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Reform UK plan would overhaul welfare system with £50bn in savings

The party says the overhaul would replace disability payments with a new allowance and shift some support to councils and employers.

  • Reform UK announced plans to cut £50bn from the benefits bill by replacing Personal Independent Payments and Universal Credit health elements with a narrower Health Security Allowance, affecting nearly 3 million people.
  • Robert Jenrick, Reform's treasury spokesperson, described the existing system as "suicidal empathy" and "a strange perversion of compassion" in the Sunday Telegraph, calling the overhaul the most comprehensive welfare redesign in a generation.
  • Reform plans to mandate employer-funded sick pay for two years, requiring businesses with over five employees to carry insurance while cutting National Insurance contributions; the party would invest £1.85bn annually in cognitive behavioural therapy and employment support.
  • Labour called the £50 billion savings claim "fantasy economics, built on stripping support from disabled people," while Conservatives labeled the policy "half-baked" and an attempt to distract from Nigel Farage's £5m gift.
  • Previous legislative efforts suggest difficulty; a failed March 2025 attempt to tighten assessments was gutted by backbenchers after pressure, and Jenrick described those "modest savings" as cautionary precedent for Reform's sweeping changes.
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National Review broke the news in New York, United States on Saturday, August 15, 2026.
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