Thank you to everyone who has contacted me about reform of the welfare system. I share some of the concerns raised by residents, particularly around changes to the Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

I stood to be the MP for East Thanet because I believe strongly that coastal communities like ours have been let down by fourteen years of Conservative government, which has left a legacy of ill health, insecure work, and an economy that simply isn’t working for people. I grew up in the 1980s when hundreds of thousands of young people went straight from school to the dole office. I came into politics to make sure that never happens again, and yet it has. It is a scar on our community that more than 12% of young people in Thanet are not in employment, education and training.

I will always believe that decent, secure work is the best path to prosperity and security for most people, and that those who can work should work. The primary role of the welfare system should therefore always be to support people into work, while providing a safety net to those who are unable to work because of illness or disability. We should never accept a system that allows people’s potential to be wasted and for them to be parked on benefits and out of work for life when they do not have to be. For that to happen we need an economy that supports good jobs here in Thanet, to ensure people can earn enough to have dignity and security.

What is clear to me is that the system built by the Conservatives over the past fourteen years is broken and is in urgent need of reform – it is punitive and bureaucratic for claimants, it is not providing the support people need to access work, it is failing to protect the most vulnerable, and the cost to the taxpayer of paying for it is spiralling out of control.

In March 2024, government spending on working-age benefits was £48.5 billion. But the independent Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) are predicting that without government action that cost will increase by more than 50% to £75.7 billion by 2030 – or almost twice the defence budget.

That increase is unsustainable, and it is therefore essential that action is taken to bring those costs down. But that does have to be done in the right way; by supporting people to find work and tackling the underlying reasons why they are out of work in the first place.

On that front, there are many aspects of these reforms that I welcome, particularly those which provide people with the support they need to find work. That includes an additional £1 billion spent on supporting people with disabilities and long-term conditions to find jobs, a consultation on improving the Access to Work scheme that funds reasonable adjustments for disabled people in the workplace, and a new ‘Right to Try’ guarantee that means people with disabilities can try out a new job without risking losing their benefits if it doesn’t work out.

I am also pleased to see that the basic rate of Universal Credit is being increased by £775 per year for those who find themselves unemployed, an important change after years of cuts under the Tories that have caused considerable hardship for recipients without delivering savings for the taxpayer.

We need to rewire the economy too, so that work pays, and the jobs are there. That is why I welcome government action, including an almost 7% increase in the minimum wage, a ban on exploitative zero hours contracts, improved rights to sick pay, and increased protections from harassment and abuse at work. These are all important steps in the right direction, restoring pride in work and ensuring work pays, and will help to build an economy that works for all of us.

The workplace needs to be a place where all of us, including those with sickness or disability, can thrive. Our Employment Rights Bill will strengthen the law to make this happen, although I accept that more will need to be done, and I will continue to work with employers, trade unions, and disability rights organisations to support employers and employees to develop inclusive workplaces in East Thanet.

Our educational institutions, especially East Kent College, already do impressive work on supporting young people to be work ready: these efforts need to be further supported and developed as part of the government’s Youth Guarantee. I have also visited some fantastic local businesses recently who are supporting the next generation in Thanet to gain vital skills and enter the workplace through apprenticeships.

We also know that thousands of people aren’t in work because of systemic failures with the NHS. That’s part of the reason the government is investing £25 billion of additional money in our health service – the largest investment outside of the pandemic since Labour were last in power. That’s a huge downpayment in clearing NHS waiting lists, improving mental health support, and ending the crisis in our GP surgeries, and I’m pleased that we have now seen NHS waiting lists fall for five months in a row.

It is unacceptable that so many people are finding themselves locked out of work and stuck on benefits because they cannot access the healthcare they so desperately need. We know that mental health problems, in particular, are the reason so many people are claiming out-of-work benefits, so I am glad the government has made clear they want to tackle this problem, especially among young people. People deserve the treatment and support they need tackle their mental ill health, and for most, it shouldn’t be a permanent barrier to employment.

I am pleased to see the government has cancelled demeaning Conservative plans to replace some disability benefits with vouchers, is scrapping the widely-hated Work Capability Assessment, and that rumours of a freeze to PIP (a real terms cut when inflation is factored in) were unfounded.

But I am concerned about the government’s plan to restrict eligibility to claim PIP. PIP is provided to people with long-term health conditions or disabilities – whether or not they are in work – which are intended to cover the additional costs associated with managing a disability. Changes to the eligibility criteria for PIP could mean some people who need help with tasks like washing their hair, washing their body below the waist, or cooking food could find themselves losing access to PIP, with some potentially facing significant hardship as a result.

While these changes are projected to save the government around £3.5 billion a year, it is difficult to see how they align with the underlying principles of supporting people back into work and protecting the most vulnerable.

When I first became aware the government was planning to make cuts to PIP, I raised my concerns with ministers on several occasions, and I also questioned the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the House of Commons on this aspect of the plans, which you can watch by clicking here. I was pleased to be able attend a Scope event this week in Parliament to discuss these reforms with them, and I will continue to voice my concerns with government in the coming weeks and months as these plans are consulted on, because I am worried about the impact they will have on vulnerable people.

I will also be looking closely at further measures I know are coming over the next few months to tackle poverty, such as further detail of the government’s Warm Homes Plan to cut people’s energy bills, or the recommendations that will be published by the Child Poverty Taskforce. I want to be satisfied that the government remains on track to deliver the best possible outcomes for some of the poorest in our society over the next five years, whatever the difficult economic circumstances we face.

Turning around the economic damage of the past fourteen years and fixing our broken welfare system will not be easy, and it will not happen overnight. It is right that the government are tackling these challenges head on – fixing our NHS, making work pay again, and bringing in new support to get people into work.

But I remain uncomfortable about the changes to disability benefits being proposed, which I do not believe align with the government’s broader agenda of change that people voted for at the last election.

So please rest assured that as your MP I will continue to stand up for a welfare system that ensures that those who can work are able to access work, while protecting the most vulnerable and supporting those who struggle in a world that is not designed for them.