Benefit Cuts Could Deepen Poverty Crisis, Warns Citizens Advice CEO

Clare Moriarty calls Labour’s plans a “quick fix” with long-lasting damage to health and livelihoods

Cutting benefits for disabled people will push more individuals and families into poverty and create further barriers to employment, warns Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice.

In a rare and urgent intervention, Moriarty expressed concern over the Labour government’s proposed changes to welfare, describing them as a “short-term action which has very serious long-term consequences.” She cautioned that such cuts could have a lasting intergenerational impact, deepening poverty and damaging people’s chances of returning to work.

“Changing eligibility criteria and reassessing people, reducing the amount of money they get, is a quick fix to the problem,” Moriarty said. “The real risk is, as the short-term changes happen, lots of people are pushed into poverty with all the negative consequences of being in poverty. It doesn’t help them get into work.”

She added: “By the time the employment support has caught up, they will be so far from being able to work as they will have worse health conditions which mean they still can’t work.”

Moriarty, a former senior civil servant, warned that benefit cuts often trigger a downward spiral: losing financial support leads to debt, worsens personal circumstances, and makes it even harder to seek or sustain employment.

“We know that poverty is highly associated with poor mental and physical health. If people lose benefits, that is very, very likely to result in mental health issues—but also physical health problems. Poor accommodation, skipping meals—these take a toll on health,” she explained.

Research shows that people in the most deprived areas typically develop two serious health conditions a full decade earlier than those in the wealthiest areas. “You're just creating the conditions where people are going to have all the health conditions that mean they can’t work, whether or not the DWP thinks they can,” Moriarty said.

The Department for Work and Pensions has said it is increasing employment support by deploying 1,000 work coaches to help sick and disabled people back into the workplace. But Moriarty believes this support falls far short of what will be needed.

“The 1,000 work coaches will help 85,000 people. Far more people than that will be affected by these changes,” she warned.

She emphasised that employment support is vital—but timing is key. “There’s a problem with the sequencing,” Moriarty said. “It takes time and serious investment to build high-quality, holistic employment services. People need help with housing, health, and other life challenges—not just CV writing or interview prep.”

Moriarty also shared her shock that Labour was moving ahead with these proposals, especially after its commitment to raising living standards.

“If you're cutting benefits without a clear path for people to receive income through other means, that’s not going to raise their living standards or reduce poverty.”

She called on the government to look at the root causes behind the rising number of people needing health-related benefits, pointing to years of austerity and underfunded services as major contributors to worsening public health.

Investing in early intervention, such as mental health support for young people, would have long-term benefits, she argued. Without this, struggling parents risk passing the cycle of poverty onto their children.

Public health expert Prof Sir Michael Marmot echoed Moriarty’s concerns, stressing that any benefits reform should form part of a broader strategy to improve national wellbeing—not simply a cost-cutting exercise.

“You would not institute cuts to benefits unless you were clear that it was part of a general strategy to improve equity of health and wellbeing,” he said.

He also questioned the idea that work alone can solve poverty. “The challenge isn’t ‘can we cut the benefit bill?’ but ‘how do we take societal actions that will help people come off benefits and into sustainable, meaningful work?’”

The warning comes as Citizens Advice research shows just how close millions already are to financial crisis. More than 7.5 million people said they would have to skip meals if their bills rose by just £20. Vulnerable groups are especially exposed: half of single parents and half of disabled people said such a rise would push them into immediate crisis.