Warning Over Rocketing Benefits Costs

Research shows benefit payments could rise to more than £10bn if support for long-term illnesses is not improved…

Research by pension consultants LCP claims that PIP (Personal Independence Payment) benefits could rise by 75% by 2033, because of an increase in health problems including back pain, heart disease and mental illness in people about to retire.

"The prospect of large numbers of people going into retirement on long-term disability benefits is not in the interests of the individuals concerned or the taxpayer," said Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, head of health analytics at LCP.

The report’s authors say that early interventions are needed - and cite expanding the NHS Health Check programme, targeting mental health treatment, and offering low-cost devices to monitor conditions such as type 2 diabetes - in order to cut benefit costs in the next decade.

The government published a major conditions strategy in August, which aims to improve prevention of conditions such as musculoskeletal and cardiovascular conditions.

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