Taxpayers footing £1bn a year cost of 120,000 teenagers getting benefits for autism, ADHD and depression

Taxpayers are stumping up £1billion a year to pay disability benefits to more than 120,000 teenagers with mental health conditions including autism, ADHD and depression, a new analysis reveals.

Some 127,600 people aged 16 to 19 claimed Personal Independence Payment cash worth up to £192 a week last year in England and Wales for these conditions, contributing to the astonishing number of young NEETs – people not in education, employment or training.

The analysis of data by The Times came the week after a landmark report warned 'superficial' ADHD and autism assessments were fuelling soaring numbers of people reporting to have the conditions. 

Autism diagnosis rates have soared by up to 40-fold in recent years, but the Government-commissioned review found no evidence that the number of autistic children has actually increased. 

Parents are incentivised to have their children diagnosed by misguided schools and welfare systems that reward such 'labels', the report found. 

The £1billlion annual bill could pay for six counselling sessions for 442,000 children waiting more than ten months from an NHS mental health assessment, The Times reported.

One former DWP minister told the paper:  'These kids want help, but they are getting cash instead.

'The money we're spending could actually get them the treatment they need, and do so quickly. 

'But we can't say what they should spend it on, the DWP doesn't provide therapy and the NHS can't fast-track welfare claimants. So these young people are falling down a gap in the system.'

A separate report today revealed Britain has spent £1.1trillion more on welfare than infrastructure in the past 20 years.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said welfare had acted as an 'anaesthetic that has kept areas of the country numbed during two decades of economic failure'.

The CSJ said the UK had spent £1.6trillion on working-age benefits between 2006/7 and 2024-25, far outstripping public investment in transport, science and technology, economic development, housing and community amenities.

Ben Gregg, head of welfare at the think-tank, said: 'For decades, governments have tried to compensate struggling regions for economic decline rather than reverse it, using welfare to numb the pain instead of providing a reason to hope.'

A Government spokeswoman said: 'For too long, worklessness has been entrenched in too many communities, and people not given the opportunity to thrive.

'We are determined to get Britain working and boost growth in every postcode, including publishing the 10-year infrastructure strategy, increasing public investment by £120 billion to unlock private capital, and delivering reforms to planning, major infrastructure and regulation.

'We are also reforming the welfare system across the country by narrowing the gap between Universal Credit standard and health rates, restoring face-to-face assessments, and investing £3.5 billion in employment support whilst the Timms and Milburn Reviews will lay the foundation for sustainable reform.'