Reform UK has pledged to introduce a mandatory 20-hour-a-week community work requirement for long-term unemployed Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants if it wins the next general election. The policy, outlined by the party's Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick, would dramatically tighten eligibility for PIP, a benefit currently claimed by just under 4 million people.
Under the proposals, claimants who have been jobless for over a year would be required to perform 20 hours of compulsory community work each week. The work would be unpaid, but participants would receive £30 per week to cover expenses. Failure to comply could result in sanctions on their unemployment benefits.
Massive Reduction in Cash Payments
Jenrick, writing in the Telegraph, said: “We will not pretend this is painless. Existing claimants will be reassessed over three to four years: we estimate that 2.16 million will keep their present cash entitlement in full, while 2.89 million will see theirs modified or withdrawn, concentrated where recent growth has been most explosive.”
This means an estimated 2.9 million people could lose their cash payments entirely or have them reduced, a significant shift in the welfare landscape. The reassessment process would be phased over several years to manage the transition.
Investment in Health and Employment Support
The Reform Treasury spokesperson went on: “And because the objective is recovery rather than warehousing, we will invest an extra £1.85bn a year in talking therapies, physiotherapy and employment support. The aim? To end the era in which fewer than one in a hundred Universal Credit health claimants now moves into a job each month.”
This investment is intended to support claimants in returning to work, rather than simply cutting benefits. Jenrick framed the policy as a compassionate alternative to the current system, which he argues fails to help people improve their circumstances.
Personal Justification and Political Context
Jenrick added: “Growing up in Wolverhampton amidst the dislocation and deindustrialisation of the Black Country, I saw why the welfare state matters. Why we owe an obligation to those in desperate need. Why, when hard times hit, the state must be there to support people through it.”
He continued: “But dumping our young people onto welfare isn’t compassion; it’s neglect. We are not lifting people out of misfortune. We are abandoning them to it, and calling it kindness. Unlike the other parties, I’m not going to sit by and watch. Now, we stop patching. Britain is broken, but it can be fixed with real change. We’ll save the welfare state, and we’ll do it by revolutionising it.”
The announcement comes as part of Reform UK's broader welfare reform agenda ahead of the next general election. If implemented, the changes would represent one of the most significant overhauls to disability benefits in recent decades, affecting millions of current claimants.
