CornwallLive readers have been responding to reports about Cornwall's increasing benefits bill.
A new map has revealed the reality of Cornwall's growing benefits bill, following Prime Minister Andy Burnham's warning that an entire generation has been failed by insufficient support.
For the first time, the number of people across England and Wales claiming personal independence payments (PIP), the primary disability benefit, has exceeded four million. Claimant figures have approximately doubled since 2019, with PIP expenditure projected to surpass £41 billion by the decade's end.
This includes approximately 40,000 claimants in Cornwall.
Across our region, one in 11 working-age adults (9.5%) are receiving PIP payments. A significant driver of this increase is the dramatic rise in people claiming PIP for disabling psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Camborne and Redruth have Cornwall's highest proportion of PIP claimants and the South West's 7th highest, with roughly one in 10 working-age adults (10.4%) receiving the payment.
Over one in three claimants in the constituency receive PIP for a psychiatric disorder (35.9%). St Austell and Newquay have Cornwall's second-highest proportion of working-age claimants (10.1%), followed by South East Cornwall (10.0%).
One reader, AJSON comments: "16-17 year olds need to be given jobs, socialising and learning skills will help rather than sitting in their
Cornwall PIP Claims Soar as Disability Benefits Debate Continues