Ministers are developing extensive plans for welfare changes, which include discontinuing a key disability benefit for individuals under 25. This benefit would be replaced with a multibillion-pound support package designed to help young people enter employment, according to reports.
Multiple Whitehall sources indicate that the proposed changes are more substantial than previously understood. The government aims to encourage more people currently receiving benefits to return to work.
A central option under consideration for young people involves removing the health element of universal credit for claimants under 25, which has already been almost halved to £217 a month. This would be accompanied by intensive support to help them find work. The possibility of applying this change to existing claimants, not just new ones, is also being examined.
The additional support could include subsidised jobs for younger individuals, more targeted "back to work" schemes, and mental health support. These initiatives are part of an effort to assist more of the one million 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK who are not in work, education, or training (NEETs) into the workplace.
Officials are also exploring a new system to replace the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is currently claimed by four million people. One potential plan involves a separate system for the under-25 age group, with reduced or withdrawn entitlements, though those with the most severe disabilities would not lose money.
The significant changes would require new legislation. Ministers and officials are considering a bill encompassing the replacement for PIP and changes to the under-25 system, which could be presented in the next parliamentary session next year.