Upcoming changes to benefits
Comments
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It’s a disgrace what they are even thinking about doing to the PIP system.where does this leave DLA for children?Surely they can’t touch that either ?I worry for my 7 year old who has autism and selective mutism as his future going forward when’s he’s 16 looks very bleak if he has to try to love over to a system that would probably reject his claim!
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They do. A man called Morgan McSweeney is Starmer and Co's guru. They seem to credit him with almost mystical powers. I will return to him in a later post when I have more time. But look him up. And tell me if you think he has any particular qualifications to set the direction of travel for UK governance.
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“I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
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Hi guys , I'm new to this, so bear with me ! How are folk on here coping ? What distraction techniques are you coming up with this news of potential cuts and harder eligibility I know it's hard to think of anything else , I'm really worried as it looks like the eligibility for mental health is changing and it's going to be harder , I was raped, contracted HIV and I self harm and have bulimia, I have bad days and REALLY bad days , I'd be a liability for any employer, I'm honestly worried fir my future
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I think everyone is worried i know my rent is gone up next month I'm getting a 10p pay rise on my welfare I am I'm 50 I have rt autism ADHD and COPD gas bill has gone up sky high next month this labour government has **** a lot of people off
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I don’t know if it’s been discussed but the majority of disability benefits (at least 85%?) that gets paid out to claimants gets spend back in the uk economy (to shops and businesses that then pay uk ni and tax.
If the treasury cut £6billlion (I don’t know what that breaks down as yearly savings - £2billion prehaps) then it will get redirected somewhere else right?
we know that starmer wants to rise defense from 2.5% to 3% asap (the foreign aid cut is covering the 2.3% to 2.5% rise) which would cost an additional £15billion a year which seems like the most likely relocation.
The thing is I’m not sure if the defense budget pays back into the economy pound to pound the same way
There’s something very uncomfortable about taking money from disabled then using it towards further funding certain wars
it’s not a subject I’m well versed in but if huge amounts of the disabled community do end up having several thousand deducted from benefits awards each year surely it’s not unreasonable to ask reeves exactly where ever penny is being redirected (the treasury expenses doc in the spring statement could have those details I guess?)3 -
I think I read somewhere that Wes Streeting is on Laura Kuensberg tomorrow.
Can someone please tell me what msm means that I keep seeing on here?
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MSM - main stream media
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I read something from the new economic foundation (?) , I think it was posted up on this forum. It said their calculations add up to 7.5-9b by 2029 not counting the original £2b .
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It comes under the heading 'low hanging fruit'. The government thought they could make savings here easily enough with little pushback and a lot of support. The NHS has failed many people currently claiming sickness benefits. Yet that institution currently spends the same £6bn every 12 days. And funding is set to rise. So take everything you hear about 'fiscal black holes' etc with a pinch of salt.
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Recent Guardian post, being followed up by regional articles in last couple of hours… urging Reeves to use alternatives?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/15/economists-urge-rachel-reeves-to-bend-fiscal-rules-instead-of-cutting-welfare
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Hi, I also had a lifetime award from DLA and along with others got moved to PIP. This entailed a home visit, it was so aweful but I understand why. I got awarded more money from PIP but reduced to a 10 year award before a review. I am older and in a worse state now and reading these news comments we are all faced with every single day on different news feeds, it makes a very worrying time. No matter if you do or don't have mental health issues, all this worry is no good for anyone. 😔
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Anyone else get their council tax bill this morning? It explains how your council tax benefit has been worked out and how much the law says you need to live on. So if we need X amount to live on why are we being threatened with having our money cut? Surely there's a legal issue here? I have written to my MP asking him to call in for a chat but I'll honesty be surprised if he does
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I'm just reading a comment above, what the hell is going on in this country? Someone who was raped with HIV is expected to look for work? This is just sick and twisted madness which drives me to tears.
If I had the money I would leave Britain in a heartbeat such is how ashamed I am to be British, how can Britain be the moral arbiter on the international stage when all we seem to do is abuse and hate on the weakest, the most vulnerable in society?
I'm done, I've had enough and I'll try to take a break from commenting.
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can I make an added suggestion
There’s an huge amount of council members/councillors (the people we vote for in local elections) that can put added pressure on their local area mp
I’ve already seen a few labour run councils post letters on social media that they’ve sent to labour leadership about their objections to disability welfare cuts.
The more public backlash the increased likelihood backbenchers rebel and front benchers consider resigning in protest
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as an autistic person I’ve been regularly rejected once I disclosed my diagnosis from even offering free volunteer work
One jackass thought for the ‘favour’ of offering work to me I could pay him inside (apparently disabled ppl are loaded in benefits and I could easily afford to pay him £200 a week! - irony was my esa and housing at the time only added up to £160 a week - needless to say I just got out of there)
Has anyone contacted Robert buckland yet - he’s a Tory mp who lost his his seat last GE but he has an invested interest in autism and the paper he wrote is pretty well thought out
also I’m very interested where Jonathan Reynolds the business security lands on this - he was starmers first dwp minister (and was pretty good) and has a autistic sonIf the green paper does freeze out autistic people from claiming/being successful getting pip or uc lcwra as one of the more vague rumors going around is suggesting - I will judge him if he doesn’t resign in those circumstances
any know what the last shadow disability minister (now a whip) vicky foxcroft is up to - 12-18 months she was reassuring the disabled communities they would go the Tory route (let alone this dystopian madness rumoured) - another one I’m very interested to read their stance next week once the green paper is launched0 -
Hi All, I've been keeping a watchful eye and reading all the comments and concerns.
My case is I have many ongoing health issues, first starting in 1999. Things took a turn for the worst in 2021 then worse again developing further conditions in 2024. I have worked full time since leaving school 3 months before my 16th birthday (so I was still 15 and paying tax and ni) back in 1977. In 1982 I took 10 years off to have and raise my 3 children (no child care payments) then back to work. When I got very ill in 1999 I was out of action for 7 years. I did not claim one penny of government assistance/disability as my husband cared and supported me.
I have paid into the system for years and I am now coming up to 64. I should have gone down the health/disability route from 2021- 2024 but I didn't , I only started last month and only have one fit note and I was hoping to get a UC50 and WCA after 3 fit notes. I can't get my state pension soon either as the age goes up to 67 next year making working age another 3 years for me.
My point being, there is a great possibility I won't get lrwca and/or pip and the actual assesment will likely make it impossible. I live alone now so of course I can wash, dress, cook for myself, handle my budget and think for myself. There is no one here to help me.
What piddles me off is I have paid into this system for decades, not claimed when I could have, cant retire at 65 (60 when I left school) and now I might not even get the chance to get lrwca if they target new claims, I'm a newbie in regards to sickness/disability and I'm nearly 64. Also, for me, working is not good for me in any way shape or form. Is anyone speaking up for the over 60s being forced to work and likely denied disability even at this late stage in their working age life?
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Re International Stage Grandstanding.. Starmer and Reeves are all in! Last year she hoped to charm Biden by stating she was following ‘Bideneconomics’..yesterday it was a German model of shrinking the state? As for Starmer.. we all realise the defence budget has to rise but c’mon, what’s with all the International conferences he’s setting himself up to chair? I very much doubt the US or Russia! will permit British boots on the ground.. his showboating is out of control. I read the OBR’s reaction to Reeves welfare plans, nowhere do they say fiscal policy can’t be ‘slackened’ to raise defence monies. This sacrifice of the disabled is simply Reeves excuse to raise taxes for everyone. We’re a mere soundbite to a desperately struggling chancellor.
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also look into ‘labour together’ - many mps that helped build that now thinktank are now in plum minister jobs and like Cummings was to Boris, Morgan mcsweeney is in a puppet master role and anyone familiar with the ‘yes minister’ old comedy knows the pm is not the most powerful person in gov
Starmer was picked to be the face of this labour gov (rather than pm job credentials if you get my meaning) but I don’t think he was ever an actual member of ‘labour together (not like reeves was) and I do think someone else is writing the script then handing them to starmer
(I just can’t decide if starmer is actively collaborating in all these plans or just reading from the script - he may see mcsweeney as the reason for his huge majority and that’s a good enough reason to continue going alone with things)0 -
From "The Observer"
View image in fullscreenThe Observer
Downing Street considers U-turn on cuts to benefits for disabled peopleControversial plans to cut personal independence payments (Pip) may be shelved after a tense cabinet meeting and backlash from Labour MPs
Toby Helm , Political editor, James TapperSat 15 Mar 2025 19.30 GMTShare
Ministers have left the door open to a humiliating U-turn on their highly contentious plans to cut benefits for disabled people, amid mounting uproar over the proposals across the Labour party.
Both Downing Street and the Department for Work and Pensions did not deny they were about to backtrack on plans to impose a real-terms cut to the personal independence payment (Pip) for disabled people, including those who cannot work, by cancelling an inflation-linked rise due to come into force next spring.
The plans had been earmarked for inclusion in a green paper scheduled to be published on Tuesday and had been one of several elements of a wider package of welfare cuts designed to save between £5bn and £6bn on the ballooning benefits bill.
Ministers, who are facing the wrath of Labour MPs and peers over the plans, are understood to have taken fright after being accused in meetings with MPs of planning measures rejected as unfair even by former Tory chancellor George Osborne during the Conservative years of austerity.
In his Political Currency podcast last week with former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls, Osborne said: “I didn’t freeze Pip. I thought [it] would not be regarded as very fair. What I did try to do was reform Pip.”
Balls, who is married to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, infuriated Downing Street by saying on the same podcast that the plan would not work if its aim was to get more people back into work, adding that “it’s not a Labour thing to do”.
At a tense cabinet meeting last Tuesday, several serving members raised their concerns about how the Labour government would be viewed if it froze Pip payments and made it more difficult to receive them.
Any plan to freeze Pip or change eligibility rules would require primary legislation, running the risk that they could become the focus of a sizeable Labour rebellion in the House of Commons and also the Lords.
Several Labour MPs have made clear to the Observer that they could not support the plans in any parliamentary vote.
View image in fullscreen
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said protecting people in need was a principle Labour would not compromise on. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/REX/ShutterstockSpeaking to the Observer, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, insisted that Labour was sympathetic to those unable to work because of disability.
She said: “I know as a constituency MP for 14 long years under the Tories that there will always be some people who cannot work because of the severity of their disability or health condition. Protecting people in genuine need is a principle Labour will never compromise on.”
But she also insisted that the system badly needed reform to ensure that people did not spend a lifetime on benefits and to prevent the overall benefits bill from soaring even higher.
“Being trapped on benefits if you can work is terrible for people’s living standards, health and opportunities,” Kendall said.
She added: “It’s terrible for the country too as spending on the costs of failure soar. The sickness and disability bill for working age people has increased by £20bn since the pandemic, with a further £18bn rise to £70bn projected over the next five years.
We must fix this broken system for the people who depend on it and the country as a whole.”
In a further measure to placate furious Labour MPs, sources said Kendall would move to legislate to create “a right to try” guarantee to ensure sick and disabled people could take a job safe in the knowledge that they would not be forced to undergo a new re-assessment and the possibility of losing their benefits as a result.
One million people would see their benefits reduced under the government’s proposed reforms, according to the Times.
Ministers are said to be examining changing eligibility for Pip in such as way that it would not be available for people who need someone else to help them wash below the waist, or need to be reminded to go to the toilet to prevent them having an accident.
The new rules would, in effect, mean that only the most severely disabled would receive Pip, while those with mental health conditions would not.
Ministers are also planning to scrap the work capability assessment, which is used to decide if people receiving universal credit are fit for work.
It is separate from Pip, which is intended to help cover the extra costs of being disabled, whether or not they can work.
About 4.8 million people receive Pip or the benefit it was designed to replace, the disability living allowance.
Campaigners say the problem facing disabled people is that even those who are desperate to return to the workforce find they cannot cope, or employers are not willing to accommodate them.
View image in fullscreen
Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls criticised the proposed welfare cuts for disabled people as ‘not a Labour thing to do’. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/ShutterstockA government programme that supported 286,000 disabled people over the past seven years who wanted to find work was only able to secure jobs for one in five.
Anna Stevenson, a benefits expert at the disability charity Turn2us, said: “These were people who, although they were unwell, thought they were probably well enough to work and really keen to work.”
Stevenson said that if the government was serious about helping more disabled people into work, it needed to change employment law.
“If you want very high employment among disabled people, one of the things you need to change is how easy it is for employers to fire people when they’re ill.
“But that has the potential to distort the labour market. There are always trade-offs.”
In the 1970s, employers would put workers on “light duties” if they were unable to do harder, physical jobs, but that practice has all but vanished, leaving disabled people to rely on the state instead.
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