DWP boss Liz Kendall under fire for 'ignoring' disabled people over PIP cuts
Liberal Democrats MP Steve Darling slammed DWP minister Ms Kendall, asking: "What went wrong?" Ms Kendall replied: "Forgive me for not agreeing with the characterisation that you put forward. I have never started with pound signs or spreadsheets.
"I've always started with what I believe can help people with long term health conditions and disabled people build a better life for themselves." Mr Darling asked twice: "Why did you ignore disabled people?"
READ MORE: DWP breaks silence on how welfare bill will impact Blue Badge holders
READ MORE: New sicknote rules in England with GPs less likely to sign people off
READ MORE ISA change announced by Rachel Reeves handing savers extra £9,000
The DWP minister replied: 'We are not ignoring disabled people. They will be at the heart of the Timms review." She said: "This department ends up picking up the pieces of the problems that are deep rooted from many other government areas and we've got to change that.
"Poor health, poor opportunities, low skills, not enough jobs. Those are the problems we have to tackle together. We are at the sharp end of it." She added: "We have to start shifting resources into the things that really help create better lives for people.
"We are spending I believe too much on the costs of failure, and not enough on the better health, better jobs, better skills that we need. That is extremely difficult to shift because people rely on those benefits and they've built their lives around them.
"But unless we grapple with this, benefits alone is not the solution to a better life." She said: I think action speaks louder than words, we have taken action to tackle child poverty." Mr Darling asked: "Can you explain why you haven't published the child poverty strategy so far?"
He said: "You are very well avoiding it. Why haven't you published the child poverty strategy?"
Ms Kendall replied: "We want to get this right, we understand there will be funding implications and we think its really important that we spell out a comprehensive strategy. But we have not had slippage on tackling child poverty, we're putting that into action."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Future pensioners to be worse off, government warns
People retiring in 2050 will be worse off than pensioners today, the government has warned, unless action is taken to boost retirement savings. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is reviving the Pensions Commission, which first reported nearly 20 years ago, to look at how to tackle the issue. Almost half of working-age adults are not putting any money into a private pension at all, with low earners and the self-employed less likely to be pension saving, the DWP said. The shortfall is also worse among women and some ethnic groups, with only one-in-four people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi background saving in a private pension. People drawing their pension 25 years from now are set to be £800 or 8% worse off per year than their counterparts today, the department said, with four in 10 people currently not saving enough for their retirement. Rather than launching a new commission from scratch, the government said it was reviving the "landmark" Turner Pension Commission which reported in 2006, under the last Labour government, and led to the roll-out of automatic enrolment into pension saving. As a result 88% of eligible employees are now saving, up from 55% in 2012, the DWP said. Despite that progress, the DWP said new analysis revealed "stark" findings including that: more than three million self-employed workers are not saving into a pension only one-in-four low earners in the private sector are saving into a pension only one-in-four of people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage are saving The analysis also found a 48% gender gap in private pension wealth among people currently retiring, with a typical woman receiving just over £100 a week and a man receiving £200 from private pension income. The commission is not designed to directly address issues around the cost of the state pension. Recent reports have raised questions over the affordability of the "triple lock", introduced in 2010, which guarantees that state pensions will rise every year by the same amount as average wages, inflation, or 2.5%, whichever is higher. As the population ages, and people live longer, the cost of that policy is set to grow significantly. Its cost is forecast to be three times higher by the end of the decade than was original estimated, after successive years of high inflation, followed by strong wage growth. What is the triple lock and how much is the state pension worth? UK's pension triple lock to cost three times more Instead, the relaunched Commission, which will report in 2027, will look at savings in private sector pensions. It will bring together trades unions, employers and independent experts, some of whom also took part in the original Commission. It will look at what is preventing people from putting more into their retirement pots and will aim to build a national consensus around future strategy. Kate Smith, head of pensions at pension firm Aegon, urged the Commission to make "bold, brave and possibly unpalatable recommendations", including "significant increases" to auto-enrolment contributions after 2029. Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress described it as "a vital step forward". "Everyone deserves dignity and security in retirement, but right now many workers – especially those in the private sector – will find themselves without enough to get by on," he said. Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK said that while the state pension provided the bulk of income for most pensioners, it was "hugely important" to consider the role of private savings, as the current system was leaving many pensioners struggling to make ends meet. "Hopefully this can be avoided in future and particularly disadvantaged groups, including low-paid women and self-employed people on low incomes, can be helped to put money aside when appropriate for them to do so," she said. Catherine Foot, director of the think tank Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement, said that 17 million people were not saving enough to achieve the retirement they wished to have. "The next two decades is when the effects of the savings crisis will really start to bite," she said. It was crucial that the Commission was able to take a step back and view the system in its entirety," she added. "There's an opportunity to examine how different elements of the system are working together." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
UK Plans Revived Pensions Commission to Tackle a Savings Crisis
The UK plans to revive the Pensions Commission — a creation of the last Labour government — amid growing concern that too few Britons are saving enough for retirement. The proposal announced by the Department for Work and Pensions on Monday comes almost 20 years after the original panel of experts — set up by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to investigate the private savings regime in Britain — issued its final statement.


Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
USCIS ends key parole benefit, says immigration fees will rise ‘soon'
After eliminating several immigration programs and benefits established by the previous administration under Joe Biden, the government of Donald Trump has decided to end another key aid for those seeking to regularize their immigration status in the United States. An update from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also warns that new fees will 'soon' be implemented for certain immigration benefit applications. The decision regarding one of the most commonly used forms by parole recipients went into effect on Thursday, July 17, 2025. What benefit was eliminated by USCIS? USCIS released a new edition of Form G-1055, the Fee Schedule. In this edition, it eliminates the eligibility for a fee waiver for Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, Parole Documents and Arrival/Departure Records, for immigrants applying for parole under the following categories: ▪ Initial Request for Arrival/Departure Record for Parole In Place (PIP), for noncitizens currently in the United States. ▪ Re-parole Requests for individuals who had previously received a period of parole under the PIP program. Read more: 'A privilege, not a right': Trump administration puts green card holders on notice From now now, those submitting these applications will have to pay the current fee of $630, as stated in the updated G-1055 document. Requirements for obtaining PIP vary by case, since the U.S. grants different types of temporary stay permits, ranging from family members of U.S. military personnel to individuals who qualify for humanitarian reasons. In 2024, the Biden administration proposed expanding parole in place to undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens who met certain requirements, such as having lived in the country for a minimum number of years. An estimated 500,000 people could have benefited from that measure, but a federal court in Texas blocked the process, known as the Keeping Families Together (KFT) initiative. USCIS announces increases to immigration fees On July 11, USCIS announced that it 'will soon begin charging new fees for certain immigration benefit requests.' 'We will provide details on the implementation of these fee changes in the coming days,' the agency noted, just before updating the parole in place form. These measures are part of the reforms promoted by President Trump as part of his 'One Big Beautiful Bill' budget plan, which was approved by the Senate. This legislation proposes sweeping changes to the immigration system, including: ▪ Stricter enforcement rules for immigration laws ▪ New restrictions on social benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps (SNAP) ▪ Increases in fees for essential immigration procedures, such as permanent residency, TPS and asylum applications.