Disability Benefit Cuts - Take action before July 9th.
On 1 July, MPs voted on the Government's plans to cut disability benefits. Here's what you need to know:
- The Government have paused their plans to make it harder to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP). They’ve said they’ll consult with disabled people before making any changes. This is a direct result of the pressure hundreds of thousands of campaigners like you put on the Government to scrap their plans.
- The Government are still trying to make devastating cuts to Universal Credit (UC). Future claimants of the health element of UC (LCWRA) will receive on average £3,000 less a year than current claimants.
UC is a lifeline for disabled people who face extra costs, but may not be in work. Our new Disability Price Tag report shows that disabled households face, on average, a staggering £1,095 a month in extra costs. Just to have the same standard of living as non-disabled people.
You can read more about the bill and any updates here on the Scope website.
Over 8,000 people have asked their MP to vote against benefit cuts in Parliament already. Because of this, the Government have been forced to pause plans to cut PIP. We can’t let the pressure stop. They must scrap plans to cut other benefits, too. Your MP will have another opportunity to vote on plans to cut the health element of UC on 9 July. Tell them about the extra costs disabled people face, and ask them to vote against benefit cuts.
Comments
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@Albus_Scope Thanks for the helpful update, I’ve written again to my MP!
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I’ve emailed mine (who voted in favour of the cuts) several times and got a copy and paste statement. I emailed back asking for an Easy Read version as I have a disability that means I can’t understand complex text. I’ve yet to have a reply.
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They changed The name of the bill to The universal credit bill apparently the speaker has suggested to drop it hope this is true was from silver fox
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Many PIP and UC amendments tabled by both sides for next week’s final vote
Published: 04 July 2025
Many amendments have been tabled for the third reading of the Universal Credit and Personal independence Payment Bill. There are now 18 pages of detailed amendments, some on behalf of the government and some on behalf of those opposing the bill.
Below are a selection of the amendments.
4-point rule
Government amendment (Gov 4) removes clause 5 – the PIP 4 point rule – from the bill. If this is accepted (which it will be) it will be the end of the 4-point rule, unless it is resurrected in the Timms review which seems unlikely.
UC freeze
A new clause put forward by the government (Gov NC1) provides for the freeze to the universal health element not to apply to existing claimant, people who meet the severe conditions criteria and terminally ill patients. This was one of the government’s earlier concessions to the rebels.
Name
Even the name of the bill is now subject to a government amendment (Gov 5), which would remove the words “and personal independence payment” from the title of the bill. If the amendment passes, the bill will be the Universal Credit Bill.
Severe conditions criteria
Labour MP Graeme Downie has tabled an amendment (17) which relates to an issue that Benefits and Work has been highlighting. The severe conditions criteria (SCC) as currently written require claimants to prove they meet the SCC “constantly”
Constantly is defined in the Bill as “at all times” or “on all occasions on which the claimant undertakes or attempts to undertake the activity”.
However, many degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy follow a slow path of decreasing ability, with periods of remission.
At present, the bill would prevent people in these circumstances getting the higher payments and freedom from reassessment that the SCC provide, long after it is certain they will never work again.
The amendment would allow for the SCC to apply to claimants who have fluctuating conditions, such as Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis.
Private doctors
An amendment (33) by SNP MP Kirsty Blackman, removes the requirement that, for the severe conditions criteria (SCC), a diagnosis must have been made by a health professional providing NHS services. Many people are forced to resort to a private diagnosis because the NHS waiting list for an assessment for their condition is years long. As the bill stands, having a private diagnosis only, appears to bar claimants from the SCC.
Date of UC cuts
An amendment (19) brought forward by work and pensions committee chair Debbie Abrahams, changes the date on which the universal credit cuts start, from April 2026 to November 2026.
More reports
A proposed new clause by LibDem MP Steve Darling would prevent most of the Bill coming into force until a range of reports and consultations had been completed.
What happens next
In a likely chaotic session on 9 July, these amendments – or as many as there are time for -will be considered by a committee of the whole House and voted on before a final vote on the whole bill, as amended, takes place.
The Speaker will make a decision on whether the Bill will be certified as a money bill only after all the amendments that are agreed have been included in the bill and it is now in its final form.
If it passes the commons, the bill will then be sent to the House of Lords. However, if it is certified asa money bill then the Lords will have no power to oblige the Commons to consider any amendments they suggest and the bill will automatically become law after a month.
You can download the latest amendments from a link on this page.
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From Benefits and Work
What to tell your MP before the third reading
Published: 02 July 2025
On 9 July, MPs have a final vote on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.
In spite of the concessions made by Labour yesterday, we are still recommending that you contact your MP and ask them to vote against the bill at third reading.
We know that only 49 Labour MPs rebelled in the end. But we also believe, given the speeches being made in the Commons yesterday, that a lot more would have rebelled if Timms had not announced at the last hour that they were going to remove the 4-point rule from the bill.
It may be, if your MP voted in favour of the bill, that after they have had time to consider things they will wonder if they made the wrong decision in the heat of the moment.
Below are some of the reasons you might want to give for voting against the amended bill, or you may have some of your own. The important thing is that you make it clear, if you believe it is the case, that the bill still harms disabled people and it should not go ahead.
Hundreds of thousands of future disabled claimants still be harmed by their UC health element being almost halved, compared to current claimants, and then frozen.
The severe conditions criteria are extremely hard to meet. The requirement that claimants meet them “constantly” rather than “for the majority of the time” is unreasonable and harsh. Claimants with degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy generally follow a slow path of decreasing ability, with periods of remission. Long after it is clear they will never work again they will have periods of remission. At the moment, a claimant in these circumstances would get the full health element. But from April 2026, new claimants in the same position will only get around half this amount.
Claimants have not been consulted on the changes in the current bill at all.
The Bill has become a confusing shambles with little resemblance to the original text. MPs will have very little time to study the ever changing government amendments before they vote.
A committee process that should take weeks or even months, looking at amendments and getting advice from experts, will all be done in a single afternoon on 9 July, as the government rushes the bill through.
The government wants the bill to be certified as a money bill, preventing the House of lords from having any say over it.
MPs will be voting without seeing a formal impact assessment of the effect of the bill on health or care needs or the Office For Budget Responsibility assessment of how many people will move into work as a result of the changes.
The way in which coproduction with disabled claimants of the Timms review will work has not been explained. Given the very poor standard of the Green Paper consultation, it’s vital that the government shows how it’s going to do better this time.
Disability charities and trades unions are still very much against the bill, even with
concessions.
The UC protection may be only temporary for 600,000 current claimants who get the UC health element but don’t get PIP daily living component. They may not be protected once the work capability assessment is abolished and PIP daily living is the gateway to UC health in 2028.
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As far as I know the further changes to UC such as abolishing the Work Capability Assessment will be part of legislation this Autumn. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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I don’t think so.
That’s part of the consultation so we have to wait for the White Paper
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Hi everyone, thanks for all your info, some very good points made : )
I've been listening to a recording of Tues debate and something important has cropped up:
When Timms announced that clause 5 (the PIP 4 point barrier) was being dropped from the bill, about an hour before the final vote, several MPs, including John McDonnell and Barry Gardiner, asked if the outcome of the Timms review (when they consult disability groups), will be included in primary or secondary legislation.
This is important because if the outcome is not in primary legislation, it cannot be amended.
Timm's answer: "It will depend on the outcome of the review" - in other words he wouldn't say.
My guess is the Labour front bench have left themselves a weasel clause, and we aren't out of the woods as far as PIP assessments are concerned. From what I can see, they could STILL ignore the outcome of the review with all the disability groups, and go ahead with the 4-point restriction on PIP…
Not good news…
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This was from the comments section on the Benefits and Work site
SLB · 18 hours ago
I know I'm meant to be on sabbatical, but I have news! Four weeks ago, I sent an freedom of information request to the DWP asking for the list of disability charities and organisations that the govt consulted with explicitly about the proposed changes to PIP. I now have a reply: the answer is zero.
Here's my request:
“Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information:
Details of disability charities and organisations and experts that were consulted by the
DWP on the proposals to change PIP eligibility rules (the 4-point rule) prior to the
publication of the Pathways to Work Green Paper. Specifically, I would like to know what
feedback they gave, and how much was positive/negative regarding the the proposed 4-
point rule.”
Their reply:
Following a search of our paper and electronic records, we have established that the
information you requested is not held by the department.
Ahead of the formal consultation for the Green Paper, we met with organisations and started
discussing the case for reform, including with representatives from the Disability Charities
Consortium and the Disabled People’s Organisations Forum England alongside other
stakeholders. However, we did not consult organisations specifically on the proposed PIP
eligibility changes prior to the publication of the Green Paper, on 18 March 2025. The
changes were announced in the Green Paper; we have met with many organisations and
stakeholders since then about the reforms.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team3 -
Keir Starmer's government have clearly said that they won't consult on abolishing the Work Capability Assessment. Who cares anyway about consultations that only exist in name just to fool people! What happened to the consultations on PIP which ended last Monday? Absolutely nothing. That was really taking the mickey out of people!
Apart from the consultation bit, you've exactly said the same thing as JasonRA has stated. He's right, the government will publish a white paper on the abolishment of the WCA soon and legislation will take place in Autumn.
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Do I understand that right to mean this autumn, the WCA will be gone?
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you obviously are unaware of the pathways to work consultation.
You are wrong!
Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)
111. As explored in the case for change, the outcome of a WCA carries significant consequences. The outcome can stop people from engaging in support and trying work due to the fear of losing their additional financial support, related to being assessed as unable to work. The WCAplays the role of policing the overly binary gateway to means-tested incapacity benefits, rather than focusing on a pathway to employment through meaningful activity, accessing support or tapping into people’s motivations. At its core is the idea that capacity to work is objective, fixed and knowable – that people can be split into those who can work and those who cannot. In reality, this is not the case. etc etc
Look it up and you are ignorant when it comes to legislation.
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if you know one or two things, go explain how I'm wrong, rather than copy-pasting a piece of text on the abolishment of the WCA, which is just stating the obvious known to any idiot.
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well, you didn’t know it. 😉
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white paper will be published in the autumn. And then this process will follow:
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
- 1. White Paper Publication:The government releases a White Paper as a statement of policy, often detailing proposed legislative changes.
- 2. Consultation and Feedback:The White Paper often invites comments and feedback from interested parties, including the public, businesses, and other stakeholders.
- 3. Drafting of the Bill:Based on the feedback received and the government's final decisions, a draft Bill is prepared.
- 4. Bill Introduction:The Bill is formally introduced in Parliament, starting its journey through the legislative process.
- 5. Legislative Stages:The Bill goes through various stages in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, including:
- First Reading: The Bill's title is read out.
- Second Reading: The main principles of the Bill are debated.
- Committee Stage: A detailed examination of the Bill's clauses.
- Report Stage: Further debate and potential amendments.
- Third Reading: Final debate and vote
so, you are wrong AGAIN regarding timeframes
Take a deep breath and be happy @Passerby
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No. The WCA won't be gone in Autumn. It'll rather start in Autumn to go through the legislative process in parliament, similar to the one that the "Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill" has been going through.
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Ah okay thank you.
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My mp was in the local paper saying he voted for the cuts
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I don't think they're excited anymore about these welfare bills, as they've miserably failed their malevolent fight to legislate their malignant 4pt based tool to cut benefits to hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people before the end of their term, even though that Timms with the evil face will be turning over every stone to come up with a tightened PIP criteria. It has been said that he seriously believes that cutting benefits to people will push them into work.
I'm sure people in East Ham, London, have been voting for him for so long not because they've liked his frigging evil face but because they wanted to vote Labour. I think this is his last term, as he's already 70. Keir Starmer will nominate him for a peerage.
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