More than 100,000 people with ADHD as their main condition now receive Personal Independence Payments (Pip), official figures show — a 40% increase since Labour came to power two years ago. The surge comes as Andy Burnham, expected to become prime minister on 20 July after clearing the path to a Labour leadership coronation, has pledged to bring down the UK's benefits bill by getting more people into work.
The total working-age sickness and disability benefits bill stands at £58bn and is projected to rise to £78bn by 2030, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Pip is the fastest-growing part of that bill, with 4 million claims in England and Wales — up 400,000 since Labour took office. An interim report by Sir Stephen Timms is expected to outline the need for sweeping reforms to the system.
“ADHD benefits claims surge 40% as Andy Burnham prepares to become PM, facing welfare and housing crises.”
Just over half of ADHD claimants are aged 16 to 24. An independent review for the Department of Health and Social Care found the rise in diagnoses likely reflects improved recognition, more people seeking help, and changing expectations of support — but warned that "where access to support is closely linked to diagnosis, demand for diagnostic assessment may increase."
Burnham, the Makerfield MP, will become Labour leader on 17 July after former defence minister Al Carns said he would back him rather than stand as a rival. An earlier potential challenger, Nigel Farage, has resigned as an MP — Chancellor Rachel Reeves approving the mechanism for him to step down, though she called the resulting Clacton by-election a "farce."
But beyond welfare reform, Burnham inherits a housing crisis that has turned young people into "peasants in someone else's keep," as the New Statesman put it. The median British home in 2025 cost 7.6 times median annual earnings — a ratio not seen since the 19th century. Rents have risen 52% since January 2015, and the typical private renter now spends 36% of income on rent, up from 10% in 1980. The Centre for Cities calculated in 2023 that if the UK built homes at the same rate as European neighbours, there would be an extra 4.3 million homes. To catch up, more than 600,000 homes a year would be needed for a decade.
Since Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy in 1980, the proportion of people in council housing fell from 30% to 6% today. "The family silver can only be sold off once, and now your kids have got no cutlery," the New Statesman wrote. Whether Burnham will dare to contemplate a wealth tax to fix it remains an open question as he prepares to take office.