The Conservatives have published a plan to cut £36.1 billion a year from the welfare bill by the end of the next parliament, including by ending claims “for mild mental health conditions” and reinstating the two-child benefit cap.

The party’s “Welfare that Works” plan would remove up to 2.5 million working-age welfare claims for “low-level” issues, stop welfare payments for non-EU settled status foreign nationals and end £1 billion in VAT exemptions for the Motability scheme.

The Conservatives said the savings would include:

• £13.7 billion from reforming disability and sickness benefits, including ending claims for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain
• £9.5 billion from ending benefit claims for non-EU settled status foreign nationals
• £3.1 billion by reintroducing the two-child benefit cap
• £2.8 billion by reforming child disability living allowance (DLA) support for mild learning and behavioural conditions
• £1 billion from tackling fraud and error

The plan also sets out proposals on youth jobs, including halving employer national insurance contributions for 21 to 24-year-olds, creating a “Get To Work” programme and lifting the funding cap on apprenticeships.

The Conservatives say the welfare bill is set to rise by £60 billion to £221.5 billion a year in 2031-32. They criticised chancellor John Healey for “refusing to commit to bringing the welfare bill down this parliament” and for “removing the two-child benefit cap, thereby increasing the welfare bill.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to unveil the plan in a speech in Westminster on Tuesday. 

Badenoch is expected to say: “Britain is now handing out more than £180 billion a year in benefits to working-age adults. 

“It’s hard to comprehend just how big that number is. It’s more than we spend on our army, our schools and our police combined. 

“It is more than £4,000 for every taxpayer in the UK. It is more than the entire GDP of Ukraine.”

She will add: “If you tell a young person that their ADHD means they are defective and will never amount to anything, that mindset is likely to be more destructive to their future than the condition itself. 

“That is what our welfare system is currently doing. Conservatives believe in a system that looks at people through the lens of what they can do, not what they cannot…

“Last week Andy Burnham delayed his 10-year plan until next year. It is too late to work out what you think once you’re in government. 

“If you want to change this country, you need to know exactly what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. That is what we are doing. And that is why today the Conservatives have published our plan to save £36 billion from welfare.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “The benefits bill is out of control. Labour has ducked the hard choices and now admits welfare spending will not fall on their watch…

“Labour entered office without a plan, cancelled reforms, U-turned on savings and are pitch-rolling for more spending. Labour MPs just want to keep on raising taxes to spend more on welfare. Only Conservatives have the courage to stand up for taxpayers.”

A Labour Party spokesperson responded: “The Tories let the welfare bill soar on their watch. Now they have the audacity to pretend it was nothing to do with them. You can’t trust them to solve problems they created in the first place.

“The Conservatives designed and implemented this benefit system, which has driven large numbers of people to be signed off and written off. In the Tories’ last year in government, the welfare bill rose by a record £33 billion.

“Labour is tackling the collapse in face-to-face assessments, bringing in personalised employment support for sick and disabled people and spreading opportunity to young people through the Youth Guarantee. Further reforms will follow the Milburn and Timms Reviews.”