Reform MP Lee Anderson has admitted to previously “gaming the system” to help people secure benefits.
The Ashfield MP made the revelation during a press conference, explaining his past role at the Citizens Advice Bureau before entering politics.
“Before I came into politics, I worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau,” he said.
“We used to fill the form out for clients… I can tell you now, we were gaming the system.”
Mr Anderson described the process as “a competition” between the adviser and the Department for Work and Pensions.
He said he knew advisers at the organisation who had “a 100 per cent hit rate” on benefits forms and could get “the fittest man in Ashfield” onto the personal independence payment (Pip).
Reform UK says it wants to stop people exploiting the system as part of its welfare cut proposals.
Young people on disability benefits are being “tossed onto a scrap heap”, Reform UK head of policy Zia Yusuf has said.
The party is setting out how it would end Pip for claimants with “non-serious” anxiety disorders and introduce more regular reassessments for those who qualify.
Mr Yusuf told a central London press conference: “The caseload for new claims for under-25s in this country on Pip have tripled in five years.
“So we are betraying our young people. Reassessments are basically not happening anymore. These young people are (…) being basically tossed onto a scrap heap for the rest of their lives.”
MP Lee Anderson, the party’s welfare spokesman, said: “The alarm clock generation is now being replaced by an anxiety generation.”
Instead of going to work, they are “staying at home all day, courtesy of taxpayer-funded employment support, loans and personal independence payments”, he said.
Reform said the welfare cuts would save £9 billion per year by 2029.
