Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has announced sweeping changes to the welfare system aimed at saving £5bn by the end of 2030
MPs in the Commons are now debating the reforms – watch this live at the top of the page
Personal Independence Payments (Pip): Eligibility for the main disability benefit will be narrowed
Changes to Pip are likely to be the most politically controversial element of today's announcements, our political correspondent Henry Zeffman writes
Universal credit: The measure used to determine if someone is able to work will be scrapped in 2028 and will instead be assessed through Pip
"Right to try": People will have the right to try returning to work "without the fear this will put their benefits at risk", Kendall says
Edited by Marita Moloney, Emily Atkinson and Barbara Tasch
MPs are now debating the sweeping changes to the welfare system announced just now by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.
They are aimed at saving £5bn before the end of 2030 and fixing the "broken benefits system", she told the Commons.
You can watch back a key part of that announcement below:
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Watch: Kendall pledges to reform 'broken benefits system'
Debbie Abraham, Labour MP and chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, says she agrees the social security system is not fit for purpose and increasing universal credit will be positively felt.
She says the £5bn cut is the largest in social security support since 2015 and there are more "compassionate ways to balance the books".
She thinks as a matter of urgency the government must publish the mental health impact of the cuts.
Kendall says equality and poverty analysis will be published in the Spring Statement.
Responding to her Tory opposite, Kendall says Helen Whatley appears to be railing against the Tories' failings and "lamenting action" the party didn't take.
She claims Labour is taking "decisive action", and that she isn't interested in being "tough", saying this is about "real people, with real lives".
She says she is interested in transforming lives and building a system that lasts.
Chris Mason
Political editor
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, is repeatedly heckling the shadow work and pensions secretary, Helen Whately.
As she sets out the elements of the government’s package the previous government was working on already, he keeps chipping in: "But you didn’t do it, you didn’t do it."
It's now the job of shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately to respond for the opposition.
She says she agrees with Liz Kendall on one thing – that the welfare bill is too high.
Whatley adds that the best way to bring it down is by getting people off benefits and into work – which, she says, the Conservatives did “year after year”.
She defends the Tories’ record and says they identified ways of tackling these issues, “but at every point, Labour opposed them”.
She asks how many people these policies will get back into work and when, and says it is “fundamentally too little, too late”.
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Government should have been tougher with reforms, opposition says
This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30, Kendall says.
Moving onto the third and final objective, she says it is to deliver personalised support to sick and disabled people who can work to get the jobs they "need and deserve".
"This Labour government believes that an active state can transform people's lives," she says, announcing an additional £1bn a year for employment support.
Alongside this, for those on the universal credit health top-up they will bring in an "expectation to engage" alongside an offer of personalised employment support, she says.
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
The contours of what Liz Kendall just announced had become clear via briefings to MPs and the media over the past few weeks.
Probably the most significant announcement that was not trailed in advance was Kendall’s announcement that those aged under 22 will no longer be able to claim the incapacity benefit top up to universal credit.
That appears designed to disrupt the flow of young people from school straight onto health benefits – one of the issues which has most alarmed ministers.
We're still listening to the Commons, but here's some of what we've heard so far:
Universal credit:
'Right to try':
Personal independence payments:
Merging benefits:
Savings:Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
There’s a lot here, which Liz Kendall is racing through from the despatch box.
Most crucially, so far, she has confirmed the expectation that eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) will be narrowed.
This section of the announcement was described in terms of what “points” a claimant would need to qualify but around a million people are likely to be affected.
This is likely to prove the most politically controversial element of today’s announcements, within the Labour Party at least.
Kendall continues by saying the government will not means test or freeze Personal Independence Payment (Pip).
She says that instead claimants will need to score four points in at least one activity.Chris Mason
Political editor
Here are the government’s ideas, written down — the so-called Green Paper. , external
Kendall says she wants to ensure that those on universal credit with the “most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve” won’t be reassessed “to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve”.
She says the government will “fundamentally overhaul” the DWP safeguarding approach to protect and support the most vulnerable.
Disability benefits will also be reformed to ensure the social security system “lasts for the long term into the future”, she adds.
Kendall now talks about a "right to try" scheme, so people can go back to work without fearing for their benefits.
She says the current system is based on a binary assessment of "can or can't work", which does not take into account fluctuating symptoms.
She says the government will balance the payments in universal credit from April next year.
There will be an additional premium for people who will never be able to work.
She also announces a permanent above inflation rise to universal credit to £775 by 2029/30.
Kendall says the government's second objective is to "restore trust and fairness" in the benefits system by fixing the "broken assessment process" and tackling the "perverse incentives that drive people into welfare dependency".
She outlines criticisms of the current work capability assessment, announcing Labour will not go ahead with the Conservative's proposals to change it, and instead will scrap it entirely by 2028.
In future, extra financial support for health conditions in universal credit will only be assessed through Personal Independence Payment (Pip) so extra income is based on the impact of someone's health condition or disability, not on their capacity to work, she says.
Liz Kendall continues, saying this is a "decisive shift toward prevention and early interventions".
There are four million people in work with limiting conditions, but 300,000 are falling out of work every year, she says.
We have to do more to help people stay in work, she says, adding that the government will help more employers give more disabled people more opportunities.
She goes on to announce that the Green Paper will consult on major reform of contributory benefits.
Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) and employment and support allowance (ESA) will be merged into a new time-limited unemployment insurance which will be paid at a higher rate, without having to prove you cannot work in order to get it, she says.
Kendall says she knows there “will always" be those who cannot work due to the "severity of their disability or illness” and ensures the system will be there for those under “genuine need”.
She says, however, that disabled people and those with health conditions who can work should have the same access to work as everybody else.
“That principle of equality is vital,” she adds.
She adds that many want to work with the right help and support.
Kendall points to what she calls a "legacy of 14 years of Tory failure".
"Today we say no more," she says.
She says the government is investing into the NHS to get people back to work, improving the quality of work and creating more good jobs across the country.
She adds the Green Paper sets out "decisive action" to get people working who can work and to protect those who cannot work.Chris Mason
Political editor
The cabinet is out in force in the Commons to support the work and pensions secretary.
The prime minister, the deputy prime minister, the chancellor and others.
The Conservative benches are considerably more thinly populated. Kemi Badenoch is not here.
The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, and the shadow work and pensions secretary, Helen Whately, are though.
Liz Kendall begins her statement by saying the government is ambitious for "our people and our country" and believes unleashing the talents of the British people is the key to success.
But the social security system inherited from the Conservatives is failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding people back, she says.
One in 10 people of working age are now claiming a sickness or disability benefit, almost one million young people are not in education, employment or training, and the number of people claiming Pip is set to double this decade, she says.
Millions of people who could work are trapped on benefits, she tells the Commons, saying they're denied the income, hope, dignity and self-respect "that we know good work brings".Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
Often ministerial statements in the House of Commons are fairly sparsely attended. For this, the chamber is crowded.
And a cabinet minister making a policy announcement might usually expect to have a few junior colleagues join them on the frontbench.
Liz Kendall is flanked right now by Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, the prime minister and the deputy prime minister.
This choreography matters: it is a visible reminder that this is a massively significant moment for the government, and that what Kendall is about to announce bears the imprint of the prime minister as well as her.
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