The Chancellor's Spring Budget is set to be delivered on Wednesday and is expected to outline targeted measures to boost workforce participation for benefit claimants, the over-50s and the long-term sick and disabled. Tackling economic inactivity is a key component of Jeremy Hunt's plans, as employment numbers have languished far below their pre-pandemic levels, harming the UK's already-struggling economy.
As part of what he is calling his ‘back-to-work Budget’, it has been reported that Mr Hunt will announce the axing of the system used to assess eligibility for sickness benefits - Work Capability Assessmets. The biggest reform to the welfare system in a decade will mean claimants can continue to receive the payments after they return to employment, according to the Treasury.
The change will allow people to move into work without fear of being reassessed and losing their benefits. The process is expected to be replaced with one that asks claimants to demonstrate what job they might be able to take, prompting disability equality charity, Scope, to warn that "disabled people shouldn't be forced into unsuitable work".
