New DWP plans to get more disabled people into work to be announced early next year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Chancellor promised a “crackdown” on fraud in the welfare system during the Autumn Budget on Wednesday, however, the UK Government’s plan to carry on with benefit reforms previously announced by the Conservatives to save £3 billion has been branded “bitterly disappointing”.

Rachel Reeves said she wants to ensure welfare spending is “more sustainable”.Labour has previously said fraud and error in the social security system costs the UK Government almost £10bn a year.

A report in July from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said society’s attitude to fraud was “softening” with the effects being felt in the billion-pound benefits system.The Department’s annual report warned that the £266.1bn welfare budget “is a deliberate target for both organised crime groups and opportunistic individuals”.On October 30, the new Labour Government’s first Budget stated that its package of measures to tackle fraud would save £4.3bnn a year by the end of 2029/30.

Ms Reeves said: “I can today announce a crackdown on fraud in our welfare system often the work of criminal gangs.“We will expand DWP’s counter-fraud teams using innovative new methods to prevent illegal activity and provide new legal powers to crack down on fraudsters, including direct access to bank accounts to recover debt.”The UK Government also said it would set out reforms to health and disability benefits in the early part of next year “to ensure the system supports people who can work to remain in or start employment, in a way that is fair and fiscally sustainable”.Ms Reeves told the Commons her party had “inherited the last government’s plans to reform the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)” and pledged to “deliver those savings as part of fundamental reforms to