British public don't back cuts to disability benefits – even Reform and Tory voters

Fewer than one-in-14 Brits support cuts to disability benefits, a new report has found – making slashing them ‘politically risky’.

Only 7% of people believe there should be less spending on disability benefits, figures from the the National Centre for Social Research’s British Social Attitudes survey suggest, while 49% said there should be more spending – even if it would probably lead to higher taxes.

The survey was published ahead of prime minister Andy Burnham’s comments at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday (9 September) when he said he would not cut social security to fund an increase in defence spending.

The pledge comes a few days after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that she would restore the two-child benefit cap and slash local housing allowance to fund a £10 billion annual rise in defence spending.

Disability benefits are also the public’s top priority for extra welfare spending, with 63% saying they should be prioritised – more than for retirement pensions, unemployment benefits or child benefits.

The figures come just a month after Reform UK pledged to reduce the number of people on disability benefits by 40%, making the threshold for support “significantly higher.”

But this policy might not be as electorally fruitful as Nigel Farage and his team hope.

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Support for spending on disabled people remains high even among right-leaning voters, the survey found – 40% of right-leaning voters supported more spending on benefits for disabled people who cannot work, and only 10% supported less spending.

“Despite growing political divisions on welfare, support for disability benefits remains remarkably strong,” said Dr Robert de Vries, co-author of the report and senior lecturer in quantitative sociology at the University of Kent.

“Very few people favour cuts, disabled people are seen as among the most deserving recipients of support, and proposals to reduce disability benefits appear politically risky across the political spectrum.”

Last year, Keir Starmer was forced to abandon planned cuts to PIP worth around £5 billion after mass public opposition and a backbench rebellion.

The BSA survey was conducted between August and October 2025 – right in the aftermath of this U-turn. It could have influenced the results, the surveyors concluded.

There’s an important caveat to the survey. Support for general welfare spending “for the poor” has sunk to a near record low, with just 17% of people backing more spending, compared to more than 50% in 2017.

And while support for increasing disability benefits is high, not everyone will think of disability in the same way; “Not all disability benefit claimants are perceived by everyone to be equally deserving,” the report reads.

Experts pointed to previous research that established the informal hierarchy of ‘deservingness.’ Wheelchair users and people with schizophrenia were at the top, and people with depression or asthma were at the bottom.

Reform’s proposal revolves around cutting support for those with ‘trivial conditions’ and mental health claims, a position that reflects the opinions of their supporters.

“It is… the case that right-wing people’s support for welfare is more contingent on deservingness cues than is the case for left-wing people,” the BSA report clarified.

Spending on PIP – the main disability benefit – is forecast to more than double in a decade, reaching £41 billion by 2030.

Labour, Reform UK, and the Conservative Party have all said that health and disability benefits should be cut. The Greens and the Liberal Democrats disagree.

The government will unveil reforms to PIP in the autumn. The Timms Review – commissioned in the aftermath of Starmer’s U-turn last year – found that the existing system is “dehumanising”, “degrading” and “stressful”.

But if the reforms also involve cuts, then there might be negative electoral consequences for the government, the BSA survey found.

“We … cannot say in advance whether a particular cut to disability benefits will be supported or opposed by the public, but it is clear that this is very challenging terrain for a government to be confident of taking the public with them,” the report said.

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