Disability Benefit Cuts - Take action before July 9th.

Hi @FeistyPigeon - you can also see a transcript of Tuesday's debate here:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-07-01/debates/56F2EF7B-404B-44D4-865E-EA09FCD92EA4/details

Fairly early on Liz Kendall commented following a question from Esther McVey. Liz Kendall said,

'…… reviewing the assessment as a whole is a major undertaking that will take time to get right, especially if we co-produce it properly. It will be for those involved in the review to determine the precise timetable, but we are absolutely committed to moving quickly and completing the review by next autumn. I assure the House that any changes following the Timms review will be implemented as soon as is practically possible via primary or secondary legislation. Once we have implemented changes from the review, any existing PIP claimant can ask for a reassessment.'

But, as you say, Timms later on simply didn't answer John McDonnell in a similar vein, as he said,

'[John McDonnell's] question was about whether the outcome of the review will be implemented in primary or secondary legislation. That depends on the outcome of the review and the form of the assessment we take forward. We will come back to that when we have concluded the review.'

As you mention, Barry Gardiner also questioned this saying,

When [Timms] is talking about whether measures will be put in primary legislation, he must understand that Members will not be able to amend things if they are not in primary legislation. That is a key concern when we do not know the outcome of the review.'

To which Timms replied,

'My answer to my hon. Friend is the one I gave earlier: we need to await the outcome of the review and the assessment that it develops to determine whether it will be implemented in primary or secondary legislation.'

Timms isn't sharing his hymn sheet with Liz Kendall!

Touché!

I'm not sure , but earliest will be April 2028 that the WCA will be abolished .... and from what I read on work and benefits that will be for new claims , existing claims shouldn't be no earlier than back end of 2029 and that will be a slow transition , so there's a good chance alot of us won't transition from the scrapped WCA to the new pip criteria assessment until around sometime in 2030 🤷 there will be a new government in by then , I'm not going to worry myself silly for 5 years I know that

Do you/can you use AI sites like ChatGPT or Claude? You can paste the whole email your got from your MP into this and ask it to summerise the main points or explain it more simply. I use it a lot for things like this

You can find either on Google, go to the site and in the window ask it to summerise/explain the email and paste the email in (hopefully this makes sense)

It's quick and a lot easier than waiting for an MP to respond. Mine has only just replied to my email after I mailed her in May (I think). Hopefully this helps.

As latest yougov poll shows done June 26, Liebour are losing a lot of their support:

YouGov's MRP a year since the 2024 election shows a hung parliament with Reform UK as the largest party

Now, thinking specifically about your own constituency, if there were a general election held tomorrow and these were the parties standing, which party would you vote for?

Estimated seat projections based on modelled responses from 11,500 voters in Great Britain

Reform UK: 271 (+266)

Labour: 178 (-233)

Lib Dems: 81 (+9)

Conservatives: 46 (-75)

SNP: 38 (+29)

Greens: 7 (+3)

Plaid Cymru: 7 (+3)

Others: 3 (-2)

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/52437-first-yougov-mrp-since-2024-election-shows-a-hung-parliament-with-reform-uk-as-largest-party

Will they change their approach towards the ill and disabled?

Farage keeps dodging the issue, and no journalist has asked him about it during any of his latest party campaigns.

In any case, let’s continue to apply pressure on our current MPs.

Email your MP with this email template to convince them to vote against the SCC criteria.

Letter template to be sent to MPs if you have the energy:

Subject: End Discriminatory Universal Credit Cuts to Disabled People

Dear [MP’s Name],

The Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) in the Universal Credit and PIP Bill is a crisis, slashing vital support for hundreds of thousands of disabled people. I urge your urgent action before the Third Reading on 9 July 2025.

From April 2026, the SCC will cut the health element for new claimants from £97 per week to just £50—a loss of £2,444 a year. Only those with a terminal illness (under 12 months to live) or severe, lifelong conditions will keep the higher rate, protected from inflation. Existing claimants have transitional protection, but new claimants face a cruel divide.

The SCC’s discriminatory rules will exclude eight in nine current support group claimants, despite disabling barriers.

To qualify for the full £97-a-week health element, claimants must:

• Meet the Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity criteria, proving significant disability.
• Have a constant, unchanging impairment, excluding fluctuating conditions like Parkinson’s (tremors, stiffness), MS (unpredictable fatigue, mobility issues), or bipolar disorder (severe mood swings).
• Have a lifelong condition with no recovery prospect, ruling out severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or depression, as clinicians avoid “lifelong” labels to preserve hope or due to uncertain outcomes.
• Hold an NHS diagnosis, dismissing private or international diagnoses despite 6–8 year NHS wait lists for autism and ADHD. This forces poorer communities to pay £1,000–£2,000 for private care out of desperation.

These heartless rules will push 150,000 more claimants into poverty by 2030, with relentless reassessments adding stress. They betray neurodivergent people, who are stuck on waiting lists or priced out.

I urge you to:

✅ Vote NO on this discriminatory bill.

✅ Support the following amendments (all tabled on 4 July 2025):

• Amendment 14 (Burgon et al.): Scrap SCC cuts entirely.
• Amendment 2(a) (Burgon et al.): Retain £423.27 per month for all claimants.
• Amendments 32 and 35 (Blackman): Include fluctuating conditions like MS and Parkinson’s.
• Amendments 33 and 34 (Blackman): Allow private and international diagnoses.
• New Clause NC4 (Creasy et al.): Ensure compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

No one deserves abandonment. Please confirm your stance.

Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address + Postcode]
[Your Email]