Disability Rights UK is urging the new Labour government to scrap planned changes to the benefits system proposed by the Conservative party while they were in office.
This includes withdrawing the Person Independence Payment (PIP) consultation, which DRUK says is ‘predicated on cutting PIP expenditure’, and to rethink any changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).
In April, the Conservative Government published a Green Paper consultation on proposals for personal independence payment (PIP) reform.
This Green Paper suggested replacing PIP with vouchers or one-off grants rather than ongoing benefits payments, as well as changing PIP eligibility rules and the assessment criteria.
The proposals were put forward because the government said there had been an “unsustainable” rise in PIP claimants. However, DRUK says this rise was caused by the cost-of-living crisis, with disabled families needing £975 a month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households, according to Scope.
DRUK says the UK already has ‘one of the least generous welfare systems in Western Europe’ and the introduction of any of these policies would lead to “even higher numbers of attitudinal, institutional, environmental and information barriers.”
The Labour Party is yet to comment on whether it will withdraw the PIP consultation, and DRUK is now urging advocacy organisations, allies and disabled people to write to the new government rejecting the proposals.
As well as reforming the PIP system, in November 2023, the Conservative government set out plans to tighten the work capability assessment (WCA) from 2025. The WCA is used to determine what work-related conditions a disabled person must meet to keep getting their benefit.
DRUK and nine other organisations (including Mind, Sense and Rethink Mental Illness), have now written to the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions asking for any WCA changes to be scrapped.
The letter states: “The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the planned changes to the Work Capability Assessment from 2025 would mean that by 2028/29, 424,000 people with serious mobility or mental health problems would be denied both extra Universal Credit worth over £400 a month and protection from sanctions. They estimate that just 3% of these people would be expected to move into work in the subsequent four years.
“We do not believe the reforms, therefore, would achieve their stated objective of reducing economic inactivity. Instead, they would condemn seriously ill and Disabled people to a life of poverty and the threat of sanctions.”
The organisations are therefore asking the new government to “think again” before proceeding with these plans, and ensure that disabled people are consulted on any future proposed benefits reforms.
“We ask that Disabled people themselves are put at the heart of future policymaking, that these regulations are dropped, and that longer term plans set out in the Health and Disability White Paper to scrap the Work Capability Assessment, and proposals for the future of PIP, are redesigned with Disabled people at the centre,” they conclude.
