The Universal Credit Bill becomes law. Here are the changes to disability benefits you need to know

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 👍

What's the next step what do we have to do

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.

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/

My worry is starner has got full control of mps we see how our freedom speech being eroded I believe mps will be frightened I hope I'm wrong labour have pulled a blinder with the gap between pip and wca I hope people haven't given up because this will be harder as starmer has more confidence just my thoughts

I'm going to start contacting mps yes the rush to get us all onto uc god I wish I could hold down a job this is torture

You have been fighting the case we all have let's unite to fight this together everyone has something to bring to the table we need to stand together share ideas knowledge support we have to focus on the next stage it won't be easy far from it but we must not give in

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.

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.