The Universal Credit Bill becomes law. Here are the changes to disability benefits you need to know
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Things are changing all the time, and again thank those that have read and those that have commented. The comments made are your opinion, and that is great for me. By even people visiting the page and reading the comments made by others, may for them, (could be that they think that they haven't got a clicky comment to make to comment, SO DON'T?) I say, by reading It may give you an insite as to why we are on this site, and why you have joined. You need answers, and deserve them. Not because you are disabled or long term sick but because we here, can talk about every thing and anything.
Its not only about banging the drum, or joining the fight to get…….
Its about changing attitudes. I am not 'fighting' for anything, I am pointing out the laws and charters that have been applied to me incorrectly.
So why should I not be able to get answers?
Who will give them to me?
I have found if you don't ask the right questions then you don't get the right answers.
Here is a comment: Why when asked about people who have been granted DWP do they go back to 2013, and when quoting how many have been refused don't go back to the same date, or separate groups to half the amount.
Sorry guys, I have been doing this to long to not notice, as figures can be made to say anything that the interperter wants them to say.
The white paper is not just for me and people that I talk to its for anyone tthat want to read it.
Ask your MP who has already had input to it? And how long has itt been under discussion. Wait for anyones answer, since ours down here have never stopped looking at our access to benefits, its not something that comes round once a year or once a term.
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🚨 URGENT: Please Raise Awareness of the Autumn White Paper Changes
Hi everyone,
Apologies for my absence – I’ve been focusing on health and campaigning elsewhere. But I urgently need to raise this.The government is pressing ahead with dangerous proposals in the 2025 Autumn White Paper, especially the 5 remaining “Pathways to Work” changes. These will severely impact chronically ill and disabled people, especially those on LCW/LCWRA and ESA cohorts that have been largely ignored in recent campaigns focused solely on PIP.
These are the 5 remaining Pathways To Work proposals in the Autumn White Paper :
Here are the 5 proposals:1: Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)
2: Universal Credit Health (UC Health) entitlement via Daily Living Personal Independence Payment (DL PIP)
3: UC Health auto-disqualification for under 22s
4: Introduction of “Unemployment Insurance”
5: “Work Conversations” for UC Health & Unemployment Insurance
According to DWP StatXplore (Nov 2024):
• Only 1,940,853 of 3,025,135 Universal Credit Health Element claimants also receive Daily Living PIP.
This means over 1 million could lose support if the WCA is scrapped and replaced with PIP-only criteria.Many currently on WCA ESA awards wouldn’t qualify and risk losing their lifeline incomes.Full breakdown here:
https://lurgeelife.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/the-5-remaining-pathways-to-work-proposals-the-2025-autumn-white-paper-whats-the-likely-impact/These changes aren’t just harmful—they’re life-threatening. We’ve seen this before: deaths occurred under previous DWP policies. Unless urgently opposed and scrutinised, this callous government will rush these reforms through—just as it did with the UC Bill.
Please read, share, and raise awareness however you can. We must act now to protect lives. Thank you. 🙏🏽
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Posting in support of my friend noonebelieves who has been tirelessly trying to raise awareness about the upcoming 2025 autumn White Paper.
Freedom of Information requests are DATA requests not speculative forms of information and the answers provided are all based on DATA the DWP holds. The DWP always refuse to answer any requests that are based on undecided policy or speculation.
The passage of the UC Bill was significantly affected by it being a Money Bill which meant that once it passed the House of Commons the process was effectively over. The route through the House of Lords was performative and no changes were made to the bill, but regardless of this the UC Bill had LITERALLY no impact on the data provided in the FOIs as they contain REAL DATA not speculative information based on undecided policy.
The FOIs obtained will ensure disability orgs have the DATA they need IMMEDIATELY rather than having to submit their own and wait the usual 4 weeks to get an answer. All my prep work will ensure immediate opposition is possible yet the message is that it's too much too soon? Nope.
Another key bit of information is that all the opposition to PIP before the UC & PIP Bill was even published was based on GREEN PAPER PROPOSALS. So no one was waiting back then for anything more "concrete" to be published before voicing their opposition.
Green Papers are used to gauge opinion and decide what to take forward. If no one is vocalising an opinion then guess what? They get taken forward into White Papers and Bills. And it's way trickier to get u-turns on proposals in White Papers and Bills than it is to get them dropped at Green Paper stage. Also White Papers often contain draft versions of bills and considering the Labour Government's motto is "further and faster" you can bet the autumn White Paper will contain the bill for at least the WCA scrappage and introduction of DL PIP as gateway because these two proposals were not part of the consultation. These are the most destructive proposals of all of the remaining ones.
Opposing now is the best way to get things dropped early so the Government aren't then grappling with the embarrassment of u-turning on White Paper proposals. But as I said it's highly likely a Bill will follow very quickly and be contained in the White Paper itself. It's clear that opposing Green Paper proposals for PIP is good and encouraged but opposing Green Paper proposals for Health Element is foolhardy and discouraged. Good to know 👍
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Final point: the FOI screenshot earlier in the thread that someone seems to think is irrelevant because the date of the request was 1 day before the UC bill passed the House of Lords clearly hasn't read the contents of that FOI.
It doesn't provide data on the dropped 4 point PIP rule at all. It's about those people in receipt of a Health Element benefit (LCW/LCWRA/ESA) who aren't in receipt of DL PIP who have tried and failed to qualify for DL PIP. The FULL AWARD, nothing about scoring 4 points in 1 section.
I requested this data to show how many people will lose their Health Element entitlement if the WCA is scrapped and DL PIP becomes the gateway for Health Element entitlement.
The date of the request is irrelevant to the purpose of the request and the UC Bill had no effect on the data provided in that FOI.
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No, the FOI does not reflect PLANS from the time the response was given, it's DATA on who of the Health Element failed to qualify for DL PIP at their last attempt. So I have no idea why you keep saying it's not a guide to how eligibility will be decided, that's not the purpose of the FOI request!
People were doing the same thing (seeking FOI data) in response to the Green Paper proposals on the 4 point PIP rule and the data obtained from those are a major reason why PIP was dropped from the UC & PIP bill. That proactive set of actions to get FOIs were not based on knowing precise details either because the PIP review was always intended to go ahead anyway (as stated in the Green Paper) but only after the 4 point rule was included in legislation. Dropping that rule from the bill just flipped things around so that the review will now happen first.
So the idea that the FOI showing how many Health Element claimants failed to qualify for DL PIP doesn't have any applicability in this fight is pure nonsense.
The Green Paper specifically states that the scrapping of the WCA and using DL PIP as the gateway to the Health Element is not being consulted on and WILL be introduced via Primary Legislation. See paragraph 37 of the Green Paper specifically and I've attached the paragraph to this post too. So your belief that somehow this would be a surprise addition to what's coming up is baffling and totally misguided. Just because it wasn't included in the consultation doesn't eliminate it from existence. It's going to happen if it's not effectively opposed.
You can engage in this fight in whatever manner you see fit but don't encourage others to follow your lead based on misinformation.
Lives are at stake here.
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Thanks Catherine.
My main concern is the lack of protest and lead from disability orgs.
I've written a blog on the 5 remaining Green Paper proposals most likely to be in the autumn White Paper and what the implications are of each (see below link).
Very important point is that the WCA scrappage and introduction of DL PIP as the gateway to the Health Element will be going ahead if not effectively opposed so that is something that we can be 100% sure of.
So, if you feel able, share the blog below and try to rally support for opposing the autumn White Paper on any platform you're already engaging on. Even contact your MP if you feel safe and able to do so. But be very mindful of your own health and welfare, my main concern, as I've said, is the radio silence from disability orgs.
X
https://lurgeelife.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/the-5-remaining-pathways-to-work-proposals-the-2025-autumn-white-paper-whats-the-likely-impact/2 -
And just to add I back up everything in my blog with sources and provide links to those sources. I don't expect people to just take my word for it, I've done extensive research, data interrogation and analysis.
Have a read of it and share if you feel comfortable to.2 -
You have absolutely tapped into why I'm pushing so hard now to protest against the White Paper. The 4 point PIP rule was dropped *despite* the number of loyal MPs to Starmer only because of all vehement protest and lobbying from the disabled community.
The 'Health Element' were the sacrificial lambs in the UC Bill. The 48% cut for new claims after April 2026 went through because focus was mainly on PIP and MPs felt safe to support the cut because not enough protest and lobbying had been done to reinforce to them that this was a terrible idea.
We're in danger of letting this happen again by delaying any sort of protest or pressure on MPs. They need to know well in advance how many people are against these plans otherwise the same result will happen. A bill will be passed which will destroy thousands of chronically ill and disabled people's lives. I'm not standing by and I haven't done since the Green Paper was published. I'm disillusioned with the lack of unity and advocacy in the community for the Health Element.2 -
Let's not start with rumours please @Catherine21 it's best to stick to facts as we don't want people getting more worried than they have to be. 😉
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Yeah it's not speculation though is it. It's as speculative as the 4 point PIP rule, but you do you.
There's lots of shifting of goalposts going on here and revision of points without acknowledging the revision so genuine engagement doesn't seem to be the aim on here so I'm out of this thread.
I'm over on X with the same handle if anyone else is interested in genuine & realistic engagement on this topic.1 -
It's this misuse of the word speculation that I have a problem with. You're undermining opposition to the White Paper now with the misuse of that word.
Speculation is defined as: taking to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence
There is sufficient evidence that DL PIP will be used as the gateway for the 'Health Element' as per the paragraph in the Green Paper I provided above. There is also sufficient evidence that this will result in at least 23% of 'Health Element' claimants becoming ineligile.
I'm adding this final statement because you're continuing to mislead people by using the word "speculate" incorrectly which has the effect of undermining efforts to oppose the White Paper now.
You communicate with such authority on here yet hadn't even read paragraph *37* of the Green Paper. That tells me everything I need to know about your ability to accurately gauge the situation for the 'Health Element'.1 -
Important additional point:
The PIP 4 point rule was going to be introduced prior to the planned PIP review so if you vocalised your protest of that rule then you were doing so based on "speculation" (applying your use of this word).
The PIP review, which was due to be undertaken AFTER the planned 4 point rule implementation (before it was dropped from the bill), may have changed eligibility criteria so if you protested against that policy then you are now a hypocrite for saying we should wait to know eligibility details for the 'Health Element'. It's exactly the same situation.
The Timms PIP review is due to conclude in August 2026 so we can only base failure rate figures on current criteria in exactly the same way people protesting the 4 point PIP rule did.
The Timms PIP review may result in eligibility changing but, by your method, that means we can't even protest the White Paper because that isn't going to tell us what the DL PIP eligibility criteria will be following the PIP review.1 -
Paragraph 37 *literally* states that the Work Capability Assessment will be scrapped in the first line of that paragraph and that access to UC Health will be via qualification of DL PIP. It *literally* states that this will be implemented via Primary Legislation.
Your revisionism of the facts is so easily disproven! Good grief. You really are so intent on believing your own fantasy version.
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I said that if you protested the 4 point PIP rule based on the Green Paper before the UC & PIP Bill was published (so between March and June) that would make you a hypocrite.
You've said you did raise concerns about the Green Paper with your MP so you did vocalise your opposition based on what you would call "speculation" (the Green Paper).
You've then contradicted yourself again by saying "the current descriptors remain the basis for scrutiny" but then in previous posts you've said that the FOI isn't useful for protesting because it's a snapshot of the eligibility criteria now.
Your apparent need to be right is blinding you to the actual evidence and reality of the situation and causing you to make multiple contradictions and illogical statements.1 -
I've already provided my reasons for not waiting for the publication of the White Paper so your suggestion is something I cannot inherently get behind. You have the option of not engaging with this thread if you find it jarring.
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I agree.
Things are bad enough for us without people arguing and point scoring.
Personally I am waiting for an official announcement to be made and hopefully that will happen soon.
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You are so badly wrong. The WCA scrappage was NOT in the UC Bill and has NOT been passed via Primary Legislation yet
This is the UC Bill which does not contain any reference to the WCA being scrapped:
https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/62123/documents/6889The Big Issue today have published an article precisely on the upcoming scrappage of the Work Capability Assessment to be included in the autumn White Paper which has NOT been voted on by Parliament yet:
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/benefit-cuts-disabled-people-work-capability-assessment/
You are gravely misleading people on here.
There is still an opportunity to ensure the WCA scrappage doesn't go ahead.
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jw68, miscreants is the right word for them.
I'm 100% persuaded that nothing has changed since I claimed Incapacity Benefits in 2006. DWP has knowingly put me at risk of harm and homelessness by denying my rightful entitlement ever since! I've told them I'm just waiting to retire so they'll leave me alone. They have no intention of leaving me alone just yet though 😔
I have identified what I believe is the root of the scam which is a 'Correction Slip' inserted into the ESA regs by IDS in June 2011 which was carried into the 2012 Welfare Reform Act unscrutinised and unchallenged.
It didn't correct anything; it corrupted the ESA regs. It was a corruption slip. I've tried and tried to explain it on this forum but members still believe it was so long ago that it no longer matters. It does.
In 2015, IDS suddenly spotted "a fundamental flaw in the regulations", new cuts were agreed and ESA was further corrupted by the removal of reg 29 -(2)(b) - exceptional circumstances - from the WCA process. That was the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.
Reg 35 -(2)(a)b) under Part 6 of the ESA regulations is the equivalent of reg 29 -(2)b) under Part 5.
In 2008, there was a Work-Related Activity Assessment (WRAAt) (Part 6) and a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) (Part 5) to determine eligibility for an award - in that order.
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Hi and welcome to Scope! You shouldn't have to fight to be heard on here!!
I want to understand and members need to understand these changes to WORKING-AGE BENEFITS.
Please start a new thread, perhaps with Scope's help - this is the only platform I use - we need information and facts, urgently.
TYVM for all you've done and are doing 🤝
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