Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden defended Labour’s welfare reforms, saying they aim to support those who cannot work while encouraging employment for those who can. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00We're announcing an important package of welfare reform today. The UK has been an outlier compared
00:07to other major industrial countries in recent years in that we are the only big industrial
00:13country where the proportion of people in employment is lower than it was before the pandemic.
00:19The number of people on long-term disability benefits is 2.8 million. It's expected to go up
00:26to over 4 million without action, so we want to introduce a package of reform that makes sure
00:33those who genuinely need help and who can't work get that help, but we also help those who could
00:38work into work. That'll be better for them and better for the country as a whole. It's really
00:43important that people with disabilities or vulnerable people get the support they need,
00:49but I don't think we can be relaxed as a country if the numbers on this are growing to 2 million,
00:55then a projected 3 million, then 4 million. We have to look at the criteria for this.
01:02My colleague the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will be announcing
01:06a package of reform today and it's one that's aimed at making sure there is help available
01:11for people who can't work, but there's also incentives to work and support for work for those who can.