The DWP has not confirmed any details, but reports suggest a freeze on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) is expected plus age-related restrictions
Concern is growing as details surface about the potential welfare reductions Labour is contemplating, with a potential £5 billion slash from the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) budget. This lifeline benefit supports 3.6 million individuals, offering financial assistance for disabilities affecting both workers and non-workers.
According to reports, qualifying for PIP could become much harder under new, stricter criteria being considered to cut costs. ITV has said that it could possibly include a PIP payment freeze next year, putting a halt to the usual rise with inflation— which would be a break from tradition.
Adding fuel to the fire, the right-leaning Policy Exchange think tank has pushed out a paper promoting “major reform” of PIP, suggesting it be made a “conditional” benefit, especially for those aged 16 to 30. Under their vision, conditions could include job searching or participation in education or training, unless extraordinary circumstances arise.
However, experts are challenging these proposals, pinpointing that PIP was crafted to support those with extra expenses due to disability—not as a carrot to dangle for employment-seeking, since it’s not tied to unemployment benefits per se. These revelations point towards impending fiery debates over the proposed multi-billion-pound cuts.
Labour’s current strategy has been critiqued for clashing with its avowed aim to boost employment rates. James Taylor, an Executive Director at Scope, the disability equality charity, voiced serious concerns: “Ripping PIP away will be catastrophic for disabled people. PIP exists because life costs more if you are disabled. Those costs won’t disappear if the government squeezes eligibility.
“Many disabled people use PIP to get to and from work and to pay for essential equipment like mobility aids. Making it harder to get benefits will just push even more disabled people into poverty, not into jobs. The Chancellor has a choice – cut benefits and increase poverty, or invest in an equal future for disabled people. Making the wrong choice will have a devastating impact on disabled people and their families.”
Meanwhile, certain benefit aspects face uncertainty:
As the nation anticipates the Spring Statement from Rachel Reeves on 26 March, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) remains tight-lipped on specific alterations to benefits.
In a recent statement, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall sparked controversy by berating those who opt for benefits over employment as indulging in mockery of the system.
A report commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) discovered that approximately half of those claiming health and disability benefits felt they would never be able to return to work. However, Ms Kendall argued that this mindset was understandable, given that many individuals are stuck on lengthy waiting lists for treatment and lack adequate support from job centres.
To address this, the DWP has announced plans to deploy 1,000 work coaches to jobcentres nationwide, tasked with assisting sick and disabled individuals in finding employment.
This move comes ahead of the highly anticipated Green Paper, as the government seeks to reform a benefits system plagued by serious issues. Examples of the system’s shortcomings were highlighted by the government last week when it said the current system:
- Asks people to demonstrate their incapacity to work to access higher benefits, which also then means they fear taking steps to get into work.
- Is built around a fixed “can versus can’t work” divide that does not reflect the variety of jobs, the reality of fluctuating health conditions, or the potential for people to expand what they can do, with the right support.
- Directs disabled people or those with a work-limiting health condition to a queue for an assessment, followed by no contact, no expectations, and no support if the state labels them as “unable” to work.
- Fails to intervene early to prevent people falling out of work and misses opportunities to support a return to work.
- Pushes people towards economic inactivity due to the stark and binary divide between benefits rates and conditionality rules for jobseekers compared to those left behind on the health element of Universal Credit.
- Has become defined by poor experiences and low trust among many people who use it, particularly on the assessment process.
Work and Pensions Secretary, Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, commented: “We inherited a broken welfare system that is failing sick and disabled people, is bad for the taxpayer, and holding the economy back. For too long, sick and disabled people have been told they can’t work, denied support, and locked out of jobs, with all the benefits that good work brings.”
However, she also acknowledged that many sick and disabled people could work with the right support: “But many sick and disabled people want and can work, with the right support. And we know that good work is good for people – for their living standards, for their mental and physical health, and for their ability to live independently.
“We’re determined to fix the broken benefits system as part of our Plan for Change by reforming the welfare system and delivering proper support to help people get into work and get on at work, so we can get Britain working and deliver our ambition of an 80% employment rate.”
