The Chancellor confirmed an income boost for millions of working age people on benefits as he delivered his autumn statement but changes to the sanctions regime caused alarm among charities supporting those on low incomes.

Addressing MPs in Parliament on Wednesday, Jeremy Hunt said: “Every year we sign off over 100,000 people on to benefits with no requirement to look for work because of sickness or disability.

“That waste of potential is wrong economically and wrong morally.”

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Mr Hunt said the changes, which will see treatment rather than time off become the default when it comes to sick notes and benefits stopped altogether if people “choose not to engage with the work search process for six months”, will help grow the economy.

He said the work capability assessment will be reformed “to reflect greater flexibility and availability of home-working after the pandemic” and outlined £1.3 billion in spending over the next five years which he said will be focused on helping nearly 700,000 people with health conditions find jobs.

He added: “Over 180,000 more people will be helped through the universal support programme, and nearly 500,000 more people will be offered treatment for mental health conditions and employment support.

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“Over the forecast period, the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) judge these measures will more than halve the flow of people who are signed off work with no work-search requirements. At the same time, we will provide a further £1.3 billion of funding to offer extra help to the 300,000 people who’ve been unemployed for over a year without any sickness or disability.”

The Disability Benefits Consortium, a national coalition of more than 100 charities, described the Government’s plan as a “cynical attack on disability benefits (which) will have a devastating impact on those on the lowest incomes”.

Anastasia Berry, policy co-chair of the consortium, said just one in 10 jobs advertised this year has offered home-working as an option, and described access to health and care support, “which could keep people in work for longer, including mental health and social care”, as becoming “increasingly strained”.

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United Response, a member of the consortium, said there is “little point forcing people into the wrong job as this will simply lead to a revolving door of staff” and called for “targeted and specialist support” for people “rather than using punitive punishments”.

Its chief executive Tim Cooper said: “Disability should not be framed as a lifestyle choice when there is a real risk of sanctions pushing people already dealing with a cost-of-living crisis further into poverty this winter.”

Mr Hunt’s statement on the change was a “missed opportunity to set out how disabled people can thrive” and “instead, now many will be thinking how they will survive”, said James Taylor from disability equality charity Scope.

He said: “Today the Chancellor doubled down on a plan that will ramp up sanctions and demonises disabled people.”

Welfare payments are always uprated each April, in line with the inflation rate the previous September, however there had been speculation that Jeremy Hunt would choose to link the increase to October's lower figure.

But unveiling his plans to MPs today Mr Hunt said the Government would increase Universal Credit and other benefits from next April by 6.7%.

The figure is in line with September's inflation figure rather than October's which was 4.6%.
Mr Hunt said the rise would be an "average increase of £470 for 5.5 million households next year".

The Chancellor also announced an increase to both the minimum wage and the the national living wage.

The national living wage - which is the minimum wage for adults aged 23 and over - will rise by £1.02-an-hour in April, from £10.42 to £11.44 an hour.

Eligibility for the National Living Wage will also be extended by reducing the age threshold to 21-year-olds for the first time. 

And national minimum wage for those aged between 18 and 20 will increase by £1.11 to £8.60 per hour.

These changes will impact around 2.7 million workers, according to the government.

Responding to the Chancellor's statement, the SNP described the UK government's plans as "far too little, too late for the squeezed majority of households".

Drew Hendry, the SNP's economy spokesman at Westminster, said with families paying more for their energy, mortgages, rents and food shopping "the limited measures in today's statement won't touch the sides for most households, who have seen their monthly costs go through the roof".

He said Mr Hunt's plans were underwhelming and criticised the UK government's failure to introduce a £400 energy bill rebate for households after bills doubling since 2021. They are expected to rise yet again this week.

Mr Henry also attacked the Chancellor's failure to follow the Scottish Government's decision to freeze council tax and to bring in a benefit to replicate the Scottish Child Payment south of the border.

"This Tory budget is far too little, too late for the squeezed majority of households - and it shows why Scotland urgently needs the full powers of independence to boost incomes and grow our economy," he said.

"With UK energy bills, mortgages, rents and food prices soaring, the very limited measures in the Chancellor's statement won't touch the sides for most households who have seen their monthly costs go through the roof - and will still be hundreds of pounds worse off.

"This is yet another con trick from a Tory government that trashed the UK economy, failed to match the SNP government's council tax freeze and Scottish Child Payment - and has refused to devolve powers to the Scottish Parliament so the SNP can act where they won't.

"The UK economy is trapped in a vicious cycle of poor growth, stagnant wages and rising poverty as a result of Brexit and Tory cuts - but neither Rishi Sunak nor Keir Starmer will change course from the damaging Westminster policies that got the UK into this mess.

"Scotland needs the full powers of independence. Independent European countries like Scotland are wealthier and fairer than the UK - so the question is: why not Scotland?"

John Dickie, the Director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland said the uprating of benefits in line with the September rate of inflation should never have been in question.

“It’s right that benefits are uprated in line with inflation but this should never have been in doubt. After a decade of social security cuts and freezes families are still unable to meet the costs they face. Legislation mandating inflationary increases is now needed as a basic protection for living standards – it must never again be left to a ‘rabbit-out-of-the-hat’ moment after months of worry for parents across the country," he said.

"Struggling families will not be ‘back on track’ until they have the support they need for their children.  That means the UK government must restore investment in child benefit and abolish the pernicious two-child limit and benefit cap.”

The Disability Benefits Consortium, a national coalition of more than 100 charities, described the government’s welfare reforms as a “cynical attack on disability benefits (which) will have a devastating impact on those on the lowest incomes”.