Major DWP changes announced as 250,000 people warned benefits could be 'removed entirely'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

More than 250,000 people have been warned that they could have their benefits 'removed entirely' under a new welfare crackdown announced by the prime minister.

In a speech on Friday morning, Rishi Sunak said people on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who are unemployed for more than 12 months despite being deemed fit to work could have their benefits stopped as he announced a new crackdown on 'sick note culture'.

He said payments from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to more than a quarter of a million people could be ended as part of the new plans, which aim to reduce the number of people out of work due to long-term sickness. READ MORE: HMRC issues update to anyone with an ISA after banks told to make changes Speaking at the Centre for Social Justice in London, Mr Sunak said: "More than 500,000 people have been unemployed for six months and well over a quarter of a million have been unemployed for 12 months.

These are people with no medical conditions that prevent them from working and who will have benefitted from intensive employment support and training programmes. "There is no reason those people should not be in work, especially when we have almost 1 million job vacancies.