New Green Paper Discussion - now includes accessible formats and consultation event sign up links!
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Who are B W
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Benifits and work
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I only know that a person who was demonstrating started talking to me and he claimed they were demonstrating because scope refused to give jobs to disabled people such as himself. I don’t know how try that was as I’d never heard of scope or what they did before that . This was almost 30 year’s ago. I’m simply saying what was said to me .
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Benefits and Work, an organisation that has been around for years, very informative and reliable, all there info is top notch.
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that’s what I thought . How is starmer not being challenged on that . Pass a law before finding out how many you leave destitute.
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benefits and work
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Would be great if someone from the scope team would come on and answer some of our questions.
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Hello @Waylander, I know Scope have been campaigning against these changes and have shared a lot about the work we're doing and how you can all get involved and support it. I will ask if we're able to share an updated statement.
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Hi, nope it is not scare mongering. Benefits and Work are a very reputable and reliable organisation who have been around for years, I have been a member there for at least 12 years. This is what I have written in response to someone who posted about Benefits and Works recent newsletter : -
''I have read this just now after receiving the B&W's Newsletter, I was putting off reading it as I had a feeling, it would basically say we are stuffed.
I know we have to keep at it and we will, but its so very disheartening that even the courts have their hands tied when these policies could be life or death for some. I am truly appalled and exhausted that we have this draconian level of thinking, acting and policies being implemented, we live in 2025 for goodness sake, and all without so much as a by your leave from anyone or anywhere.
Sorry if this is a little convoluted, I am struggling to even get my thoughts onto paper as such, hope it makes sense. Even the tone of this newsletter by B&W is so transparently downbeat, something they strive to steer clear of usually by adding uplifting sections, you can feel their anguish seeping through. If I am feeling this way just now there must be millions of others feeling it too.
I really had hoped B&W would have, given the legal help onboard, brought us just a little bit of a ''yes, the legal team have said we can do this or that'' that there might have been a silver bullet even if, a very small one. Sorry for my depressive writing here, I don't want to bring anyone down with it, I am just deeply appalled by our Government, our country and its leaders.''
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On Benefits & Work News today.No legal ‘silver bullet’ to stop PIP proposalsBenefits and Work and Inclusion London have obtained counsel’s advice on possible challenges to the Pathways To Work Green Paper proposals.The advice suggests that at this stage there appears to be no clear or obvious route for challenge or ‘silver bullet’ regarding the ‘flagship’ elements of the policy. Instead, individuals and organisations should focus efforts on challenging elements of the Green Paper politically as much as possible.Benefits and Work andInclusion Londonasked solicitorsLeigh Dayto obtain advice from counsel about the potential legal challenges to the March 2025 welfare reform proposals. Leigh Day appointed barristerTom Royston of Garden Court North Chambersto undertake the work.Both Leigh Day and Tom Royston have a great deal of experience in social security law and we are grateful to them for the very detailed advice they have provided.The advice addressed the following proposals in the Green Paper:(I)‘Focussing PIP more on those with higher needs’: the proposal to require at least one 4 point descriptor to be met to qualify for PIP;(II)‘Scrap the WCA’: the proposal to amend the process by which ill and disabled people can claim income replacement benefit, and the amount of money they receive;(III)‘New unemployment insurance’: the proposal to amalgamate contributory ESA and JSA into a single time limited contributory benefit;(IV)‘Delaying access to the UC health element until age 22’: not paying 18-21 PIP recipients any extra means tested element in UC.Looking in summary at the above proposals, counsel told us that substantial challenges to central aspects of the envisaged legislation would ‘be likely to fall at various places along a spectrum from ‘hopeless’ to ‘challenging’.”In other words, given the information currently available, the chances of preventing the proposals being made law or overturning them subsequently appear to be limited.In relation specifically to PIP, a range of issues were considered, including - but not limited to -the decision not to consult on this measure, challenges under the Human Rights Act 1998 and challenges under the Equality Act 2010. But the probability of any challenge succeeding in relation to the PIP 4-point rule specifically was considered to be low and heavily dependent on circumstances.Counsel did stress, however, that there may well be successful legal challenges in the future to elements of the above proposals, but these are likely to be to“contingent aspects of the proposals which emerge along the way, rather than to the elementary principles which were clear at the start.”In other words, if the laws are enacted, then the courts may have a major role to play in examining the way they are interpreted and implemented but not in upsetting the basic foundations, such as the PIP 4-point rule. Benefits and Work will aim to support any such challenges in any way it can.We are not able to publish the advice at present and we should add that it applies only to the four issues listed. The Green Paper contains many more proposals that were not covered.In addition, we did not ask for advice on whether the current Green Paper consultation is lawful, because our initial enquiries are primarily about proposals which are not being consulted on.We know that this news will be greeted with considerable dismay by many readers, who had hoped that the courts could prevent such clearly cruel and discriminatory proposals coming into force.Sadly, there seems unlikely to be ‘silver bullet’ or straightforward legal answer.Instead, by far the best hope of preventing these cuts is to persuade MPs to pledge to vote against them, as evidence grows that theLabour Party is struggling to contain a rebellion.As one Labour MP, Neil Duncan-Jordan, who won his seat with a majority of just 18 votes but who has 5,000 constituents receiving PIP, told the Guardian “The whole policy is wrong. It goes without saying that if these benefits cuts go through, I will be toast in this seat.”Morefacts about the effects of the cutsare being uncovered with each passing week.Making MPs, especially those with slim majorities, aware of how dramatically the cuts will affect claimant’s lives provides the best hope that they will never come to pass.Hoped this might be useful here as it has their full statement.
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Thank you 😊
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I understand mrsBB, I was taken in big time. I will be more careful 😊
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could be that it has to be implemented for someone to then take it to court ? I’m sure pip was brought in then challenged over time . Surely we are protected by the equality act and the echr
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Hello @secretsquirrel1. We're not allowed to give or share legal advice because we are unfortunately not legal expects. It's important to note that both Benefits and Work and Leigh Day are both highly experienced and recognised in this field.
I agree, the statement from Benefits and Work is worrying and on a personal level I share the same concerns as all of you. I found reading their whole article on it a little more reassuring than the mailshot email received and am sharing it below in hope it may bring you some comfort too.
Benefits and Work: No legal 'silver bullet' to stop PIP proposals
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please as we need some positive feedback regarding this , or at least an explanation as to why the equality act and echr cannot help us .
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Leigh Day and barrister Tom Royston have looked closely at the government’s welfare reform proposals. Their legal advice is that the core plans, such as the new PIP rules and changes to benefits, are likely to be legally sound under current laws. This means there is no clear legal route to stop them before they are passed.
However, they also said that if the proposals are introduced and then applied unfairly, for example, through poor assessments or discriminatory practices, there could be grounds for legal challenges at that point.
So while taking it to court is not an option right now, that does not mean we are powerless. The best solution for the time being is political pressure. MPs, especially those with small majorities, are already feeling pressure from people in their communities. If enough of us speak up, protest, and push back, we can still influence what happens and may be able to stop these proposals from becoming law, or get them watered down.
The fight is not over, it has just moved to a different battlefield. For now, that means writing to MPs, raising awareness, and standing together.
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it’s unbelievable to hear they can legally do this where the Tory’s couldn’t. People on the lower care award and some ( including myself) on the higher will no longer be classed as disabled. I’m bedbound 95% of the time but according to the government no longer disabled. I really hope back benchers oust starmer as they must know they’ll never get in again.
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It's good your doing your pip now so you don't have 4 point rule your be absolutely fine sounds alot of evidence last year I got my review form June July can't remember 2024 my pip ending March 2025 I got pip two weeks before my award ended paper based all for mental health so you sending all that proof is good easy not to worry but this is really good time to do review I feel for people in 2026 you got this 👍
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