Chancellor John Healey has stated that there will be a reduction in the welfare bill before the next election, outlining plans for a tough approach to young people who do not accept support to secure a job or training. According to The Guardian, the comments follow fiscal forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) indicating that sickness and disability benefits alone will cost £100bn a year before the end of the decade.
Speaking in post-budget broadcast interviews, Healey emphasized that current welfare spending levels are unsustainable. While delivering a budget featuring measures such as £100 off energy bills for up to 20 million households in council tax bands A to D, the chancellor deferred harder choices regarding defence spending and welfare changes until an upcoming spending review.
Tough Approach to Young People and Welfare Reform
Detailing the strategy on BBC Radio 4’s Today and Good Morning Britain, Healey promised there would be no crude cuts following previous parliamentary challenges over disability benefits. Instead, the government awaits findings from two major reviews: the Milburn review on young people and work, and the Timms review concerning the disability benefit system.
The chancellor pointed to past Labour policies from the late 1990s as a model for conditioning welfare payments. During that era of high youth unemployment, policy combined strict expectations for those declining support with substantial career advice. Healey noted that young people would be expected to take up available offers to help reduce the long-term benefits burden.
OBR Forecasts and Wider Economic Context
Figures from the OBR project total welfare spending to rise from £334bn last year to £431bn by 2030, with roughly half allocated to pensioners and a quarter directed toward sickness and disability benefits. Overall forecast spending has increased by £8bn since March.
Meanwhile, thinktanks like the Resolution Foundation have criticized the budget as a scattergun approach that fails to tackle deeper structural challenges. Chief executive Ruth Curtice noted that rising household energy bills are expected to reach £1,750 after government support in 2026-27, surpassing the levels seen during the previous energy price shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Source: Healey vows to cut welfare bill before next election with ‘tough’ approach to young people (source-feed timestamp 2026-10-29T07:54:05+00:00). AI-assisted report based on the cited linked article and its RSS feed; details were not independently verified.
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