Upcoming changes to benefits
Comments
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you've got it exactly right. @vulcan
We've seen all this before they put their toxic bile out in the Media and test the water,. knowing very well by announcing evil things that they have no intention of doing, so that when th genuine plans emerge they claim falsely they care and have listened and everyone is so busy breathing a sigh of relief they don't scrutinise the slightly less vile plans which are still bad enough.
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My thoughts exactly
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From "The I" this evening:
Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are facing pressure to water down cuts to disability benefits amid pressure from unhappy Labour MPs.
The Government is understood to want to avoid a repeat of the controversy following the cuts to the winter fuel payment which saw months of hostile headlines and commentary from upset Labour MPs.
The Prime Minister’s team spent Wednesday in discussions with would-be Labour rebels on the cuts as No 10 negotiated the contents of the draft policy discussion paper due next week.
Anxious Labour MPs were brought in to Downing Street in batches to speak to Starmer’s political director Claire Reynolds alongside special advisers who are expert in welfare policy, with No 10 in “listening” mode.
One MP who was invited into No 10 said they felt the Government was “panicking” and could be forced into making “small” changes to the policy.
Another said: “They can’t just introduce cuts to PIP (personal independence payments) and not expect a backlash. They’re going to have to back down”
MPs said the meeting considered lots of data explaining the status of the extent of the challenge with the rising welfare bill, but with “no discussion or acknowledgment of any of the proposals” in the Green Paper.
The Chancellor is expected to announce cuts to the welfare budget during her Spring Statement on 26 March as she seeks to plug an estimated £11.5bn hole in her finances and meet her fiscal rules.
These state daily expenditure must be met from taxation rather than borrowing. But with her £9.9bn headroom from October’s Budget thought to have been wiped out and some economists estimating it is now minus £1.6bn she is faced with having to raise taxes or make cuts.
Her plans are thought to include cutting sickness and disability benefits in order to persuade people back to work – with benefits increasing for those who are fit to work, and decreasing for those deemed unfit.
But the plans are the subject of a backlash from Labour MPs. The i Paper understands at the meetings backbenchers were pushing for mitigations for the most vulnerable disabled people as the Government mulls reforms to the PIP.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast at the time of October’s Budget that spending on health and disability benefits would rise from £64.7bn in 203-24 to an estimated £100.7bn by 2030.
One insider characterised the series of meetings as “describing the landscape” to Labour MPs rather than alighting on any areas of compromise.
No details will be made available to backbenchers before the Cabinet is made aware of the Government’s final plans, a senior source said.
PIP is designed to help people with extra costs incurred by their disability, whether they are working or not.
The changes will include making it harder to qualify by changing the criteria assessors used to determine if an applicant is eligible for the benefit.
Labour MPs are fighting to secure safeguards to the plans which are due to be announced early next week.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall had been due to set out plans this week, but insiders were taken aback by the strength of feeling on the Labour benches and have sought to better explain the Government’s thinking.
‘We’re called the Labour Party, for goodness sake’
The row spilled into Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Asked by Labour’s John Slinger how he would fix “a broken welfare system” while protecting the most vulnerable, Starmer replied: “We inherited a system which was broken, which is indefensible economically and morally, and we must and we will reform it.
“We will have clear principles: we will protect those who need protecting. We will also support those who can work back to work. But Labour is the party of work, we are also the party of equality and fairness.”
Accusing the Tories of leaving behind a “lost generation” with one in eight young people not in education, employment or training, Starmer went on to reject calls from MP Richard Burgon, a key figure on the party’s left, for a wealth tax.
There is some exasperation at the calls, with one Government insider arguing there is a moral case for getting people into work. “We’re called the Labour Party for goodness’ sake,” they told The i Paper.
No decisions have yet been finalised on the contents of the Green Paper next week, with Kendall also undertaking meetings with would-be rebels.
The Government is also understood to be preparing to announce plans to freeze PIP which currently rises each year with inflation.
Changing the automatic rating for PIP is likely to require new legislation which could pose a problem for No 10 if a Commons vote was required, paving the way for potential delay and parliamentary rebellions.
The i Paper understands No 10 is now working to address backbench concerns by the deadline of next week, with meetings in Downing Street likely to carry on into Thursday. Kendall is also in discussions with Labour MPs about the changes.
There is also concern at the top of Government that the issue doesn’t become “another winter fuel” issue with which voters can bash their MPs.
Meanwhile, 16 major charities – including the Trussell Trust, Scope, and Mind – wrote to the Government warning that benefit cuts would have a “catastrophic impact on disabled people up and down the country” and claimed that as many as 700,000 more disabled households could be pushed into poverty because of the plans.
Helen Whately, shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: “Labour came into office with no plan to get the welfare bill down, and taxpayers have spent £2.5bn so far waiting for them to come up with one.
“Sickness benefits are forecast to cost £100bn by 2030. We can’t afford that – nor is it right for so many people to be relying on the state. The country needs everyone who can work, to work.
“But instead of tackling this problem, Labour are talking about freezing benefits for disabled people instead. That is no substitute for proper welfare reform and does nothing to get people off benefits into work.”
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I physically can’t work, so let me get this straight - If someone ‘can’ work they’ll actually get paid more than someone who is actually unable to work & would therefore (you would assume at least…) need it more?! Am I missing something here?
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Self employed status?
im self employed but signed off unfit for work LCWRA group plus full pip on mobility standard daily care side. I’m a leg amputee 7 month ago without currently a prosthetic. My stump won’t heal properly. If I can’t walk I cant carry out my trade. What benefits will I expect to be cut?1 -
I found this from benefits and work's forum, someone posted it in the comments. Notice how Labour keep leaking figures to the press? Their PR department really are out of touch.
"Peston programme from last night. There were some "leaked figures" on there, and I'm going to try to explain them as best as I can. According to the programme, the £810 that we receive for LCWRA UC would go down to either £737 or £664. That's a potential loss of either £73 or £143 a month, depending on which amount they go for. Nobody wants to lose £143 a month, of course, but that appears to be the worst case figure. However, it WOULD also mean that there would be a modest increase for those on LCW and basic rate - either £32 or £63 a month.
NB: Peston talked of 25% and 50% "redistribution." This is not the same as 25% and 50% cuts. For those interested in percentage cuts, they would be 9% of the total of £810 for being in LCWRA or 17%.
As for PIP, the show suggested that it wouldn't increase with inflation this year, and they would bring in a new set of descriptors with the aim to remove 620,000 people from PIP - out of a current total of 5 million - by the end of the parliament. That's a reduction of 12% of claimants."3 -
So basically the ones who are fit to do some work get rewarded for it, and the ones who physically can’t are kicked in the teeth?
I caught long covid as a result of negligence / incompetence from the previous government, to go along with my autism - Before, I had the mental energy to cope with my autistic problems but now the long covid has stole that from me, so everything takes twice as much effort even when I am ok.
The long covid team has been disbanded now as there is no budget from April onwards for it, I just feel invisible and forgotten. I’ve attempted suicide numerous times before over my health, is there any point going on?2 -
Ok i might be getting things mixed up but didn't the last time they changed descriptors on something they lost a court case & had to pay back a load of money or am i mixing that with something else?
Akso why do i feel the descriptors will be aimed at mental health
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None of us know what the descriptors will be aimed at until we get official confirmation.
Until then it is speculation.
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It seems from @Zipz post above we are on "The Yawn Cycle" as I call ot and have spoken about Many times here before.
it's basically a constant repetitive and predictable cycle that happens everytime something controversial is planned.
Plans announced... backlash... watered down and or court losses.. end result absolutely nothing actually changes.
The difference this time which Is new is the backlash has started BEFORE the green paper which suggests many headaches for labour during every stage of legislation , on which in the end they'll have no choice but to take 2 paracetamol and suck it up.
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Thing is they can't bar people with mental illnesses to claim incapacity benefits, I think it will be illegal to do so and ironically Labour brought forward the Equality Act 2010 before the Tories passed it.
It says it on the government's own website.
"A mental health condition is considered a disability if it has a long-term effect on your normal day-to-day activity. This is defined under the Equality Act 2010.
Your condition is ‘long term’ if it lasts, or is likely to last, 12 months.
‘Normal day-to-day activity’ is defined as something you do regularly in a normal day. This includes things like using a computer, working set times or interacting with people."
All they can do is further scrutinize as in more evidence, most likely talking to our GP discussing length of issue, whether the issue can be recoverable.
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the kicker:
The biggest pressure crippler for disabled even thinking out work or training
The dwp themselves
(The pressure from them increases every single year and even the normal Joe would have trouble double tasking the daily stress the dwp embeds in all claimants) and then finding the energy to navigate most jobs (esp those that make no effect to adapt or co workers of a certain though family)…………………..the public just don’t realise how much more double, even triple tasking is expected of disabled ppl in daily life)
I wish universal basic income could be trialled with lcwra claimants in a small area of the country - they’d really have nothing to lose (they’d initially save job centre resources and money on assessments/tribunals - but if you take the stresses of the hovering dwp away how many disabled (without that pressure anymore) would recover their MH enough to try work or enter training courses/education and actually succeed (if ubi is added to income then ni and tax would be payable earlier and the gov could start getting their money)What’s the saying - you got to spend money to make money
Labour are daft if they don’t launch a 1-2 year trial on something like that imo8 -
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Conservative politicians of all stripes (and Labour is run by Tories at this point) have used the Conservative press as a testing ground to guage public backlash to their plans for a long time. These aren't leaks. They're calculated political moves with their political friends.
They've done this with other policies (ie. Brexit, anti-trans hatred, anti-protest laws, Partygate). They'll do it again.
These claims they may "water down" these plans are also part of their strategy. It's entirely possible that these leaks are made up to quell public concern, so people don't think their plans to kill disabled people won't be as bad.
Still, if these cuts do go ahead, disabled people and their allies (who can) need to take to the streets consistently to oppose these cuts. This is how disabled people, alongside all other marginalised groups, got legal protections in the first place.
Responding to consultations, signing petitions and writing letters to MPs is worse than nothing at this point.
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Readable if read via private browser tab
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25002239.keir-starmer-defends-substantial-dwp-welfare-cuts-pmqs/
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What about ECHR, can't someone contact them. It's our human rights that's being compromise here, they help criminals human rights but what about us
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They would be better off going back to the original payments of £686. Then no one overall loses out and everyone bar the people on SDP wont lose anymore.
They cause this bloody mess why on earth month people just to whip it away.
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I wonder if anyone is in a similar situation to me? I applied for PIP in June of last year as I was in the midst of a mental health crisis. I had my telephone interview in October and received a letter on the 25th October to let me know that they had all the information that they needed and I should hear something in seven to eight weeks. Christmas and New Year came and went and the charity which is supporting me advised me to give the PIP team a call.
I rang and spoke to a really helpful man who told me that they did not have some information following the phone interview and so there had been a delay but they now had the information that they needed and it was with the team who made the decisions and I should have a response within four to five weeks. That period has come and gone but I didn't want to rock the boat so I waited until today to call them.
Today I was told that they had needed more information and were waiting for information that they had requested from my doctors surgery. I asked if I should ring my doctors and see what was causing the hold up but was told not to. If they hadn't had a response by the 26th March it would go to a team which look at claims which are overdue for consideration so I should hear something after then. Now considering all the rumours about PIP, I find myself wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same thing and if this linked to the upcoming changes to disability benefits or if I am just, as usual, the unlucky one in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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https://www.itv.com/news/2025-03-12/government-considers-measures-to-protect-most-disabled-ahead-of-benefit-cuts
I apologise for the negativelyBut ‘a small group of the most disabled’ most likely won’t include many of us here with the ability to type audible posts on a forum.
This is always a concession labour would have to include as including every single lcwra claimant would be ludicrous and deep down they know this.
articles like this are designed to forcely relax ppl and make ppl think they are getting a new concession of something already intended to be givenRead between the lines and don’t fall for it (and hopefully labour mps on the fence won’t use it to justify gov support (if the green paper is as bad as what’s been leaked of cause - hard to not jump the gun anger wise)
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