Gutted welfare shake-up will still push 50,000 into poverty by 2030, say MPs

About 50,000 people who become disabled or chronically ill will be pushed into poverty by the end of the decade because of cuts to incapacity benefit, despite the government dropping the bulk of its plans to shake up welfare, MPs have warned.

- Patrick Butler

The work and pensions select committee welcomed ministers' decision this month to drop some of the most controversial aspects of its disability plans in the face of a revolt by more than 100 Labour backbenchers.

These included the wholesale scrapping of proposed major changes to personal independence payment (Pip) eligibility that would have resulted in an estimated 800,000 people no longer qualifying for the benefit by the end of the decade.

The government also ditched plans to freeze the value of the incapacity element of universal credit, which would have affected more than 2 million people by 2029-30, though it kept in place proposals to half the weekly rate for new claimants.

The government had "in the end" made the right decision, the committee said in a report released today. But it reiterated calls for the remaining cuts to universal credit to be delayed until their impact on poverty, health and jobs were fully understood.