A much-praised British scheme to help disabled workers is failing them
It lavishes spending on some, and unfairly deprives others
RACHEL REEVES, Britain’s chancellor, loves “working people”. She mentioned them 13 times in her budget speech in October. But like her Conservative predecessors, Ms Reeves is rather less keen on benefit recipients. The welfare bill for those on sickness and disability is expected to increase by about half in the next five years, exceeding £100bn ($123bn), or 3% of GDP, by 2030. Some suspect the generous terms are contributing to Britain’s high levels of economic inactivity.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Apple watches and wobble boards”
Britain
January 11th 2025- What Elon Musk’s tweets about sex abuse reveal about British politics
- Rolls-Royce cars push the pedal on customisation
- A much-praised British scheme to help disabled workers is failing them
- Britons are keener than ever to bring back lost and rare species
- The decline in remote working hits Britain’s housing market
- The phenomenon of sexual strangulation in Britain
- How means conquered ends

From the January 11th 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
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Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are forging a tight link
As Donald Trump threatens to leave Europe on its own
Britain’s government may be about to waste its best chance of success
A bill to unblock house building and boost growth looks far too timid
Paying teenagers to go to school was a bad idea
At least in Britain
Anybody in Britain can call themselves a therapist
That opens the door to abuse
Britain’s capital markets are waging a war on paper
Calls are growing to modernise the country’s shareholding system