Changes to disability benefits explained
- Published
- 27/06/2025
In March, the government published a Green Paper and consultation to set out their proposed changes to health and disability benefits, including harmful cuts.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper has a stated aim of increasing employment among people who receive health and disability benefits. But we believe that, in reality, they are proposing deep and harmful cuts that will increase hardship, not employment.
It’s important to say that these changes are not guaranteed to happen. The purpose of a Green Paper is to explore options and get feedback before making a final decision, so we do have an opportunity to influence this. And if any changes do go ahead, they won’t happen straight away.
Some of the changes are being consulted on but this does not include the cuts to health and disability benefits. Instead, the government is trying to create a law that would allow these cuts to go ahead.
The government started the process of creating this new law on 18 June and MPs will have their first vote for or against it on 1 July. We are very concerned about how quickly the government are trying to push this through and the lack of consultation.
We set out the government's proposed changes, the impact of this, what Turn2us is doing to challenge this, and how you can get involved below.
What changes are the Government proposing?
- Eligibility for PIP would be tightened. You would need to score a minimum of four points in at least one ‘daily living activity’ to get the daily living component. People judged to have lower needs only in the daily living activities (scoring three or less for each activity) would no longer be eligible for this component. This would apply to new and existing claimants and on average would result in people affected losing £4500 a year.
- People who will lose their PIP daily living payments will keep them for 13 weeks, instead of the usual 4 weeks.
- There would be more face-to-face assessments.
- The government is proposing to cut the UC health element for new claimants by up to 50%. This is a loss of £3000 of support per year for those affected.
- The rate of UC for existing claimants, and the equivalent payments in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) would be frozen until 2030. This is a loss of £500 per year for those affected.
- There would be partial protection for some people who are terminally ill or who meet the ‘severe conditions criteria’. People in these groups who claim the UC health element after April 2026 will be exempted from the cut to the health element but not the freeze. The DWP estimates this will affect 84,000 people by 2030, around 10% of new claims to UC health.
- Disabled young people would be able to receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA) until the age of 18. But they would not qualify for the health element of UC until they reach 22.
- A £6 per week increase to the basic rate of UC has been proposed, which is less in real terms when considering inflation.
- A ‘right to try’ would be introduced, so if someone attempts to return to work but has to stop within six months, they would be allowed to return to their previous payments without needing a reassessment or award review.
- The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) would be scrapped in 2028. Instead, the PIP assessment would be used to decide if claimants receive extra financial support for health conditions in UC.
- New Style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and New Style Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) would be replaced with a single new benefit called Unemployment Insurance. This will be time-limited, with the duration to be decided after consultation.
- The government has announced a £1 billion employment support package to help disabled and long-term sick people back into work. It is consulting on exactly what this would look like, but it would include introducing a ‘support conversation’ to explore people’s goals and aspirations and help them to access the right support.
Why does this matter?
It is right that in our society, we support Disabled people to live independently and access work, and protect people when they are too sick to work.
Some of the changes the government has suggested could be positive, such as better employment support, a right to try guarantee and slightly increasing the basic rate of Universal Credit. But these don’t go far enough, at a time when reliance on food banks has become widespread.
Cutting vital support for sick and disabled people – support that enables many people to work – makes no sense and would plunge many into deep poverty regardless of if they can work or not.
Every day, we hear from people who can’t afford essentials or are scared to try work and risk losing all their support. Cuts will only make it harder for people to live independently or find work, mean that it takes longer for people to get better and further reduce trust in the government.
We need to focus on working with people with experience of the social security system to create a compassionate system that is there for all of us when we need it.
The government is yet to publish the full impact assessment, which will indicate the possible impact these reforms are going to have on people. However, their initial estimates show that:
- 250,000 people will be pushed further into poverty, including 50,000 children.
- 370,000 people who currently receive PIP would lose their entitlement (when they have an award review) and 430,000 people who would receive it in the future will no longer be eligible.
- 2.25 million people who currently receive the Universal Credit Health element (LCWRA) would see the amount they receive frozen.
When would this happen?
These reforms need to go through a consultation period and the usual parliamentary process so there will be no changes before 2026.
We don’t know for sure that the changes will go ahead but if they do, these are the timeframes we know about so far:
- April 2026 - The Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) payment would be frozen.
- Autumn 2026 – the changes to PIP entitlement would come into effect
- 2028 - the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) would be scrapped.
What is Turn2us doing to challenge these changes?
It is right that our social security system protects us when we face hard times and supports those who can work into employment. Since the cuts were announced in March, we have been working with our community and other charities to challenge the cuts by:
- Meeting MPs to tell them the impact of the cuts and why our social security system must be there for all of us when we need it.
- Working with other organisations including the Disability Benefits Consortium Working Group to add our name to letters, create briefings and present a unified front that shows the government we will not let these harmful cuts go unchallenged.
- Working with people with lived experience of the social security system to understand the impact the cuts will have on them and create our response to the Green Paper.
Cutting critical support for sick and disabled people makes absolutely no sense. It will cause hardship, worsen health conditions and further reduce trust in the DWP. It will actually make it harder for people to find work and mean it takes longer for people to get better.
Instead, by listening to those that claim social security, building trust, and providing genuine employment support, together we can create a compassionate security system that enables us all to thrive and live with dignity.
How can I get involved?
We need to work together to show the government how strongly we feel about creating a compassionate social security system, that really works for us when we need it. To do this, we need your MP to oppose the cuts too.
Will you ask your MP to tell the Prime Minister they do NOT support cuts to disability benefits?
We’ve made it easy for you to ask for their help. Simply click the button below and fill in a quick form to send them an email.