For anyone with a disability and in receipt of benefits, the recent headlines around benefit cuts have been stark. The depth of the proposed cuts seem to outweigh the positive changes to employment support, and there is potential for considerable changes that leave many concerned about what the future looks like financially.
The Government is proposing significant changes to the way in which benefits are made available to people with a disability. These include ending the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), making PIP the gateway to the UC health component, freezing and reducing UC health component and narrowing the eligibility for the PIP daily living element.
What does this mean for people who rely on these benefits?
According to Disability Rights UK, over 800,000 people will lose support for the extra costs of disability, amounting to a minimum of £4,200 per year. Some people will lose out as much as £9,600 per year if they no longer qualify for PIP or UC. Furthermore, 7 out of 10 PIP claimants in the lower income bracket, so those with the least will be most affected. It is also expected that those living with mental health conditions that affect their ability to work will lose out.
If voted through by Parliament, the WCA is set to be scrapped in 2028, leaving the PIP (personal independence payment) responsible for determining someone’s eligibility for benefits. This will be assessed based on the impact their disability has on daily life, not on their ability to work. The Government have crucially allowed MPs to vote on the proposed changes, as opposed to allowing suitable public consultation.
There are 7 million Disabled people living in poverty, on benefits and or low incomes, and are half of all those in poverty.
Rather than saving £5bn, the actual delivered savings could be £100M with huge future costs as other public services are put under more pressure. What this means is that once the support is cut to disabled communities, it would become much harder to reinstate because of further pressure on the remaining budget.
What will the impact be for this change?
In recent years lower income households have been put under even more pressure with the cost of living crisis and some may still be recovering from the impact of Covid. Welfare spending overall is not significantly increasing, instead tracking around the same levels as in 2009.
The disabled community faces massive barriers in getting into work and retaining work, proven by the continuously high Disability Employment Gap. The Equality Act 2010 aims to ensure suitable adjustments can be made to enable disabled people to work, however the barriers to employment remain high. The 30% employment rate gap of Disabled people and non-disabled people has proved impossible to shift.
The proposed cuts would also mean that young disabled people are unable to access support until they are 22, which further reduces independence. This in turn places more pressure on carers and family members who – at present – can claim up to £83.30 per week if they work over 35 hours; an hourly rate of just £2.38.
The proposals as they stand will leave millions of Disabled people significantly poorer, forcing even more into poverty, and put even more people in danger of falling into poor mental health and physical illness. The greater need this will create for public services such as health, homelessness and social care, getting help could become even more of a challenge.
Update
On the 30th June 2025 The Government published the Welfare Reforms, which included
- Comprehensive review of PIP (Personal Independence Payments) which is proposed to be co-produced with disabled people and organisations who support them
- Universal Credit Health Elements will be increased, especially for those with severe conditions
- Employment Support measures will be brought forward.
- Applying the new 4-point PIP rule to claimants from November 2026
Disability Rights UK are updating their website regularly with news on the impending changes.
For more information, visit disabilityrights.org