Reform UK Unveils £50bn Welfare Overhaul Targeting Disability and Migration
The party’s policy paper outlines a £20bn reduction in disability support and a £21bn saving from restricting benefits for non-British households, drawing immediate condemnation from opposition parties and campaign groups.
Reform UK has tabled a comprehensive policy paper proposing £50bn in annual cuts to the welfare bill, a move that places significant restrictions on disability benefits and universal credit claims for foreign nationals. Finance spokesperson Robert Jenrick described the current welfare architecture as driven by “suicidal empathy” and “immoral” spending, arguing that the state must prioritise fiscal restraint over what he characterised as excessive generosity towards vulnerable groups and non-citizens.
The proposal seeks to reduce the welfare bill by a quarter, with £20bn targeted through reforms to disability support. Under the plan, Personal Independence Payments (Pip) would be replaced by a cash benefit strictly limited to the “gravely ill and severely challenged”. Individuals with lower-level conditions would no longer receive national benefits, with oversight of support shifted to local councils and mayors. Jenrick argued that current disability spending fails to deliver genuine value and that the proposed restrictions are necessary to curb what he terms unsustainable public expenditure.
A further £21bn in savings would be achieved by barring foreign-born households from claiming a wide range of benefits, including universal credit, housing benefit, pension credit, jobseeker’s allowance, and disability support. The policy explicitly includes EU citizens with settled status, although foreign-born parents with British-born children would retain eligibility for child benefit and free school meals. Jenrick stated in the Telegraph that paying benefits to non-British individuals was “plain immoral”, asserting that the reforms would save taxpayers £21bn annually by the fifth year of implementation.
The announcement has triggered sharp rebuke from political opponents and advocacy groups. Best for Britain warned that denying benefits to those with indefinite leave to remain would constitute a breach of the EU withdrawal agreement. Tom Brufatto, the group’s executive director of policy, cautioned that such measures would damage ties with vital allies and punish neighbours who have settled status, arguing that renegotiation should not come at the cost of undermining existing legal frameworks.
Labour and the Green Party condemned the proposals as “fantasy economics” and xenophobic attacks on the defenceless. Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who previously campaigned against disability cuts under Keir Starmer, argued that Reform’s plans exclude disabled people from full societal participation. Meanwhile, Linda Burnip of Disabled People Against Cuts highlighted that previous replacements of disability benefits had failed to save money, noting that denying support could lead to higher public costs, such as hospital stays costing approximately £12,000 per person per week. The Conservatives dismissed the announcement as “cobbled together”, claiming only they possessed a credible plan to save £23bn from welfare.
