A million to lose disability benefit in £5bn welfare cut

An estimated million disabled people will lose their benefits as Labour took an axe to the UK's ballooning welfare bill.

- DAVID MADDOX

Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said the bulk of the changes, aimed at saving £5bn by 2030, would fall on personal independence payment (PIP) by raising the threshold that people can qualify for it.

According to the respected think tank the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), it means that new claimants to the health element of universal credit will receive £2,500 less a year than they would have without these changes.

Announcing the cuts, Ms Kendall told parliament the current social security system is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back”. And later on Sky News, she suggested there could still be more cuts to come.

The changes come after concerns that the bill for those on disability and long-term sickness benefits will hit £70bn by 2030, with the number of claimants rising from the current 2.8 million to 4 million.

Charities, trade unions and left-wing Labour MPs united to brand the changes “immoral” but there was some welcome for other measures, including not freezing the level of PIPs and ending regular assessments for those with severe disabilities.

Charles Gillies, senior policy officer at the MS Society, said: “These immoral and devastating benefits cuts will push more disabled people into poverty, and worsen people’s health.”

And PCS union general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Targeting the most vulnerable with benefit cuts to meet arbitrary fiscal rules is an immoral choice at any time, but at a time of rising poverty, long NHS waiting lists and when the cost of living crisis continues to bite is abhorrent.”

However, Ms Kendall said the reform was expected to save over £5bn in 2029-30 and pointed out that there were 1,000 new PIP claimants every week, which she described as “unsustainable”.