How much is the ‘welfare bill’ set to increase by?
This figure appears to refer to the forecast cost of spending on health and disability benefits for working-age adults, which is set to reach £75.7 billion by 2029/30.
Prime Minister’s Questions fact checked: 4 September 2024
After Ms Reeves announced the £22 billion shortfall, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that many of the challenges Labour outlined were “entirely predictable”, but also that the in-year financial pressures identified did “genuinely appear to be greater than could be discerned from the outside”.