Reform UK has confirmed that the state pension, spending on which this year is expected to reach £180bn, will be “entirely insulated” from its planned Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) cuts. The announcement was made by Robert Jenrick, who also outlined proposals to exclude foreign nationals from most benefits under a Reform UK government.
Foreign nationals to be excluded from most benefits
On Monday, Jenrick said foreign nationals would be excluded from most benefits under a Reform UK government. The ban, part of a proposed overhaul of Britain's benefits system, would include European Union (EU) nationals with settled status in the UK, meaning a renegotiation of the UK's Brexit deal with the EU.
Mr Jenrick said: "The British taxpayer is acting as the welfare state for the world. That's unfair, we all know it." Reform claims the policy would save £21bn a year by its fifth year, but Labour insists the "vast majority" of migrants have no access to benefits, and the Conservatives have dismissed the plans as "cobbled together".
Reform's 50-page welfare plan
Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Jenrick said: "On Monday, Reform will publish Making Welfare Work: a 50-page plan for the most comprehensive redesign of the welfare system’s machinery in a generation." He added: "The scale is enormous. The Coalition’s welfare savings under Iain Duncan Smith, then regarded as the outer limit of political possibility, totalled £20.5bn. The Conservatives today propose £23bn. Our changes – which go far beyond disability benefits – are more than double that. £22bn of our reforms take the form of changes to the disability programme alone."
Return to Work Cover based on Dutch system
The Newark MP said: "Each of them has that young man in my constituency in mind. Under our plan, he would not be on benefits. Rather, under our Return to Work Cover, he’d still be connected to his employer, who would have a strong economic incentive to return him to work. It is based on the Dutch system, where applications for disability benefits fell by 40 per cent."
The proposals are part of a broader debate on welfare reform, with the state pension confirmed as protected from cuts, while other benefits face significant changes. The plan is set to be published on Monday, with further details expected.
