The Labour Party-led Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to introduce a controversial package of welfare reforms aimed at saving over £6 billion, which will include significant changes to how disability benefits are administered.
Yet, as it has done previously in the past year, the Labour-led DWP decided to leak the news to the mainstream media late on a Friday, as opposed to putting out an official announcement. It that’s not contempt for chronically ill and disabled people, it is unclear what is.
DWP: horrific cuts now in the pipeline
The DWP plans, which have prompted outrage from disabled people, and some members of the Labour Party, will impose stricter criteria for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), freeze payments in line with inflation, and alter the calculation of Universal Credit.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has stated that the welfare system is in need of repair, asserting that a shift towards getting more individuals into the workforce is essential. These reforms are characterised by Kendall’s false and dangerous belief that many current claimants are not genuinely unable to work, a sentiment she expressed in a recent interview where she stated that some people are ‘taking the mickey’.
Under the proposed changes, £5 billion is expected to be saved by tightening eligibility for DWP PIP, which is designed to support those with additional costs due to disability. In addition, PIP payments will be frozen next year, meaning they will not increase with inflation, affecting approximately four million chronically ill and disabled people.
Further alterations include increases to the basic rate of Universal Credit for those actively seeking employment or in work, while reducing support for individuals judged unfit for work. This, along with the changes to PIP, are perhaps the most vindictive of Labour’s plans: intentionally targeting the most chronically ill and disabled people.
The government has pledged to reallocate savings from these cuts into a billion-pound investment aimed at bolstering employment support for job seekers with health issues.
Targeting chronically ill and disabled people
Critics of the DWP plans argue that the measures will have a catastrophic impact on some of the UK’s most vulnerable people.
On X, people were furious:
Fucking dirty horrible fucking RATS!
Fuck Labour, the murdering fucking cunts!
https://t.co/SNRo4ioT0W— ARMO (@FallingDove44) March 7, 2025
As some people pointed out, DWP PIP is already difficult to get. The Canary recently reported that nearly half – over 330,000 – of claims for PIP were rejected last year alone.
Individual testimonies illustrate the potential impact of these changes. Carol Vickers, who has multiple disabilities, expressed her concern that the loss of PIP would affect her ability to maintain employment, stating that she feels targeted by government policies aimed at disabled people.
As one person pointed out:
So that's making the already hard to get PIP even harder to get, and punishing the disabled by taking money off their UC to hand over to the abled.
All this despite the DWP losing court cases, and government getting a ticking off from the UN for its treatment of the vulnerable.
— VoiceInTheCrowd (@Crowded_Voice) March 7, 2025
DWP cuts will kill
As Canary journalist Rachel Charlton-Dailey summed up:
ITV News has just posted details of the disability benefits cuts:
– PIP will be harder to qualify for
– PIP will be frozen not rise with inflation
– universal credit rate cut for unfit for work but raised for those looking for work or in workThis is so unspeakably cruel
— Rachel Charlton-Dailey (@RachelCDailey) March 7, 2025
It is the measure of this Labour government that it would do this. Not only has it gone way beyond the £3bn of DWP cuts it previously stated it would enact (now doubling that) – but this is further than even the Tories planned to go. All while allowing ITV News to run the story as opposed to putting out an official announcement.
As Charlton-Dailey recently wrote:
It was staggering to watch the Tories get worse and worse and worse [for disabled people] over the years. But perhaps that’s also why this has been so soul-crushing, because Labour have been able to do this in such a short space of time.
So many people say ‘give them a chance, it’s only been seven months’. Whereas I can’t believe it’s only been seven months.
If they’ve created this hostile an environment for disabled people in just the first seven months – what do the next five years hold? And how many of us will still be here to tell the tale at the end of it?
Make no mistake: these cuts will results in the deaths of chronically ill and disabled people. The Canary will be monitoring the story as it develops – but for now, it is safe to say that the Labour Party holds chronically ill and disabled people in utter contempt.
Featured image via the Canary
By Steve Topple
This post was originally published on Canary.