I’ll stop people on benefits ‘taking the mickey’ & young people seeing work as stressful, vows Liz Kendall

SOME people on benefits are “taking the mickey”, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.

Liz Kendall also declared that too many youngsters were struggling to face the demands of work.

She said there was a “genuine problem” with the “Covid generation” seeing jobs as stressful.

And the Cabinet Minister warned that without reforms the UK would spend £20billion more on sickness and disability benefits in just five years.

Ministers are under pressure to cut the ballooning welfare bill and get people grafting.

Official figures show there are 270,000 people aged 16 to 34 who are not working owing to long-term sickness and mental health conditions.

The figure has surged by 60,000 (26 per cent) in the past year alone, the Department for Work and Pensions said.

Asked if people were “overdoing what would be a normal worry in the past”, Ms Kendall said: “I think there is genuinely a problem with many young people, particularly the Covid generation.

“We can’t have a situation where doing a day’s work is seen as stressful.”

Asked if people were pretending to be ill for a life on benefits, she said: “I have no doubt, as there always have been, there are people who shouldn’t be on those benefits who are taking the mickey. We have to end that.”

Ms Kendall said a green paper in the spring would pledge action to overhaul the way job centres work.

She did not deny that cuts were under consideration.

Reports last week said ministers had drawn up options to reduce benefits and require the long-term sick to look for work.

Pressed on how many of the 3.3million claiming incapacity benefits could get jobs, she told ITV: “I think there’s many more, with the right help and support, who could.”