The Department for Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Tuesday plans to slash approximately £5 billion from the benefits budget by 2028, introducing a raft of contentious measures aimed at reducing the rising number of sickness and disability benefit claimants.
The proposed reforms have sparked a furore, with over 50 Labour backbenchers grilling Liz Kendall as she disclosed the cuts in the House of Commons, while charities condemned the measures as “cruel and devastating.”
Compounding the frustration of disability advocates, Labour’s public consultation on their planned benefit overhaul seems to exclude the most divisive topics from debate. An advocacy group has blasted the online public consultation on the most significant welfare reforms in ten years as “bogus.”
During the consultation, disabled individuals, charities, and the general public will not be given the opportunity to comment on the intention to abolish the Work Capability Assessment by 2028. Instead, assessments for all sickness and disability related to Universal Credit will be conducted using the Personal Independence Payment assessment system.
The Government is stonewalling inquiries regarding this substantial shift in assessing financial support for health conditions, declaring: “This change will be non-negotiable.
“We will implement this change via primary legislation. Further details will be published in the forthcoming White Paper. We are not consulting on this measure.”
It is estimated that approximately three million individuals in the UK are claiming some form of sickness or disability benefit, including PIP or Universal Credit. Government expenditure on incapacity benefits has surged by around £19 billion over the past five years.
According to DWP Secretary Kendall, the current system is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back.”
Benefits and Work, an advocacy group, has compiled a list of contentious changes that are not being put to public consultation. These include freezing payments for the health element of Universal Credit, continuing Work Capability Assessment (WCA) reassessments in the years leading up to its abolition, and introducing tougher requirements to qualify for the daily living component of PIP.
The group has also argued that the consultation process is flawed, posing leading questions rather than seeking essential feedback on the sweeping changes to DWP benefits. For instance, instead of asking for opinions on the PIP policy change, the consultation asks: “How could we improve the experience of the health and care system for people who are claiming Personal Independence Payment who would lose entitlement?”
Labour’s recently unveiled Green Paper, ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working’, proposes several key initiatives aimed at overhauling the benefits system, including more in-person health and sickness assessments instead of remote ones, a criteria adjustment necessitating a minimum of four points in the daily living component for higher payment eligibility, and restrictions that would bar individuals under 22 from accessing the health portion of Universal Credit.
Mikey Erhardt, Policy Officer at Disability Rights UK, criticised the reforms, saying: “The minister stood up today and made clear that, after months of rumours, media speculation and spin, these reforms are not about supporting Disabled people into work, but making brutal and reckless cuts of £5 billion. That is up from £3 billion just a few weeks ago.
“The rise in claims is driven by the increase in the retirement age, record NHS waiting lists, inadequate education and mental health support for young Disabled people and a complete failure to tackle the disability employment and pay gaps. Yet the government has decided to create a rhetorical smokescreen around the depth of cuts it’s going to make.
“The government intends to bar young Disabled people from receiving the Universal Credit health component until they are 22. That is alongside their promise to significantly increase assessments at scale without making the assessment process safer for those going through the system right now. These measures mark dangerous cuts for all Disabled people. Furthermore, altering the PIP award criteria will make it harder for those who need support to qualify.
“The minister’s assertion that 1000s more face-to-face assessments will be more accurate is laughable; we know that in-person assessment causes more stress and worry and often leads to inaccurate findings from assessors.
“Let’s be clear: there is nothing ambitious about cutting support from those who need it and that’s what today’s announcements were really about. Rising claims for personal independence payment reflect not a problem with Disabled people but rather reflect successive government’s failure to do even the bare minimum to create a more equitable society.”
