Autumn statement 2025: How the budget will affect disabled people
The government has announced its latest Budget, which outlines its plans for the economy, including changes to taxation and spending.
Some of the measures included in the Budget have previously been announced.
Scope will be analysing Budget documents over the coming days to identify the full impacts for disabled people. This article will be updated with more detail.
Here are the main points so far of how disabled people will be affected:
Changes to the Motability scheme
- VAT will be added to new leases from July 2026.
- More expensive cars, such as BMW and Mercedes will be removed from the scheme.
Changes to Benefits
- The PIP award review periods will be extended, meaning less frequent reviews for some claimants.
- The rate of working-age benefits is increasing in line with inflation from April 2026.
- The 2-child benefit cap will be removed from April 2026.
- The number of Work Capability Assessments (WCA) and face-to-face UC health assessments are increasing. This means that those unable to work may face more frequent assessments to get out-of-work benefits.
Employment Support
- Anyone who is disabled and claims out-of-work benefits will have access to 1,000 specialist advisers and tailored support to find work.
- A Youth Guarantee scheme will guarantee eligible 18 to 21-year-olds a six-month paid work placement from 2026.
Energy Costs
- Households are expected to save £150 on energy bills from April 2026 because of some changes to levies. Levies are charges included in energy bills to fund environmental and social programs.
- The government will provide an additional £1.5 billion capital investment to tackle fuel poverty through the Warm Homes Plan.
- In October, the £150 Warm Home Discount was expanded to a further 3 million of the poorest households on means-tested benefits.
You can read more here:
Comments
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Its a bit of a disappointing budget.. While I'm no expert economist if feels like another 'pander to power of the banks' event.
The whole political situation in the country is deeply concerning at the moment…1 -
The state this country is in is concerning, edging towards a failed State according to experts!
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It attacked the disabled again , the motability deposit will more expensive , and although i never have had a merc BMW etc I think it is wrong to take these away from the scheme , PIP isn't an out of work benefit and every pound of enhance PIP goes to the lease of a vehicle , they are not free . So it just seems unfair to target motability .
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It is hardly a human rights abuse that one can't get a BMW on Motability.
Some people seem to think that a person on benefits 'deserves' the same standard of living as a full time worker.
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More wca assessments great
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Can i ask what happened to equality and what if that person has already worked through their disability all their lives ?
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All by design what can we do to protect ourselves
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If they work, then they can fund a car the same way everyone else does. That's equality is it not?
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If you think it is then fine , but there was a lot of fuss not too long back about making sure disabled people are not singled out in any way , this seems to be a huge U turn.
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wow.
that really comes across VERY badly
yes disabled people DO deserve to have the same standard of living just because they have no choice but to claim something to survive.
....
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Oh please, not getting a BMW is being 'singled out'? If that Reform lot get in, then we may really have something to cry about.
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“Motability isn’t about luxury — it’s about independence. People give up their mobility benefit to lease a car that meets their needs. Some higher‑end models were included because they had the right adaptations, not because they were status symbols. Equality means disabled people should have access to safe, suitable transport, not be limited to the cheapest option.”
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I have had 4 Motability cars in the past, thanks. I know how the scheme works.
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@Nightcity So a disabled person not in employment, they should have an identical lifestyle to a person working 40 hours per week?
You are perfectly entitled to hold that view, but I guarantee the person working 40 hours won't agree. I consider that view very naive and quite frankly, unrealistic.
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Remember people working 40+ hours a week, 50+ weeks a year, are having to make considerable sacrifices to afford luxuries.
They lose time with partner, kids, friends, etc. They often have to travel long distances outside of working hours. People working physical jobs will be damaging their physical health over the years, ending up in more and more pain and reduced mobility. And most jobs cause constant stress, which we all know majorly impacts physical and mental health over the years.
And after all that they'll still have to choose between a nice car or a holiday or home improvements, when they've been working hard and making all those sacrifices to earn their money.
No-one is making constant sacrifices to get PIP. Yes the claim process is horrible for most of us, but we don't have to go through that every day of every week of every year to get PIP payments.
I also disagree with the justification of 'it's not our fault we're disabled'. Well it's not working people's fault either, so why should their taxes be used to pay for things for us that they can't afford themselves?
I can see both sides of this, and am always trying to read more and more opinions to make the most balanced view that I can myself. As I see it, everyone should have access to basics such as food, warmth and shelter. But beyond that, I don't think any person with a disability and/or on benefits has any more right to luxuries than a working person does.
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The whole time your forgetting mps politicians don't make sacrifices let be real if they wasnt so bent at hoarding the money no one would be homeless struggling your all arguing everyone needs to make sacrifices when the ones at the top DONT need to look up there's lies the problem
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A BMW or Audi is a luxury, not a necessity. I too agree that those unable to work through disability, they should be able to live dignified lives. But have financial parity?
Any Labour government will be pilloried by the right wing media, or 'the media'' as it can be shortened to!
Just imagine the carnage if it was proposed that hard working taxpayers should be taking one for the team, but it is vital to allow disabled people access to luxury cars?
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But, but politicians isn't the issue. The public opinion of those 'honourable members' is well documented.
The point i would like to make, is that, in my opinion, no government, especially not a Labour government; can be seen to raise taxes on working people, whilst ringfencing the lifestyles of those who cannot work. That would be political Seppuku.
If I was all-powerful ( more powerchair than powerful), any fiscal holes in the country's finances, they would made good with money squirrelled away in tax havens and the like. I'm never going to be all-powerful, and we live in a very imperfect world.
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Well said and yet nobody is questioning why they need everything funded by the tax payer .
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It's how the BMW is seen or perceived by the hard working taxpayers that can't afford a BMW too... You ask that you are not singled out?
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