Ministers Weigh Scrapping £217-a-Month UC Health Element

The government is considering scrapping the £217-a-month health element of Universal Credit and redirecting the money into more intensive employment support, including subsidised jobs, back-to-work schemes and mental health support. The Guardian first reported the proposals.

The plans sit alongside former minister Alan Milburn's forthcoming review of worklessness and economic inactivity among young people, which ministers appear ready to act on. A government source said: "We will be bringing forward a comprehensive package of support and reform to tackle the scandal of a million young people not in education, employment or training. The details are yet to be decided, but we are committed to enabling work and opportunity, while always protecting those unable to work."

The headline figure from Milburn's interim report, published in May, frames the economics of the reform: for every £1 the UK spends on employment support, it spends £25 on benefit payments. Closing that gap is the implicit logic of the mooted cut to the UC health element — shifting resources from cash payments toward active labour-market intervention.

Milburn has called for a "tough love" approach that pairs greater employment support for young people on benefits with a "duty to engage". He set out the bargain explicitly: "There's a deal. And the deal is that as the opportunities increase, so must the obligations because otherwise we will end up with a situation where more and more young people are consigned to a life on benefits. And young people have an obligation to engage with that. And I know that sounds like tough love. But tough love is what is needed here."

His comments found cross-party echo this week from Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately.

The health-related dimension of the debate is substantial. Nearly two-thirds of those aged 16 to 24 who claim Personal Independence Payments list ADHD, autism, anxiety or depression as their primary condition. Milburn said last month that those on health and disability benefits who are capable of working — particularly those with conditions such as mild ADHD and anxiety — should have an "obligation" to take up employment support.

The enforcement architecture is currently thin. Less than half of benefit expenditure for claimants aged 16 to 24 carries any work-related requirement, meaning most spending on this cohort flows without conditions attached. Any reform would likely tighten that ratio.

For individuals currently receiving the health element of Universal Credit, the practical stakes are direct: a benefit worth £217 a month, or roughly £2,600 a year, could be replaced by in-kind support such as wage subsidies or structured job placements. For young PIP claimants with mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions, the proposals signal a likely shift from unconditional support toward mandated engagement — with employment support expanded on the other side of the deal.

No final decisions have been made. The government source stressed that "the details are yet to be decided" and that protection remains for those unable to work. Milburn's full review, and the legislative package expected to follow it, will determine whether the £217 element survives in its current form.