There are some figures that are so strikingly off the scale – the cost of HS2, say, or levels of immigration – that you think there must be a nought too much or a decimal point missing. But no, the digits are correct: the number of people claiming disability benefits in Britain will increase by 750,000 – that’s three quarters of a million – over the next five years.
That’s not the numbers claiming benefits; it’s the increase in the numbers of claimants. I know what you’re going to say – Liz Kendall, Work and Pensions Secretary, is sorting out benefits (and is being demonised as a cross between Cruella de Ville and Mrs Thatcher for her pains) so that figure can’t be right. But the impact assessment of the benefits changes by civil servants has found that even with the reforms there will still be a huge increase in claimants by 2030. The cost will increase from £23 billion to £30 billion a year.
