Andy Burnham Set to Announce Changes to DWP Benefit Entitlements

Andy Burnham DWP benefit entitlement changes, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces a reported £6bn bill for welfare reform at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), according to a Birmingham Live report. The Labour government is expected to look at German and Danish spending on employment support as the incoming Milburn Review prepares to report.

In response to the review, Burnham and DWP Secretary Pat McFadden will reportedly bring forward legislation “to change benefit entitlements in the next King’s Speech, which is likely to take place in April,” the Telegraph has said. A DWP spokesman said the Milburn and Timms Reviews, due to report in November, will lay the foundation for sustainable reform, and that the department will not pre-empt their findings.

The spokesman added that the government is already changing the system through the Youth Guarantee, which includes £2.5bn of investment in youth employment over the next three years. The programme aims to support almost one million young people and help deliver up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.

The UK spends around 0.1 per cent of GDP, or £3.7bn a year, on helping people into work. The German government spends 0.3 per cent of GDP on job support, including wage subsidies for workers up to the age of 29.

In Denmark, young disabled people can take state-subsidised “flexi jobs” with lower working hours, and the government spends 0.4 per cent of GDP on employment support.

The Milburn Review is expected to suggest a major expansion of work programmes in the UK under an “invest to save” model. It will reportedly argue that significant investment in employment opportunities and training is better than cuts to DWP benefits.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Mencap, warned that the government should not “simply take money off individual people and force them into a particular direction.” Sparkes, who accompanied the Secretary of State on a visit, said that any benefit spending should be a byproduct of employment support. “If that means in the long run the benefits bill comes down, then that’s potentially a good consequence,” he said.

“But it can’t be short term measures to simply take money off individual people and force them into a particular direction.”