The Government was forced into a humiliating climbdown over its controversial benefits bill this week, and any savings the Treasury had hoped to make were wiped out. The politics of this is a subject on its own, but the underlying problem the government was trying to solve, however, remains. David Aaronovitch asks his guests why the cost of disability benefits has ballooned so unexpectedly, who gets them and why and whether the system works for disabled people.

Guests:

Paul Lewis, Presenter Moneybox, BBC Radio 4
Tom Waters, Associate Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Louise Murphy, Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation
Ruth Patrick, Professor of Social and Public Policy, University of Glasgow

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Sally Abrahams
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound engineers: Sarah Hockley and Gareth Jones
Editor: Richard Vadon