Labour must stop “simply writing a cheque” for health and disability benefit claimants and will provide more job support instead, the work and pensions secretary has said.Pat McFadden said the government was preparing to launch a renewed effort at welfare reform with a focus on encouraging more people with health conditions to get into work and off benefits.“I don’t believe government fulfils its responsibilities simply by writing a cheque. I think we owe people more than that,” he told the Guardian.“Of course, for people who can never work, the system must always be there for them, and it always should be. But for those who could work, or could change their situation, then we’ve got to help them do that.”On a visit to a jobcentre in south London, McFadden signalled that welfare reform could form the backbone of Labour’s response to two landmark government-backed reports.Ministers are awaiting the final recommendations from Alan Milburn’s report into youth worklessness and Stephen Timms’s review of disability benefits. However, both have already highlighted deep-rooted problems with the welfare system and urged the government to take action.In its interim report published last week, the Timms review concluded that the personal independence payment (Pip), claimed by nearly 4 million people in England and Wales, was “not working” and suggested bold and radical proposals were needed to overhaul it.In late May the first phase of the Milburn review urged a “whole system reset” involving welfare, schools, and employers to tackle a big increase in the number of young people out of work or education to more than a million.McFadden, who commissioned both reviews, said work was under way on the government response in anticipation of the final reports this autumn. “Even before they’ve reported, I’m already speaking to the Department for Education [and] the Department for Health. We’re going to have to respond to this as a government.