Andy Burnham has opened the door to making it harder to claim benefits, telling claimants they can, in fact, go to work.
The Prime Minister said he might “increase the conditions on people required to receive benefits”, telling the BBC he believed “there are people out there who, with the right support, can go into work”.
He will make a speech on Wednesday outlining his plans for adult social care, a system he has wanted to reform since his time as Health Secretary under Gordon Brown.
The Prime Minister will stop short of unveiling plans for the new system in his speech.
He is instead expected to speed up the Casey Commission, an independent review which has been considering possible solutions for how to solve Britain’s social care.
The Telegraph revealed last night he was plotting a crackdown on youth sickness benefits in order to fund any changes to social care and defence – for which he was left a multi-billion-pound black hole by Sir Keir Starmer, which he will need to fill at his first budget.
Young people could be stripped of their benefits unless they take up training or voluntary work, according to the newspaper.
Mr Burnham is likely to risk the wrath of his backbenchers if he takes aim at Britain’s benefits bill – just like Sir Keir did.
And he insisted would not go “straight to blaming ” benefits claimants, saying how “there are people in the benefits system, young people in their 20s who have been quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there”.
The Prime Minister is also set to make interventions on youth unemployment and devolution in the coming days.
It comes as new analysis revealed teenagers claiming personal independence payment received £100 a week more than part-time workers on minimum wage.
The payment is intended to help with everyday tasks for those with a long-term physical disability or mental health condition.
According to analysis from The Times, more than 87,000 16- and 17-year-olds are claiming PIP – more than two thirds for mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions such as anxiety, depression, autism and ADHD.
A 16-year-old on the under-18 minimum wage, working the legal maximum hours, would take home around £94.
The same teenager, receiving Pip with anxiety, can receive more than double the hourly equivalent – without doing any work.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Mr Burnham expressing her willingness to collaborate on his forthcoming overhaul – but only if two key demands are met.
In her letter, Kemi Badenoch stated her party is “happy to work with you and other parties” on the matter, provided that any proposed solution is “fair to those who have made provisions and saved up over the course of their lives”.
She also insisted Mr Burnham must rule out “any tax rises or increased borrowing that will ultimately fall on the next generation to pay”.
“The last thing Britain needs is further tax increases to pay for social care,” Mrs Badenoch said.
