Best way to cut benefits bill is to get people back to work, insists Kendall

The work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, has insisted helping more people back into a job is the best way to cut the benefits bill, as the chancellor looks for savings before the spring statement this month.

- Heather Stewart

With Rachel Reeves zeroing in on welfare as a source of potential cuts as she prepares to take action to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules, Kendall said the starting point must be getting people back into work - not numbers on a spreadsheet.

"I think the only way that you get the welfare bill on a more sustainable footing is to get people into work. And you know, we will be bringing forward big reforms that actually support people into work, that get them on a pathway to success," Kendall said.

The Department for Work and Pensions is due to publish a green paper on welfare reform in the coming days, in advance of Reeves's statement on 26 March.

With the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expected to downgrade its growth forecasts against the backdrop of a deteriorating global economy, the chancellor is preparing to make spending cuts to ensure she can still meet her fiscal rules.

Kendall refused to comment on specific policy changes. "I want to be really clear about our objective: it's reforming the system, changing the system to provide people with the support that they need because that's the only way," she said.