PEOPLE who claim long-term sickness benefits should be made to look for work, Keir Starmer has said.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Prime Minister said: “I think the basic proposition that you should look for work is right.

“Obviously there will be hard cases, but the way I would do it is to say yes, that’s the basic proposition, but we also want to support that so that more people can get into work.”

He had earlier said: “I’ve gone out and looked at schemes where businesses are supporting people back into work from long-term sickness.

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“Because quite often I think what lies behind this is a fear for someone who’s been on long-term sickness, that can they get back into the workplace? Are they going to be able to cope? Is it all going to go hopelessly wrong?

“Yes they need to be back in the workplace where they can, but I do think that if we can put the right support in place, which I’ve seen pilots of, they work pretty well, and we want to see more of those across the country.”

Some 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill-health, 500,000 more than in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics.

A report by the BCG and NHS Confederation earlier this month found that 85% of those are long-term sick.

The Office for National Statistics say 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill-healthThe Office for National Statistics say 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill-health (Image: Getty)

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the bill for sickness and disability benefits will soar by £30 billion in the next five years, on current trajectories.

His comments come before a speech by Health Secretary Wes Streeting to the Labour Party conference on Wednesday.

Streeting said that is was up to the government to get sick people back to health and back to work quickly. 

Speaking to Sky News, Streeting said: “Where people are off ill and they are unable to work, the social security system is available, and it’s up to us to make sure that we get them back to health and back to work quickly.

“Where people are fraudulently claiming benefits, that’s a different kettle of fish, and people shouldn’t be doing that, and we’re not going to tolerate it, which is why, in her speech and through her work as the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall will be clear, as has the Prime Minister, that we’ve got to reduce the benefits bill.

“Part of that is also about recognising that the failure of the previous government means that the NHS hasn’t always been there for people when they need it, we owe it to them to get them back to health and back to work, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

He added: “It’s good for the nation’s health, but also good for the nation’s economy as well, because a healthy nation is a healthy economy, and a healthy economy helps to drive a healthy nation.”

National disability charity Sense said the Prime Minister’s comments “ignore the enormous and deeply unfair barriers that far too many disabled people face when it comes to job hunting”.

Harriet Edwards, the organisation’s head of policy, said while many “desperately want to work”, the current system “blocks them from doing so”, citing the charity’s research that half of jobseekers with complex disabilities do not feel they have the support and equipment they need to look for a job.

Around 31% want assistive technology such as text-to-speech screen readers, dictation software and braille displays to help them communicate and find jobs, Sense said but added that its research suggested “zero job centres across the country have this available”.