Badenoch sets out £36.1bn a year in welfare cuts, including child disability payments

The package in brief

Kemi Badenoch set out on Tuesday, 10 November, how the Conservatives would cut £36.1bn a year from the welfare budget, filling in the details of a figure she first announced at the party conference in October. Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately appeared with her at a press conference in Westminster. Badenoch said the £333.8bn Britain spends on welfare and benefits each year was more than the entire GDP of Ukraine.

Pensioners take the largest share of that spending, at £161.4bn, with the State Pension alone costing £146.1bn. Badenoch then gave her verdict on the arrangement.

Total welfare and benefits333.8

Pensioners161.4

State Pension146.1

Total welfare and benefits

333.8 £bn

Pensioners

161.4 £bn

State Pension

146.1 £bn

Data from the article text

“The current system is unsustainable.”

Where the savings come from

The largest block is £13.7bn from changes to sickness and disability benefits, which would restrict payments for people with milder mental health conditions and neurodiversity conditions such as anxiety, depression and ADHD. The party's package would also scrap payments for routine back and joint pain. Another £9.5bn would come from ending benefit claims by foreign nationals who do not hold EU settled status. Reducing local housing allowance payments would save £4.5bn, while reintroducing the two-child benefit cap would raise £3.1bn, a policy the Conservatives say Labour scrapped last year. A further £1bn is expected from new plans to tackle fraud and error.

Sickness and disability benefits13.7

Foreign nationals9.5

Local housing allowance4.5

Two-child benefit cap3.1

Child DLA2.8

Fraud and error1

Sickness and disability benefits

13.7 £bn

Foreign nationals

9.5 £bn

Local housing allowance

4.5 £bn

Two-child benefit cap

3.1 £bn

Child DLA

2.8 £bn

Fraud and error

1 £bn

Data from the article text

Child disability payments

The £2.8bn a year measure would end cash payments under Disability Living Allowance for children with milder learning, behavioural or ADHD-related conditions. Only the most severe cases, which the party puts at around 30% of claims, would keep receiving money. The remaining 70% would instead be offered support through mental health services and family hubs, into which the Conservatives say they would invest £1bn. The changes would apply to new claims and reassessments, and children with physical disabilities would be exempt. The party cites government statistics showing child DLA cases rising from 521,476 in 2020 to 914,000, and calls it the fastest-growing benefit in the welfare system.

Jobseekers and young people

Whately argued that the current system can set children on a path toward a lifetime of dependence on benefits. She also indicated the party would not put more money into employment support. She acknowledged that some young people leaving benefits would need "intensive" help to find work, and said existing funding for such programmes was already substantial. Whately was blunt about the consequences for those who refuse help.

“but if they don't show up they won't get welfare”

Labour's response

Badenoch accused the Labour government led by Andy Burnham of writing off disabled Britons, calling its approach to welfare for mild mental health conditions "destructive". Labour has condemned the plan, arguing it would drive people into hardship and raise costs for the state. Asked whether the plan risked blaming young people, Badenoch rejected the suggestion.

“No one is blaming young people.”

She said the real target was a welfare system in which, in her view, too much money is spent and ministers are unwilling to do anything about it.