Under the plans, Jenrick said they would invest in talking therapies, physiotherapy and employment support to move away from people claiming health Universal Credit (UC) payments and Personal Independent Payments (Pip).
People with “lover-level conditions” would no longer receive payments, instead accounts run by local councils and mayors will provide for needs such as transport and equipment.
Employers would see the creation of a return to work cover giving them a “strong economic incentive” to return an employee to work who has been off due to sickness.
Those claiming benefits and who had not returned to work in two years would face a “single, rigorous disability needs assessment”, conducted in person to screen out fraudulent claims.
A new regularly reviewed payment will be in place for those that are considered “gravely ill and severely challenged”.
Jenrick estimates after assessments of people already claiming, 2.16 million will keep their cash entitlement in full, while 2.89 million will see it modified or withdrawn.
Pip is paid to 3.7 million people with long-term physical or mental health conditions in England and Wales.
It is not linked to someone’s savings or income and does not affect other benefits, or the benefit cap. People can get Pip if they are working.
Pip includes a daily living component and a mobility component. Claimants may be eligible for one or both.
“We will not pretend this is painless,” Jenrick wrote of the changes, adding: “Dumping our young people onto welfare isn’t compassion; it’s neglect.”
The party has previously said it would cut the benefits bill by billions if the party was in power, in order to offset the cost of keeping the trip lock state pension.
A Labour spokeswoman said: “Reform’s £50 billion claim is fantasy economics, built on stripping support from disabled people and shifting costs onto employers.”
She added that the Labour Government’s reforms to welfare “deliver credible, independently-costed savings, not arbitrary numbers with no credible plan behind them”.
In March 2025, the government attempted to tighten the daily living assessments for both current and future claimants, but was forced to dial back after pressure from Labour MPs.
Jenrick described this as an attempt at “modest savings” gutted by backbenchers.
Last month, an interim report was published by Disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms, who has been leading a review into Pip, stating the benefit was “not fit for purpose” and requires a fundamental change.
Changes recently went ahead to UC which saw the health element of UC paid to new claimants halved for those with less severe conditions.
Jenrick also took aim at the Conservative Party, describing their proposals as “paper thin”, adding that they would save more than double the £23bn proposed by Kemi Badenoch’s party.
The Tories have proposed £23bn of savings from the welfare bill, through a package of measures including restricting benefits to UK citizens and ending access to sickness benefits for less serious mental health conditions.
In May, the Tories said they would reform the household benefit cap, meaning people receiving Pip would no longer be an automatic exemption.
The party said its proposals would deliver at least £1bn of savings annually.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the plans would “stop those who abuse the system getting almost unlimited welfare payments”.
