Upcoming changes to benefits

I've got a response from my MP Apsana Begum (suspended Labour MP). She's on our side.

I do not agree with the Government making savings by cutting welfare support, and I share the serious concerns of campaigners regarding Government plans to reform disability benefits.

For this reason, in a debate on Parliament on 4th November 2024, I said:

"The commitment to delivering the previously planned savings is more than alarming. The truth is that the way disabled people have been treated by the Department for Work and Pensions since 2010 will go down in history as a terrible and inexcusable crime. There is extensive evidence about the serious harm caused to people subjected to dehumanising assessments and sanctions, including reports of deaths directly related to the social security regime. We need a long-term overhaul of the social security system. It is not fit for purpose. I urge the Government to really look at that in detail going forward.”

I understand that under one option reportedly being considered, the Universal Credit (UC) “limited capability for work or work-related activity” category would be abolished, which would require often severely disabled or ill people to make preparations for work. That could see claimants lose about £5,000 a year.

It has also been widely reported that Ministers intend to scrap the work capability assessment used to approve incapacity benefits and align the system more closely with assessments for personal independence payments (PIP), separate disability benefits that are paid whether or not someone can work.

I am aware that in January 2025, a high court judge found that an official consultation regarding changes to the WCA was ruled unlawful, following a legal challenge by disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) campaigner Ellen Clifford. The high court said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had presented UK-wide incapacity benefit assessment reforms as a way to support disabled people into work without making clear the “primary rationale” of the proposals was cost savings.

The consultation, which was carried out by the previous Government in Autumn 2023, failed to mention that 424,000 disabled people would see their benefits cut, many losing £416 a month, the judge found.

I am conscious that documents released to the court also revealed that internal DWP estimates suggested the reforms to the WCA would push 100,000 highly vulnerable disabled people into absolute poverty.

I do not agree with making welfare savings by cutting welfare support.

I am only too aware that 14 years of austerity has had a brutal impact on the lives of many disabled people. Research by the Trussell Trust suggests that most food bank users now live in households where somebody is disabled.

I would have liked the new Government to use the Autumn Budget 2024 to ensure that our social security system works for everyone when they need it.

It has therefore been clear to me that for many years that the current social security system is not fit for purpose and in many cases actively damaging.

I note the high proportion of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) decisions that are overturned at tribunal and am all too conscious that each of the many thousands of incorrect decisions about what support a disabled person should be getting causes real suffering to that person and to their family and friends. There is extensive evidence about the serious harm caused to people subjected to dehumanising assessments and sanctions – and that there are reports of deaths directly related to the social security regime. I support the growing calls for a full transparent independent inquiry into these deaths and for all the information to be released to the public accordingly.

I strongly believe that it should be the new Government’s priority to address these wrongs.

It is my view that protecting access to benefits ensures that society maintains a basic standard of living for everyone.

I pay tribute to disabled activists – such as of Z2K, Black Triangle, WOW campaign, disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), and others – who have spent years campaigning for disabled people’s rights.

Thank you again for raising this important issue with me.

Yours sincerely,

Apsana

Office of Apsana Begum MP
Member of Parliament for Poplar and Limehouse