Labour MPs have begun to diverge from the party line by suggesting that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) should be withdrawn from claimants experiencing “mild anxiety”. This development follows comments from Andy Burnham, the Labour Party’s Prime Minister candidate and Makerfield MP, who indicated that some welfare benefits might become subject to more stringent conditions during a recent BBC Panorama interview.
Burnham suggested that certain benefits could be more tightly regulated, as part of a broader reform of the welfare system administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). His remarks have sparked debate among Labour backbenchers, some of whom are now advocating for PIP to be central to any forthcoming welfare shake-up.
One Labour MP expressed to The i Paper: “If I had my way, I’d remove PIP for young people with mild anxiety. I say to parents: why are your kids on full PIP? Not only is it important for them to get off it, it’s an important symbol to the electorate.”
READ MORE: Andy Burnham proposes stricter conditions for DWP benefits amid youth employment reforms
READ MORE: DVSA Introduces New Driving Test Rules and Encourages Reporting of Misconduct
According to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), as of July 2025, approximately 633,000 individuals were receiving PIP due to anxiety-related conditions, highlighting the scale of the issue.
Reflecting on last year’s attempts to reform welfare, the MP added: “Last year’s attempt to change welfare was a strategic error. Because it went badly people noticed it. If we had never tried to touch it people might not have noticed, but since they did, we now have got to fix it.”
During his BBC Panorama interview, Mr Burnham indicated that he might “increase the conditions required to receive benefits,” aiming to alter the nature of support to be conditional on individuals engaging with opportunities presented to them.
He remarked: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.”
Furthermore, Burnham expressed confidence that some benefit recipients could enter the workforce with appropriate support, particularly highlighting programmes aimed at young people. “Where mental health support is needed, for instance, it’s provided in work to support people in an opportunity.”
He explained he would not directly blame those claiming benefits, recognising that many young people have been let down by insufficient early support. “There are people in the benefits system, young people in their 20s, who have been, I would say, quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there.”
Burnham also raised concerns about the welfare system’s influence on young people, stating: “Young people are being told they have disabilities and pointed towards welfare. Worse still, those teenagers will be better off than their classmates who manage to get a part-time job.”