Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “lead from the front” in fighting for welfare reforms, setting up a clash with Labour MPs who are trying to block the legislation.
More than 130 MPs, most of them backbenchers, are prepared to put their names to a “reasoned amendment”, which would stop plans to squeeze sickness and incapacity benefits.
The Prime Minister confirmed a Commons vote on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill will go ahead on Tuesday.
The plans restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit.
Social security minister Sir Stephen Timms said the cost of PIP had gone up from £12bn before the pandemic to £22bn last year, which is “not a sustainable trajectory”.
However, analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that before the pandemic, the UK spent less on disability and sickness benefits than many OECD countries.
Out of 38 OECD countries, the UK ranked 27th in its spending on sickness and disability benefits as a proportion of GDP in 2019, the think-tank found.
The UK spent 1.33 per cent in 2019 and 1.73 per cent in 2023 – still below the OECD average for 2019. An official forecast for it to rise to 2.1 per cent by 2028-29 would still only put the UK at 18th place and only just above the OECD average.
Here, The i Paper takes a look at how the UK’s support for disabled people compares with other countries.
The main disability benefit in the UK is PIP.
How much people receive depends on how difficult they find everyday activities (“daily living” tasks) and getting around (“mobility” tasks).
The lower weekly rates are £73.90 for daily living (£320 a month) and £29.20 for mobility (£127 a month). The higher weekly rates are £110.40 (£478 a month) and £77.05 respectively (£334 a month).
Under the Government’s plans, assessments for the daily living part will be tightened, which the Office for Budget Responsibility says will affect around 800,000 people.
PIP assessments involve questions about tasks like preparing and eating food, washing and getting dressed. A health professional scores these on a scale from 0 for no difficulty – to 12 for the most severe.
From November 2026, people will need to score at least four points for one activity, instead of qualifying for support with a score that could describe less severe difficulties (ones and twos) across a broad range of tasks.
How does the UK compare to other nations?
Ben Baumberg Geiger, an expert on disability benefits and a professor of social science and health at King’s College London, said it is difficult to make international comparisons because they tend to have very different systems.
The UK spends more on cash benefits for sick and disabled people, but when services are factored in lags farther behind other OECD countries, even with post-pandemic rises in spending, he said, pointing to analysis by the IFS.
In many countries, the amounts disabled people receive are linked to their earnings, he said.
It is not uncommon for disabled people to receive 70 or 80 per cent of their previous salary, up to a cap.
PIP is an unusual benefit in that it is not based on salary which therefore makes it difficult to compare.
Norway had the highest amount of cash spending on sickness and disability payments among OECD countries in 2019, according to the IFS.
The country’s spending was 3.8 per cent of GDP, far outpacing the UK’s figure of 1.3 per cent in 2019 and 1.73 per cent in 2023.
Disability benefit is 66 per cent of the average of a claimant’s pensionable income in the best three of the last five years before they became ill.
Annual income of up to NOK 780,960 (£56,722.75) is included in the calculation of the disability payments.
This means that the maximum payment is NOK 515433.6 (£37,438.34) a year or NOK 42,952.8 (£3,120.13) a month.
There are higher rates for people classed as a young disabled person. Those who are eligible were under 26 when they became ill and applied for disability benefits before the age of 36.
The minimum rate for a young disabled single person is NOK 385,143 (£27,957.02) and for other single disabled people it is NOK 352,603 (£25,502) per year.
The minimum rate for someone living with a partner is NOK 303,143 (£21,925) or NOK 352,603 (£25,502) for a young disabled person.
Professor Geiger said Norway labels more of its benefits as health and disability-related, which helps account for why they spend much more, while other countries may have more generous unemployment benefits that disabled people might be on instead.
Denmark
Professor Geiger said Denmark is one of the countries experts single out as having a benefits system that helps disabled people do well.
He said the country has Fleksjob, a government programme that supports people with reduced work capacity, enabling them to work flexible hours and receive additional benefits.
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Denmark ranked second-highest for its proportion of GDP spent on sickness and disability benefits in 2019, at about 4.5 per cent for total spending and 2.71 per cent on cash benefits.
If a disabled person is under 40, they are required to take part in activities to develop their ability to work.
If their capacity for work is permanently and substantially reduced to such a degree that they will never be able to provide for themselves by working, even in a flexible job, they may then be granted disability payments known as a disability pension.
Single disabled people receive DKK 21,103 (£2,411) a month, while married or cohabiting people get DKK 17,938 (£2,052).
The payments are reduced if their income exceeds DKK 90,000 (£10,297) for a single person or DKK 143,000 (£16,355) for those married or living with a partner.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, former chairman of the John Lewis Partnership who is leading a Keep Britain Working review for the Government, is looking at the systems in Denmark.
A second country’s system Mayfield is looking at is the Netherlands, Professor Geiger said.
While Denmark has a flexible labour market, it is more difficult for employers to sack disabled people in the Netherlands.
The country has very big incentives for employers to retain people when they develop a health condition.
Employers are liable for two years of sick pay.
At the end of that period, if the employer does not show they have done everything they can to help someone, such as early intervention and seeing if they can redeploy them elsewhere, employers then have to pay an extra year of sick pay.
About 10 per cent of employers have to pay the extra year of sick pay.
Switzerland
Switzerland also has a big interest in supporting people to get back into work, Professor Geiger said.
Their benefits system offers people support to maintain or increase their earnings which includes not just cash but counselling, therapy, training, job placement, guidance services and occupational therapy.
The country’s social insurance system can also cover medical services and medical aids such as a wheelchair or hearing aid.
If the support services are not enough and someone’s degree of disability appears permanent and is measured at at least 40 per cent, they can also apply for disability payments known as a disability pension.
The disability pension is temporary and will be paid out until the age of 65 at the latest.
Thereafter people receive a lifetime retirement pension that is calculated at the time of retirement.
People are also entitled to receive an additional disability allowance if they are unable to perform two basic activities of daily life on their own, such as getting dressed, getting up, going to bed, preparing meals, eating and washing.
Supplementary benefits are available if the total cash benefits are insufficient to meet people’s needs.
The payments are 70 per cent of someone’s pensionable base salary, 45 per cent of their pensionable base salary excess and 45 per cent of their last three pensionable awards.
The amounts are also tapered based on the level of disability. The full entitlement goes to people who have a degree of disability of at least 70 per cent, while a 40 per cent degree means a 25 per cent entitlement.
The highest possible full DI (disability insurance) pension is currently 2,520 francs (£2,296) per month, according to Moneyland.ch.
The highest full pension applies if the claimant’s average annual income ahead of becoming disabled is 88,200 francs (£80,367) or more and has paid social insurance contributions from the age 21.
Those who have not contributed to paying into the country’s social insurance scheme (similar in principle to the UK’s national insurance) continuously since the age of 21 only receive a partial disability pension.
In France, disabled adults receive an allowance of €1,033 (£880) per month if they have zero income.
The amount is reduced if people have an income. The maximum earnings in order to be eligible are €12,400 (£10,574) for a single person with no children or €22,444 (£19,139) for someone in a couple with no children.
This increases depending on the number of children. For two children, the maximum earnings for a single person are €24,800 (£21,148) and €34,844 (£29,713) for someone living as a couple.
Individuals drawing on any type of pension get the difference between the amount of their pension and the maximum amount of the allowance. To be eligible, people need to have a degree of disability of at least 50 per cent.
Australia
In Australia, disabled people can get payments if they have an impairment assessed at 20 points or more under their scoring system.
When applying for a disability support pension, the person must be unable to work for 15 or more hours per week, for at least the next two years, due to their impairment.
They can get payments of up to AUS$1,051.30 (£501) if they are single or AUS$1,585 (£755) for couples.
On top of this they can also get an extra supplement of up to AUS$83.60 (AUS$126 for couples), and an energy supplement of AUS$14.10 or AUS$21.20.
This makes for a total of AUS$1,149 (£548) for a single person and AUS$1,732.20 (£825) for a couple.
In New Zealand, a disability allowance of up to NZD$80.35 (£36) a week is available.
The income limits for the allowance are NZD$843.78 (£373) for single adults, NZD$1,256.07 (£555) for a couple, NZD$942.23 (£416) for a single parent with one child and NZD$992.74 (£439) for a parent with two or more children.
How much people get depends on the extra costs they have because of their disability.
What can the UK learn from other countries?
Professor Geiger said low benefits payments pose a particular challenge for disabled people.
“It is very difficult to survive if you are not classified as having a health condition or disability and you need to rely on the benefits system,” he said. “That is not a helpful context and there are no successful countries which have that characteristic in place.”
He said people with health conditions and disabilities need to feel that they can try going back to work and the support will still be there if they need it again in the future.
Professor Geiger said the UK also needs to increase its “vocational rehabilitation” sector, which encompasses a range of services and interventions to help people overcome barriers to work.
He warned that simply cutting benefits for disabled people risks inflicting “poverty on a large group of people” who will still not be able to get work.
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