Millions More Forecast To Be On Benefits As Recession Hits

Millions more people will be forced onto benefits in the coming years as the effects of the recession bear down, economists have warned.

- Thomas Kingsley

A million more people are forecast to require health and disability benefits by 2026, while 2.3 million families, making up a fifth of the poorest households not eligible for benefits, face a “major cliff-edge” without access to additional government support outlined in Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said that rises in council tax, food, and rent would become insurmountable for many this year and beyond, adding that the government must ensure that they help everyone who needs it this winter”. The Office for Budget Responsibility OBR) has forecast a rise of 13.4 per cent in health and disability spending in 2026, which will cost the government 7.5bn. The OBR said that the increase in the number and length of claims could be driven by mental illness and long Covid.

Tom Waters, a senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the rising trend risked putting dangerous pressure on public finances. We don’t really know why more people are coming onto these benefits,” he told The Independent. Some of it may be long Covid. Over the longer term, there’s more and more people claiming because of mental health reasons that might be what is driving it.”