There is an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions with “too many people being written off”, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said. Streeting told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the welfare system had to be “sustainable”, as he defended the government’s upcoming reforms aimed at cutting the benefits bill. The eligibility of people to apply for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) – the main benefit for working-age adults – looks likely to be tightened under the plans. More than half of the rise in working-age disability claims since the Covid pandemic is related to mental health or behavioural conditions, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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