
Claimants handed disability benefits for acne and writer's cramp
Benefit claimants with conditions including acne and writer's cramp have been handed additional disability payments from the Government, official figures show.
A new analysis of data from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has found a sharp rise in a number of conditions suffered by people claiming extra money because of mobility problems.
This included 13 people who received enhanced personal independence payment (Pip) for 'factitious disorders,' which are conditions when a patient 'pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness', according to the NHS definition.
Other problems reported by claimants receiving 'enhanced' mobility payments of £77 a week included five people with acne, six with writer's cramp – a movement disorder that makes it hard to use the hands – and 31 with food intolerances.
It came as the Government launched a review into Pip, after a rebellion of more than 120 Labour MPs against Sir Keir Starmer's plan to reduce the number of people who can claim it.
Sir Stephen Timms, a welfare minister, will now run a consultation with disabled people, charities and other stakeholders to determine how the rules should be changed.
The Labour government argues that it must try to reduce the cost of welfare in Britain, which has seen a sharp rise since the Covid-pandemic mostly through more claims for mental illness.
The reforms proposed by Sir Keir would have cut payments for people on universal credit who said they had a 'limited capacity' to work, to encourage them to employment.
He also proposed cutting Pip, which is paid to claimants regardless of whether they work, and consists of a 'daily living' and 'mobility' allowance.
But after the rebellion, ministers have scaled back the reforms and will now only save around £2.5 billion a year by the end of the decade, compared to £5 billion initially projected.
The climbdown means that all existing Pip claimants will continue to receive their current benefits, and the stricter rules will only apply to new claimants from November 2026.
An impact assessment of the updated plans, published on Monday, found that 150,000 people would still be pushed into relative poverty by the new rules, compared to 250,000 under the earlier reforms.
Ministers argue that fewer people will actually be in poverty because the impact assessment did not include the effect of a £1 billion-a-year drive to get people back into work.
Some Labour MPs said they still planned to vote against the changes on Tuesday, but the Government is expected to get legislation through the House of Commons with the support of some former rebels.
The spiralling cost of disability benefits was laid bare by a new analysis of the data by the TaxPayers' Alliance campaign group, which highlighted examples of claims that warranted the £77 weekly payment under DWP rules.
The total number of claimants receiving enhanced Pip in April 2025 was 1.75 million, up from 734,136 in January 2019.
The largest increases, in line with other benefits data, were granted to people with mental health issues including autism, anxiety and depression.
But other rises involved people with factitious disorders, which increased to 13 claimants from 11.
The NHS says that Munchausen syndrome, one factitious disorder, happens when a patient's 'main intention is to assume the 'sick role' so that people care for them and they are the centre of attention'.
The health service's website adds: 'Some people with Munchausen syndrome may spend years travelling from hospital to hospital faking a wide range of illnesses.
'When it's discovered they're lying, they may suddenly leave hospital and move to another area.'
John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'While England is a sicker country than it was before the pandemic, the size of the increases for many of these conditions surely cannot be believed by even the most gullible of MPs.
'Britain is in desperate need of a politician who has the courage to tackle this system head on to ensure that taxpayers' money is being protected while those who genuinely need help receive it.'
The Labour about-turn on benefits reform means that far fewer people are expected to be denied payments than under the Government's original plans.
In the Autumn Statement, the DWP projected that the Pip caseload would continue to rise, jumping from 3.7 million to 5.1 by 2029/30.
The expected annual spend has been forecast to increase by £18 billion by the end of the decade without reform.
The cuts first suggested by Labour would, according to updated figures in the Spring Statement, see the Pip caseload rise by 423,000 less than that initial estimate, although it would still be about a million more people higher than current levels.
Alongside other reforms relating to universal credit, the IFS estimated total savings of £4.6 billion at the time, but roughly £3 billion of that saving is now set to be lost, taking total savings to less than 0.5 per cent of the welfare budget.
The number of people claiming Pip has risen by 55 per cent since January 2020, with one in seven (13.7 per cent) of people now successfully claiming it.
The largest increases are among people with mental health issues, and psychiatric disorders are now responsible for 38 per cent of claims.
Some commentators have suggested that the increase in successful claims has been driven by online or over-the-phone Pip assessments, which previously happened mostly in person.
Prospective claimants can consult websites that advise which keywords to use to score the maximum number of points on the assessment.
Almost 6 per cent of young adults are claiming for mental health issues, up from less than 2 per cent in the 2000s, Telegraph analysis shows.
In some parts of the country, as many as one in six adults are on disability payments. In Liverpool, Walton, the proportion has increased from 11 per cent to 17.3 per cent. This is compared to just 2.8 per cent in Mid Buckinghamshire.
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Spectator
38 minutes ago
- Spectator
Labour MPs need a reality check on Britain's ballooning benefits bill
'No one votes Labour to cut the welfare state. People vote Labour to grow the welfare state. That's the role of the party.' That's what John McTernan, Labour strategist, said on Coffee House Shots last week. He's absolutely correct, of course. But the ballooning cost of the benefits bill means that Labour now faces an uncomfortable decision, for which many of its MPs seem ill prepared. The total cost for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) alone is expected to reach £35 billion by the end of this decade, up from £16 billion in 2019-20 and £26.5 billion in 2024-25. The total benefits bill, including the state pension, universal credit and other benefits, could hit £324 billion by 2030. Labour has few options for balancing the books Yet Labour has few options for balancing the books. They've already hit the country once with a devastating tax raid which has left the economy reeling. Gilt yields are well above where they were during the mini-budget. But even the modest proposals to reduce the benefits bill have been watered down, given the inability of scores of Labour MPs to stomach a marginal deceleration – not a reversal – of benefits spending. As Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, put it: 'The Government shouldn't be balancing the books on the backs of disabled people.' This, for some Labour MPs, is a point of principle. But what do Burgon and his colleagues really believe is behind the growth of PIP? Is it just that we are getting older? Sicker? That the pandemic changed things? Or that underfunding of the NHS is leaving people suffering with longer-term conditions? Certainly, Britain appears to be sicker than in previous years. And with the NHS in the state that it is, it's probably inevitable that there would be uptick in bad health. But are we really supposed to believe that, for example, the number of people with Tourettes has climbed three fold: 1,661 people with the condition now receive PIP, including 857 who receive the mobility part of enhanced PIP (making them eligible for Motability), this is up from 545 in January 2019. Or that the number of people receiving PIP for sleep apnea has gone from 429 to 3,001? Or that there should really be people receiving PIP for writer's cramp (seven), acne (14) and factitious disorders (18)? Or is it the case that the almost four-fold increase in the number of people receiving PIP for eczema is partially attributable to the very normal human phenomenon of responding to incentives? If it becomes easier to access free money, it seems likely that more people will, shockingly, take that free money. Is it perhaps the case that, given how few PIP assessments now take place in person, some less than scrupulous fellow citizens and residents feel more confident in emphasising the disabling effects of, say, their tennis elbow, or obsessive compulsive disorder? And that, perhaps, the Department for Work and Pensions is less able to identify the genuinely needy and those gaming the system? Maybe this isn't the case. Maybe there is a reasonable explanation to all of this. And the various benefit claims, broken down in the Taxpayers' Alliance's benefits dashboard, can all be explained away. But for any Labour MPs still planning on voting the government's already diluted plans down, it's surely time for them to advocate for an urgent public inquiry on what is driving the devastating surge in sleep apnea across our island.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Three dried apricots, a steak and 30g of walnuts: My weird week on Margaret Thatcher's ‘perfect diet'
There is no recommended daily amount of white chocolate. I wish there was, because I'd be the poster girl for hitting it. Last year, for example, I regularly covered my morning porridge in white chocolate buttons, before following it with a white chocolate matcha once I left the house. Lunch would end with a white chocolate cookie, and after dinner I'd nod to the notion of health by studiously cutting up some green apple… before pouring melted white chocolate on top. In possibly related news, in November 2024 I was diagnosed with 'very high' cholesterol at the age of 32. Thanks to my family's abundant history of heart attacks and strokes, I quickly realised I'd have to change my habits and downloaded an app, Cronometer, to monitor my saturated fat intake. But of course, the app didn't only monitor that. With handy charts, it warned me if I'd only reached 21 per cent of my daily recommended vitamin A target, and told me whether I was getting the right amounts of protein and fat. Almost immediately, my inner student started wondering: would it be possible to score 100 per cent in everything? Skip to: The 'perfect diet' Scientists will probably never agree on what exactly constitutes the 'perfect' diet – and of course, different bodies have different needs. Still, in the name of 'protecting and improving the nation's health', Public Health England does publish dietary recommendations for the general population, advising on intakes of energy, macronutrients, salt and fibre. A woman between the ages of 19 and 64 – that's me – should aim for 2,000 calories, 45g of protein, less than 78g of fat, at least 267g of carbohydrates and 30g of fibre a day. We also need 600 micrograms of vitamin A, 200 micrograms of folate and 40 milligrams of vitamin C, among numerous other vitamins. As for minerals, it's good to get 700mg of calcium but just 7mg of zinc, plus 2.4g of sodium – not to mention all the rest. Some of the numbers are more familiar than others: no more than 27g of free sugars a day for women, and less than 6g of salt. Most of these recommendations weren't designed to be tick-boxes for the public – merely yardsticks by which to judge dietary surveys of the population and aid food labelling. 'Food and nutrient-based dietary recommendations are a policy tool,' says Bridget Benelam, a communications manager at the British Nutrition Foundation. 'They can be used to help ensure foods provided support good health – for example, in school or hospital food.' The Government and charities like the BNF translate the numbers into accessible dietary guidance such as the Eatwell Guide, which uses handy, brightly coloured imagery. And yet, I want to know: what would my food intake have to look like to hit every single one of these recommended daily targets, every single day for a week? And besides, what happens to a body in white chocolate withdrawal? Registered nutritionist Kathryn Styles has over 20 years' experience and has offered nutritional support to schools, care homes and manufacturers. In late May, she created a seven-day menu for me that met all of the Government's dietary recommendations, maximising my vitamin and mineral intake with plenty of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and seeds – but also the occasional scone (topped with crème fraîche), portion of chips or slices of white bread 'to add bulk,' says Styles. White bread and white rice increased my daily carbohydrate content without pushing up my fibre intake, which was already going to be nice and high. This was perhaps the first eye-opener of the experiment: after all, haven't romcoms and magazines spent decades telling me that carbohydrates are inherently bad? 'There are no bad foods – it's all about the balance,' says Styles. Accordingly, she created a varied plan for me: one day out of the seven, for example, I hit my targets with ready meals, another featured steak and another was suitable for a vegan. I made numerous other surprising discoveries in the week I followed Styles' plan – not that my hair, teeth, nails or eyeballs became stronger and shinier; it takes longer than seven days to see those kinds of benefits. Nor did I lose body fat or gain muscle. This experiment was about testing how feasible it is to reach Government targets – and how hitting them made me feel day to day. For starters, my weekly food bill shot up by 50 per cent – and it would've been even higher if I hadn't already had expensive accoutrements like flax and chia seeds in the cupboard. Day One Breakfast on day one was two boiled eggs on two slices of white toast, spread thinly with Marmite. Though some might decry the fortified yeast spread as an 'ultra-processed food,' Marmite contains minerals such as magnesium and potassium and is a source of B vitamins. I finished it off with an orange, which I found more satisfying than simply drinking a cup of juice. By the time I reached my mid-morning blueberry snack, I was desperate for chocolate. Styles told me I had to eat 80g of any given fruit or veg to count it as a portion, and I quickly learnt that not all grams are equal. Eighty grams of strawberries is a sorry five berries – not enough – but 80g of salad makes me feel like a hungover stegosaurus. Because I don't really like blueberries, 80g felt punishingly mushy. Cooking a whole lentil chilli bake from scratch at lunchtime was definitely stressful in between all my recommended daily emailing, but it ended up delicious – and very filling – especially after I polished it off with a scone, a couple of strawberries and some crème fraîche. I was surprised, then, to be ragingly hungry by dinnertime; my body clearly missed its bountiful routine of afternoon snacks. Instead, I was permitted an entire carrot, sans any dip. While it sounds like something that breaks the European Convention on Human Rights, I was amazed to discover I genuinely enjoyed that carrot. I felt optimistic as I made my way through a tasty stir-fried pork dinner, but my mood soon came crashing down. Pudding was 125g of low-fat yogurt, which, of course, legally can't actually be called pudding at all. While I wasn't a changed woman, things inside my body were changing. Styles had warned me one thing would be affected fairly quickly: my bowels. Although we're supposed to get 30g of fibre a day, 96 per cent of us don't, with adults in the UK averaging around 16.4g. This is troubling because fibre is a literal life-saver, proven to help lower blood pressure and cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes, diabetes and bowel cancer. While I'd already increased my fibre intake after my high cholesterol diagnosis last year, Styles' diet was extremely fibrous, averaging 39g a day. In short, my digestion was affected. To retain, if not my dignity, at least a degree of mystery, I will simply say: the winds of change blew, like, a lot. Day Two Pancakes for breakfast were an auspicious start to day two, even if I had to make them with oats and could only have them with fruit and yogurt. Three dried apricots made for a delicious but heartbreaking snack, and it felt dry and punishing to get through 30g of unsalted pistachios. Styles had warned me that condiments would increase the salt, sugar and fat in my diet, so I had my chicken and avocado wrap at lunchtime without sriracha but with a packet of crisps. I saved the apple I was supposed to have next for after my black bean burger dinner, because otherwise I would've been left entirely pudding-less, an unthinkable prospect. At the end of day two, although I was technically eating more food than ever before, I was hungrier. This wasn't real hunger, however, but a howling dissatisfaction. My brain simply doesn't believe my belly is full unless it's had a little chocolate treat. And chocolate wasn't the only thing missing from day two. Despite Styles' admirable efforts, I came in just under my recommended daily amount of selenium – the mineral that helps immune systems thrive. I started to wonder where the government's recommendations even came from. 'A hundred years ago, vitamins were essentially unknown. The first paper that even mentioned vitamins was published in 1912,' says Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Massachusetts. That paper was authored by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk, who isolated the 'vital amine' in brown rice that seemed to prevent thiamine deficiency. Thanks to his work, 13 more vitamins were discovered over the following 35 years. To figure out how much of any given vitamin or nutrient people needed to ward off diseases caused by deficiencies (such as scurvy and rickets), scientists conducted animal experiments, tested human blood and undertook observational studies of people's diets. Mozaffarian explains that, to prepare for the Second World War, the British Medical Association and US government separately asked scientists to establish minimum requirements. Research continued over the following decades, and in 1991, after four years of consideration initiated under Margaret Thatcher, the Department of Health issued recommendations that are still used today. These are designed to protect most people from the risk of diet-related diseases, though a guide accompanying the 1991 recommendations noted: 'People differ from each other in the amounts of energy and nutrients they need.' For his part, Donald Acheson – the government's chief medical officer under Margaret Thatcher and then John Major – declared that if the recommendations were widely followed in Britain, 'Constipation would disappear, coronary heart disease would be very much reduced, and the relationship between badly balanced diets and certain types of cancer would become clearer.' Still, reactions to the government guidance varied: some within the sugar industry accused the Press Association of 'grossly inaccurate' reporting for suggesting sugar consumption should be halved, while the National Dairy Council happily emphasised the calcium requirements. Day Three On day three I'm a vegan, and because I've gone two whole days without any chocolate, I take the dark chocolate that Styles recommended I have after dinner (it contains iron, which can be lacking in vegan diets) and put it in my breakfast. I feel transcendent as I sprinkle it atop Weetabix, blueberries, walnuts, banana and soy milk, and I love eating the mushroom and chickpea stroganoff recipe Styles recommended for lunch (despite the fact the blogger behind it designed it 'for babies and toddlers'). Still, I'm disappointed that my new regime hasn't left me bursting with energy – I still need my daily afternoon naps. The tins in my recycling bin are quickly building up thanks to my new beans, lentils and chickpea habit, but at least they're enjoyable – I can't say the same for the nuts. Thirty grams of dry nuts as a snack feels like an overdose without the addition of sugar or salt. Day Four This, I think, is why day four was so very welcome: my ready-meal day. I started with a tasty Leon porridge and later snacked on a brand of maple syrup-covered (yay!) nuts. My Waitrose prawn and lemongrass salad was delicious, although I was horrified that the (small) fruit salad that came with it cost £4.09. Extra snacks of popcorn and flapjack felt like a treat. 'I was keen to showcase how requirements could be met from a range of different dietary patterns and combinations of food so that it wasn't just the same thing every day,' Styles says. 'It may not be lifelong that you'd be able to follow something similar – I just wanted to show that it could be achieved in many different ways.' I really enjoyed my ready-meal curry for tea, but then another helping of plain, unsweetened yogurt tipped me over the edge. I can fully understand how, if you gave my caveman ancestors berries and yogurt for pudding, they'd flip out and praise the heavens. But we've invented literally hundreds of E numbers since then, and E numbers are delicious. To my shame, I popped a couple of 'crazy sour' Skittles into my mouth while watching telly, followed by a handful more. It would be a lie to say I felt any regret or remorse. Day Five Breaking the Skittles dam set me up for failure on day five, 'steak day.' My fruity, peanut-porridge was tasty but sadly chocolate-less, and making a cooked lunch every day was wearing on me. A mid-morning snack of brie, French bread and grapes felt like lunch in itself, so I skipped cooking the 'halloumi with chickpea salsa and couscous' recipe that Styles advised. This meant that by 4pm I was ravenous – and when I passed a woman eating out of a McDonald's bag, I wanted to pounce on it like a lion. I settled instead for three prunes and more cumbersome cashews. At dinnertime, I tried to make up for my shortcomings by shoving some halloumi on my steak but – delicious as it was – my heart panged when Uber Eats sent me a push notification declaring it was 'National Fish and Chip Day'. Even though Styles had generously allowed me to go over my fat and saturated fat content on day five (and, she notes, there is no upper limit recommendation on protein, so I had plenty that day), I started to wonder: can a woman really live on nutrients and vitamins alone? Before I could stop myself, I sprinkled perhaps the least nutrient-dense food known to man on my yogurt: raspberry sherbet. Vibrating from my sugar high, I wanted someone to tell me there's actually no point eating healthily. While no self-respecting nutritionist would say this, I did discover that some scientists are against 'nutritionism,' that is, valuing a food only for its nutritional content rather than the context of how it is created and consumed. Professor Mozaffarian says it is 'reductionist' to assume we can address all chronic diseases with recommended daily intakes, and that while dietary targets were historically great at eliminating diseases caused by single nutrient deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and cancers are far more complex. He also notes that people can become obsessive and misguided in their focus on certain nutrients. 'I think the biggest one that I see is protein. If you aren't strength training to build muscle, what do you think happens if you eat excess protein? It gets turned into fat.' Ultimately, he argues, 'You can't construct a healthy diet based on a nutrient cocktail.' Day Six And on the sixth day, there was fish. I had told Styles that I wasn't a fan of oily fish like mackerel, which is of course a powerfully nutritious food, rich in B vitamins, iron, magnesium and our old friend selenium. Instead, she recommended a delicious tuna poke bowl for lunch and a creamy salmon pasta for dinner, both of which went down well. I saved the 150ml of allotted fruit juice from breakfast for my evening in the pub and – unable to bring myself to order yet more water at the bar – I caved and ordered an espresso martini. The barman made it too bitter, which was exactly what I deserved. I started to wonder if there was anyone else out there following this kind of diet, and found an online post by Sean Hickey, a 49-year-old web developer from Pennsylvania. For about six years, Hickey has been hitting 100 per cent of his recommended daily targets on most days, also inspired by the app Cronometer. 'It was a little startling to see the wide gaps in my nutrition,' he says of first downloading the app. 'I was not someone who ate a lot of vegetables, beans, leafy greens, grains, etc.' Thanks to his obsession with data, creating a diet that hit 100 per cent of the targets became a 'game' for Hickey. Eventually, he decided to follow a largely plant-based diet, which means lots of salad, tofu and nuts, as well as the occasional vegan nugget. Today, Hickey says achieving 100 per cent across the board has 'become a natural part of my life' – it only takes him five minutes each morning to plan and log his meals. And yet he can't say he feels much better, stronger or healthier for it: 'The only noticeable difference is that one time I went three years without getting sick,' he says. Still, Hickey hopes he'll see the benefits long-term. 'Keeping Type 2 diabetes at bay and having a strong immune system will lead to a more enjoyable old age.' Day Seven Rather kindly, my week ended with a roast dinner, ice cream and chocolate, but when midnight hit and a new week began, I still scoffed a cupcake. Overall, I hit my targets, though some days were slightly short on certain things – only 72 per cent of my recommended calcium on my fish day, for example – and I undoubtedly went over my recommended sugar intake with my illicit Skittles and sherbet. Styles also notes that my vitamin D intake was only around 55 per cent of daily requirements on average – this is because our primary source is sunlight (hence the need for supplements in winter months). In the UK, fewer than 0.1 per cent of people adhere to all of the Eatwell guidance, and I can't promise I'll keep being one of them. While my week was nowhere near as boring and tasteless as I expected, things were expensive and time-consuming. The most deprived families in the country would need to spend 70 per cent of their disposable income to meet dietary recommendations – for many, it simply isn't realistic. Still, there are a few things I'll definitely stick with: more bananas, salmon and nuts (even if I do go for the kind covered in sugar or chocolate). Snacking on a carrot while cooking dinner can keep me away from crisps. And I can feel Styles's wisdom about fibre sticking with me. 'I always say we need to make fibre more sexy,' she says. 'It's the one big key nutrient that we should all be eating more of.' While I didn't experience any headaches from my white chocolate withdrawal – Styles theorises that the high fibre diet helped stabilise my blood sugar – I did miss the sheer joy and satisfaction that it normally brings to my days. 'Just be varied in what you eat, make it colourful and have a balance,' Styles says. She stresses that we all need to focus on 'adding more, rather than taking away, otherwise you're just missing out on key nutrients.' A spoon of chia seeds here, a handful of walnuts there can be a great place to start. When I resumed my normal diet – with a KFC salad box, a Tango Ice Blast and a pick 'n' mix on day one – I was greeted with two days of headaches. On the third day, the Government released the results of its National Diet and Nutrition Survey spanning 2019 to 2023, revealing that, on average, adult Brits have 3.3 to 3.7 portions of fruit and veg per day and, in fact, only 17 per cent of us get our five-a-day. It seems all the hyper-specific dietary advice we see in headlines, apps and Instagram videos is distracting us from some very fundamental truths. I'm off for a carrot – I'll try not to dip it in any sherbet.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
NHS warning as Britain braces for hottest day of year
NHS trusts have warned the public to stay indoors as Britain braces for the hottest day of the year. Temperatures could reach as high as 36C in the South East on Tuesday, according to the Met Office. NHS Buckinghamshire and NHS Berkshire West have issued warnings telling the public to 'keep out of the heat'. 'With hot weather forecast, keep out of the heat if you can,' the trusts said. 'If you have to go outside, stay in the shade between 11am and 3pm, wear sunscreen, a hat and light clothes, and avoid exercise or activity that makes you hotter.' The hottest day so far this year was June 21, when the mercury rose to 33.2C in Charlwood, Surrey. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) extended amber heat health alerts for much of the country into Wednesday morning.