Thousands of UK households set to lose £5,000 directly from bank accounts

Thousands of disabled people are set to lose an extra £5,000 a year following the Autumn Statement announcement.

According to Birmingham Live, an estimated 370,000 people will be ineligible for incapacity benefits and forced to look for work, Jeremy Hunt announced in his Budget in the Commons. Mr Hunt said the measures were “right economically and right morally” and would make it easier for disabled people who wanted to work to get a job.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates the reforms will see 370,000 fewer claimants ineligible.

Tom Waters, an associate director at IFS, said: “Of the 370,000 people who will lose out from this reform, the overwhelming majority are expected to nonetheless remain on benefits, just with a lower level of income. Only 10,000 – 2.7% of those affected – are expected to move into work.”

Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said the reforms were predicated on “baseless assumptions about disabled people” and urged ministers to rethink the plans. “The reality is that the vast majority of people with mental health problems want to work but are consistently let down by poor support across the board,” she said.

James Taylor, director of strategy at disability charity Scope, said: “The chancellor doubled down on a plan that will ramp up sanctions and demonises disabled people. It was a missed opportunity to set out how disabled people can thrive. Instead, now many will be thinking how they will survive.”

The government estimates that 1.6m low-income households will be better off next year as a result of the change, gaining £800 annually on average in 2024-25. Mr Hunt said proposed changes to “fit for work” tests will halve the number of new claimants deemed unable to work.

He claimed it could save the government £1bn a year by 2028-29.

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