The new Work and Pensions Secretary has ruled out making further welfare savings to cover the cost of scrapping proposed changes to disability benefits.
According to Inside Housing:
“Stephen Crabb told MPs he has “no further plans to make welfare savings beyond the very substantial savings legislated for by Parliament”.
In a House of Commons statement y, he confirmed that the Budget proposal to save £4.4bn from Personal Independence Payments (PIP) over this parliament had been dropped.
The u-turn means that there is a £4.4bn black hole, however the new minister said there would be no further cuts to welfare to cover the shortfall and that questions about how the funding will be found “ought to go to the chancellor”.
The ruling out of cuts means there is little immediate prospect of further reductions to housing benefit.
Mr Crabb also said he would review the level of the government’s welfare expenditure cap, which is set to be breached from 2016/17 to 2020/21. Iain Duncan Smith, who resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary on Friday, called the cap “arbitrary”.
The government had pledged to save £12bn on benefits by 2020.”