One in four working-age Britons is disabled and taxpayers are footing the bill

The Health Foundation think tank predicts that the number of people living with serious illnesses in England will increase by 37 per cent by 2040; This rate is nine times the rate at which the working-age population is expected to grow.

There are currently 4.1 million disabled unemployed people of working age; This is an increase of 260,000 compared to last year.

DWP figures show that 21 per cent of disabled people who are economically inactive want a job, while only 14 per cent of non-disabled people want a job.

Linda Burnip, co-founder of Disabled People Against Cuts, said there were too many barriers to people finding work.

He said: “It is hardly surprising that more disabled people are not able to work.

“This comes after 14 years of austerity, loss of mental health services and treatments, skyrocketing waiting lists, rising poverty and homelessness.

“The New Labor Government’s policies so far have led to growing despair that nothing will ever change for the better for anyone on low incomes.”

Rachel Reeves has promised to deliver on Conservative proposals in her first budget. £3 billion cut from welfare bill by tightening access to sickness benefits.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is set to publish a radical overhaul of the benefits system in a white paper.

It comes after Ms Kendall’s predecessor, Mel Stride, announced sweeping reforms to work capacity assessment and tightening rules to bring 400,000 people back into the workforce.

Disability Rights UK has called on the Government not to continue with its “potentially lethal cost-cutting exercise”, but the DWP is preparing to introduce an overhaul.

A DWP spokesman said: “Work capacity assessment is not working. It needs to be reformed or replaced as part of an appropriate plan to truly support disabled people’s participation in work, cutting the benefits bill and ensuring we continue to deliver the savings identified by the previous government.”

“However, these changes should not be made in a hurry. That’s why we’re taking the time to review this before moving on to our next steps.

“Too many people have been left without the support they need to get ahead, which is why our Get Britain Work Plan will deliver the combined health and skills support they need to get back into and stay in work.”