The Prime Minister outlined our plan for ensuring the welfare system supports more people off benefits and into work, helps grow the economy while being sustainable for the future, and directs help to those most in need.

Over the last 14 years, successive Conservative Governments have taken hugely significant steps to reform the broken welfare system we inherited from Labour by putting work at the heart of welfare through Universal Credit and boosting pay by cutting taxes for 27 million working people. However, post-pandemic, we must now go further to ensure the welfare system is working for both claimants and taxpayers.

That is why the Plan for Welfare will change the rules so that someone working less than half of a full-time week will have to look for more work, while strengthening the sanctions regime and ensuring unemployment benefits remain a safety net, not a lifestyle choice. We will also stop people being automatically written off as not fit for work, and review and reform our disability benefit system.

Taken together, our Conservative plan will create a welfare system that’s delivering a better future for everyone who uses it. It will ensure we have a system that provides vital support for those who need it most, ensuring they are supported to live with dignity and independence, whilst making sure that everyone who can work is expected and supported to do so.