The major PIP and universal credit changes in Labour's benefits bill, explained

Yahoo

15 hours ago

The government will outline the concessions to its controversial welfare reform bill on Monday in the hope of averting an embarrassing rebellion in a crunch House of Commons vote.
Between 50 and 60 Labour MPs are reportedly still planning to vote against the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in its second reading on Tuesday.
This is despite a stunning U-turn by the government before the weekend, when it said it would water down or scrap a number of the bill's proposals.
Originally, the government had hoped to slash about £5bn from the UK's benefits bill with significant changes to rules on personal independence payments (PIP) and universal credit (UC).
About 126 Labour MPs had voiced their disapproval at the planned cuts to benefits for disabled people, and had planned a reasoned amendment to the bill that would have scuppered its progress.
And while that scenario appears to have been avoided, with about half of those MPs now planning to back the altered bill, the government did not rule out further changes.
On Monday, disabilities minister Sir Stephen Timms will publish details of a review of the PIP assessment, which the government says is "co-produced with disabled people". Health secretary Wes Streeting refused to rule out further changes following the publication of the Timms review, telling BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme "we have got to listen" on PIP.
The government will amend the bill at the Commons committee stage to put the changes in place .
Welfare reforms laid out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill – as the draft law is known – were announced in March this year. They included controversial reforms to tighten the eligibility criteria for disabled people receiving PIP.
Applications for PIP are based on an assessment of a person's ability to complete everyday tasks, such as washing or preparing food.
Some estimates had suggested more than one million people could lose out if changes to these eligibility tests were approved.
And in the wake of growing outrage among its own MPS, the government has now promised to protect payments to existing claimants, with the new rules only applying to new claimants from November 2026.
In a letter to MPs, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said: 'We recognise the proposed changes have been a source of uncertainty and anxiety.
'We will ensure that all of those currently receiving PIP will stay within the current system. The new eligibility requirements will be implemented from November 2026 for new claims only."
In his review of PIP assessments, "co-produced" with disabled people, disabilities minister Sir Stephen Timms will say that £300m in employment support will also be brought forward over the next three years.
Universal credit (UC) is the main benefit for working-age people and is currently worth about £400 per month to a single person aged over 25.
Someone with disability – or long-term health condition that limits their ability to work – could potentially see this more than double, with payments for incapacity worth an extra £423.27 per month.
Previously, changes would have limited eligibility for the incapacity top-up limited to claimants aged over 22.
The value of the top-up was also due to fall significantly by 2030 for new claimants and be frozen for new applicants.
Ministers have now promised payments to UC health benefits claimants will be "fully protected in real terms".
From next year to 2030, all those who already receive the health element of universal credit – and new claimants with severe conditions and 12 months or less to live – will see an annual rise to their combined standard and limited capacity for work allowance at least in line with inflation.
In her letter to MPs, Kendall said: "l adjust the pathway of universal credit payment rates to make sure all existing recipients of the UC health element – and any new claimant meeting the severe conditions criteria – have their incomes fully protected in real terms.'
In addition, 200,000 people with the most severe, lifelong conditions who are unlikely to recover will not be called for a universal credit reassessment.
Changes to the existing regimes for PIP and universal credit are expected to remain, but will apply to new applicants only, with existing claimants protected.
Changes to assessments for PIP are also expected to go ahead, but ministers have offered further concessions to rebels on this in the form of the Timms review.
A merger of jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowances is also still expected to go ahead, as is a "right to try" initiative to encourage people back into the workplace.
For the first time, draft regulations for the 'right to try' will be laid in parliament, to enshrine in law the right for people receiving health and disability benefits to try work without fear of reassessment.
The £300m in employment support announced by Timms will be brought forward over the next three years, the government says, part of its commitment to spend £1bn per year by the end of the decade helping disabled people find work, something that is due to remain in the bill.
The bill had also been slated to include inflation-busting rises to universal credit payments over the next four years.