Tories unveil £36bn welfare cut plan, promise two‑child cap

Targeted £36.1bn reduction and current bill size

The 2025/26 welfare bill is estimated to top £330bn, a figure the party describes as "crushing our economy". The party says the current bill costs every taxpayer £4,500 this year. Badenoch added that the UK spends over £180bn each year on benefits for working‑age adults, a sum that exceeds the combined spending on the army, schools and police, is greater than £4,000 per taxpayer and even surpasses the total GDP of Ukraine. Shadow work and pension secretary Helen Whately stated that the benefits bill is "out of control" and noted that Tory researchers have prepared a 50-page document detailing the savings plans. The two‑child cap, scrapped by Labour last year, previously limited child‑related benefits for families with more than two children.

Key reforms: two‑child cap, disability and foreign‑national restrictions

The plan reinstates the two‑child benefit cap, which had restricted child‑related payments for families with more than two children. It also ends benefit eligibility for individuals with "mild mental health conditions" and removes up to 2.5 million working‑age claims for low‑level issues. The reforms will stop payments for foreign nationals who do not have EU settled status.

Conservatives attack Labour and Healey over welfare spending

The Conservatives have accused Chancellor John Healey of refusing to commit to lowering the welfare bill and of removing the two‑child benefit cap, a policy the party first introduced in 2017.

They added that Healey has also failed to pledge any reduction to the bill during the current parliament.

Labour’s response was to place the blame on the Conservatives, with a party spokesperson saying the welfare bill grew by a record £33 billion in the final year of the Conservative government and that the Tories are responsible for the bill’s overall expansion.

The spokesperson also highlighted the government’s current actions, noting the introduction of personalised employment support for sick and disabled claimants, a plan to address the decline in face‑to‑face assessments, and the launch of the Youth Guarantee, with further reforms to follow the Milburn and Timms Reviews.

The Conservatives project that the welfare bill will rise by £60 billion to reach £221.5 billion annually by the 2031-32 period.

Badenoch’s rhetoric: welfare vs Ukraine GDP and personal responsibility

Kemi Badenoch claimed on 10 November 2026 that the welfare bill has grown to exceed the entire GDP of Ukraine.

The current system is accused by Badenoch of encouraging a life of dependency. She further claimed that Labour is presiding over a system that is crushing the economy and encouraging millions to become dependent on state support.

She highlighted that double amputees run marathons and people who are housebound do creative work from home.

This is why the Conservatives published their plan to save £36 billion from welfare, she explained.