A blistering 17,000-word consultation response from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) Cymru has lambasted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over proposed reforms to disability benefits—branding them “half-baked, insulting, harmful, cynical, [and] Thatcherite” and accusing the UK government of a “sham” consultation process.

The response raises issues of:

• DWP failings and disability discrimination.
• MP and ministerial misconduct.
• Government methodology failings.
• Human rights issues.
• Constitutional issues.

The group warns the policies will devastate disabled people, especially in Wales, where up to 190,000 people could be affected and £466 million per year removed from the economy. Included in the response is 47 pages of personal testimony from chronically ill and disabled people.

A DWP “fait accompli” disguised as consultation

DPAC Cymru’s central contention is that the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation process is a charade. “The government has already introduced the first bill to Parliament,” the report notes, “with MPs voting the day after the public consultation ends, before the ink is even dry.”

The group accuses the DWP of deliberately undermining accessibility in Wales: the only in-person consultation was originally planned at a “remote and inaccessible” venue, cancelled just days before due to protests, and eventually rescheduled in Cardiff only after intense campaigning. Even then, only 15 disabled people were admitted to the consultation, under heavy security, while “Joshua Reeves BEM was denied entry and left outside in 30-degree heat.”

“We do not ascribe all this to malice,” the report concedes, “but to the DWP institutionally being ignorant of disability.” That ignorance, however, DPAC Cymru argues, makes the department unfit to lead any reform.

A direct attack on disabled people and carers

The proposals include:

• Freezing and/or reducing the health element of Universal Credit.

• Tightening PIP criteria.

• Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) without a credible replacement.

• Introducing time-limited ESA payments and potential means testing for PIP.

• Withholding the Universal Credit health element from under-22s.

DPAC Cymru warns the proposals could “abolish incapacity benefits entirely,” leaving people who are genuinely unable to work with no financial support.

“It is profoundly alarming,” the group states, “that the government does not seem to understand that there are people… who may never be able to work again.”

The impact extends to carers too. Because PIP acts as a gateway to Carer’s Allowance, removing PIP for disabled people will mean carers lose out as well—“taking away a meagre £83.30 a week from the carers who save the UK economy an estimated £184 billion a year.”

Fabricated figures and “perverse incentives”

The government claims the current system is financially “unsustainable.” But DPAC Cymru dismantles that rationale using the government’s own data.

Spending on incapacity benefits is forecast to remain flat as a share of GDP after 2025, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. “The rise in claims is due to worsening health outcomes, especially post-pandemic—not because of ‘perverse incentives’,” the report explains.

The government’s argument that benefit growth exceeds the rise in health conditions is “a claim that has no evidentiary value,” they say. The report accuses MPs of relying on “guesses” rather than data and weaponising technical language to confuse the public.

Abuse from politicians: “children’s pocket money” and “scrapheap” comments

Some of the most damning passages in DPAC Cymru’s response target elected officials’ rhetoric. Labour MPs including Darren Jones and Rachel Reeves compared DWP disability benefits to “children’s pocket money” and suggested disabled people could offset loss of income through unpaid training. Liz Kendall accused people of “taking the mickey.”

The response highlights how such language fuels ableism, noting: “The fraud rate for the PIP benefit itself is zero percent.” By contrast, underclaiming of disability benefits remains widespread.

Torsten Bell MP is singled out for particular criticism. A founding supporter of the bill, he is accused of repeatedly ignoring and maligning Swansea DPAC. The group accuses him of violating the Nolan Principles, and of using other disability groups as “political cover.”

A catastrophic impact on services and society

If implemented, the DWP proposals will force more people into poverty, homelessness, and ill health. They will shift the burden to already-stretched local authorities and the Welsh NHS. DPAC Cymru points out:

“Cuts kill – particularly as hundreds of thousands more are pushed into poverty.”

Access to Work—a scheme to support disabled people in employment—is already in chaos. Support that once arrived “within days” now takes “six months to two years,” the group says, with delays so long that “some employers are refusing to hire disabled people.”

There’s also the issue of a digital divide. One-third of rural Welsh residents lack internet access; one-third of disabled people lack the digital skills or tools needed to engage in online consultations.

A constitutional crisis and institutional DWP failure

DPAC Cymru also raises grave constitutional concerns: the government’s use of primary legislation to bypass judicial review mechanisms is described as “a tactic that undermines… checks and balances on executive power.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) fares no better. Once a watchdog, DPAC Cymru says it has now “waged war against the trans community,” failed to protect disabled people’s rights, and must be replaced.

National and international condemnation

The critique of the DWP is far from isolated. The UN said in 2024 that the UK has made “no significant progress” since 2017 when it found “grave or systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities.” Amnesty International states the UK has created “a cascading effect of human rights violations.”

Organisations like Carers UK, Disability Wales, and the Social Workers Union have echoed these warnings, as have major trade unions including PCS, UNISON, NEU, and Unite. Carers UK calculates that 150,000 people will lose access to Carer’s Allowance by 2029/30—worth £500 million. The Resolution Foundation calls the reforms “a short-term ‘scored’ savings exercise.”

In a particularly cutting section titled Welfare, not Warfare!, Swansea DPAC member “Bee” questions the government’s priorities: “What is the point of defending a country when there is absolutely nothing worthwhile to defend?”

This sentiment underscores the core thesis: these reforms are not about saving money or supporting people into work. They are about ideological warfare against the most vulnerable.

“We’ve gone beyond co-production – disabled people must run the DWP”

DPAC Cymru’s final word is one of resistance and leadership. They argue that disabled people are best placed to run the system, because they are the true experts. “The government has no clue, and it should listen.”

The document closes by demanding the full withdrawal of the green paper and the bill, immediate resignation of its architects, and an overhaul of welfare reform led by those it affects most.

If this bill passes, it will be in defiance of disabled people, not in partnership with them. That is the DWP’s legacy.

You can read the full submission here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Steve Topple

This post was originally published on Canary.