On 18 March 2025 the UK Labour Government announced £5 billion worth of cuts to disability benefits, including Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The equivalent to PIP we have in Scotland is called Adult Disability Payment.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) it is the biggest cut to welfare since 2015.
PIP is not linked to work but is paid to help with the extra living costs for people with disabilities. It comes in two parts: a daily living part for people who struggle with everyday tasks, such as washing or going to the toilet; and a mobility part for people who have difficulty getting around.
The government aims to save money by tightening up the criteria for claiming PIP. The changes will make it harder for people with less severe conditions to claim it.
These cuts will have a significant impact on disabled people, most of whom are on lower incomes. According to the Resolution Foundation seven-in-ten PIP claimants live in families in the poorest half of income distribution.
The IFS says that from 2028–29, getting PIP will be the factor that determines whether you get the health element of Universal Credit – meaning there will be no support specifically for disabilities that prevent work. Those who would otherwise qualify for the health element of UC – but not PIP (currently 600,000 people) – will therefore not get the element and be worse off by £2,400 per year.
The cuts will affect 3.7 million PIP claimants in England, Scotland, and Wales. The Resolution Foundation estimates that between 800,000 and 1.2 million people could lose out.
Cuts will also be made to the level of the ‘limited capability for work and work related activity’ (LCWRA) element within Universal Credit, which is currently claimed by 1.6 million people. The proposed cuts are focussed on young people between 16 and 21. Their additional support will be halved, from £97 per week in 2024/25 to £50 per week in 2026/27.
According to the Financial Times of 23 March 2025, tens of thousands of people will lose almost two-thirds of their income as a result of these welfare cuts!
“Tougher eligibility for personal independence payments (Pips) and incapacity benefits will mean some people now in line to receive £15,000 a year, excluding housing support, will instead receive just £5,400 — a drop of 64 per cent. The figures highlight the dramatic impact that the government’s cuts will have on people who are out of work and rely on benefits to cover the costs of basic essentials.”
Work & Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall claimed that these welfare reforms are designed to help sick and disabled people who can work into jobs. What jobs?
According to the same FT article:
“Official data on Thursday showed payroll employment has barely grown in the past year, while redundancies and claims for jobless benefits have edged up. The figures also showed a sharp drop in the number of jobs in the hospitality and retail sectors. These are often a first port of call for people finding their way into work but are set to be especially hard-hit by increases in payroll taxes that will take effect in April.”
It is much harder for disabled people to find work. Kendall claims that the changes are necessary so that the benefit system focusses on “support for those in greatest need”. Yet she is hitting those with the greatest need the hardest!
Tellingly, Kendall has refused to publish the impact assessments which detail how the cuts will affect people. She knows they will contradict her claims.
My own experience has been that it is extremely difficult to get employers to cater for my disabilities. I even had to fight to get a chair in at the till when I worked in retail with Marks and Spencer’s in the food hall. I had to fight to gain a lift pass as I was asked to use the storage lift along with all the goods for the shop. Eventually I did get a lift pass, but they did not make it easy for me even though I was a BIG representative in Marks & Spencer’s, and a union representative.
I have multiple disabilities and illnesses, and I was born with a lot of them. I have worked for voluntary organisations in retail and worked part-time for over 25 years in the retail business. I am now retired. I receive Universal Credit and Adult Disability Payment, as PIP is known here in Scotland. I have had to sit through a lot of assessments to prove that I am disabled – and disabled from birth. I was once told by a judge at one hearing to determine whether I was entitled to PIP that I should not have had to come to the hearing to get the award. I got that for life, but then new changes came in and now it is for three years, or 10 years in some cases. So, no doubt I will have to go through this process again. These proposed cuts have made me extremely anxious, and frightened about the future.
I did not do very well at school and the jobs I had were training schemes – both adult and youth ones – and they all promised a job at the end of it: load of codswallop! I am now finishing my Batchelor of Arts in Social Sciences in Politics with a distinction. I know from personal experience that it is not easy to get work. And I also know that it is not easy to get help with accessibility and without barriers at work – even with small improvements. Liz Kendall is not making this easier. It will be harder to get disabled people into suitable jobs without barriers. I know from personal experience companies do not want to spend money on catering for disabled employees.
Under the 2010 Equality Act, employers, organisations and people providing services have a duty to make “reasonable adjustments” for disabled people. This is so that disabled people can access work, services and public functions without being disadvantaged.
What counts as a “reasonable adjustment” really depends on the person and their job. Basically, it’s a way of meeting your needs so that you can do your job effectively. It could be something physical, like a wheelchair ramp. Or it could be a piece of software, or even a change in your working hours or responsibilities. It’s anything that makes sure a person is included and supported in their workplace. An example of failure to make reasonable adjustments could be an employer refusing to accommodate requests for time off to attend medical appointments related to a long-term health condition.
What counts as “reasonable” is a big grey area. Everybody’s perspective is different. You might have to negotiate with your employer to work out what a “reasonable adjustment” might look like for you. Employers will not want to spend money accommodating for disabilities. So where are all these jobs for disabled people going to come from?
This is surely against the disabled persons human rights in this country. What rights do we have to fight this? Surely this must be against everything such as the 2010 Equality Act and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We need a protest campaign here. Where are all the MPs with EMPATHY who are supposed to be working for their constituents? I have written to my MP Alison Taylor and to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and only got an automated reply from them.
What do we propose? Opposition to all cuts. Fight for a society in which the elderly, sick and those with disabilities are looked after and helped to work in whatever way they can.
We must oppose the government’s Benefit Cap, which limits the amount people can claim in a single tax year. The cap was last changed in 2023-24 and is expected to be reviewed every five years. With inflation at 3%, the amount of money recipients receive is worth less and less due to higher prices and bills.
We must oppose a society in which there is always money for war but never enough for those in need.
In the UK’s One Hundred Year Partnership Agreement with Ukraine, signed on 16 January 2025, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised that the UK will provide Ukraine with annual military assistance of no less than £3 billion a year until 2030/31 and for as long as needed to support Ukraine.
In a speech on 25 February 20205, Starmer also announced:
“the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War. We will keep our manifesto commitment to spend 2.5% of our GDP on defence. But in light of the grave threats we face, we will bring that target forward so we meet it in 2027. That is an increase of £13.4bn year on year compared to where we are today.”
Yet they are cutting £5 billion from disability benefits.
Thanks, Kirsty for your article. It is very well written and researched. Your own lived experiences illustrate well the discrimination experienced by disabled people. I am disabled so this is important to me but I don’t think it has been properly considered by the Left. I understood this when I co-organised a campaign with Winvisible a disabled Women’s group to scrap the All Work Test initiated by the Tories in 1995 to exclude disabled people from benefits through functional testing rather than understand wholistically the impact of our impairments on life in an inaccessible society. The role model for this was the US private insurance company UNUM and the Private sector continues to profit from administering these so called assessments which have resulted in the deaths of thousands of disabled people. We tried to interest the Unions and MPS but it was not prioritised. An ex-miner in Chestfield started a branch of the campaign because he understood how Capitalism exploits workers and throws them on the wayside when they become too exhausted and sick to do paid work. We also had support from MPs Tony Benn, John Mcdonnell and Jeremy Corbyn. If Labour had been elected under Corbyn, Mc Donnell pledged to scrap these dehumanising cuts and work with disabled people to achieve a new model of Welfare. Instead, consecutive Labour administrations have continued to embrace the abusive treatment of disabled people sacrificing lives to market forces and corporate wealth. Disabled benefit cuts must be opposed as they strip protection from all workers. No one is exempted from illness and disability which can occur at any stage in our lives. I was 35 when I had to retire due to a debilitating illness. I learned to value myself and make a contribution in another way through campaigning with disabled people and supporting migrants. All lives matter and all work, including unwaged work must be acknowledged.