in limbo and without appropriate support.
Many people living with more mild mental health conditions will of course go through periods of genuine distress, but the need is not generally satisfied by money. Professor Fonagy told the Health and Social Care Select Committee that, with the right support, mental ill health can improve. That is why the Conservatives would replace cash handouts with more accessible community support, which is not strictly diagnosis dependent. And to encourage employers to offer more opportunities for young people, we would halve the national insurance contributions they have to pay for employees under the age of 25.
Replacing cash handouts with better access to therapeutic support to help people learn, work and contribute to the economy would be better for society, fairer to the taxpayer and better for individuals too. That is the system we should be building.
Joe Robertson is Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, and shadow work and pensions minister
