Keir Starmer is headed for a major rebellion from his own MPs, as shown in a letter signed by more than 40 MPs. Labour’s plans for Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability benefit cuts have come in for severe criticism from disabled people, charities, and other organisations.

As the Canary’s Hannah Sharland reported:

The paper included a suite of regressive reforms to make it harder for people to claim disability benefits like PIP. As expected, the changes it’s proposing will target certain claimants in particular, namely young, neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders.

Moreover, disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition, will no longer be eligible.

Certain MPs have spoken out over the proposed DWP reforms. Now, however, that dissent appears to be more organised in a worrying sign for Starmer.

Labour’s cross-party rebellion

As the Guardian reported:

The letter from parliamentarians spanning the new intake and veterans, and from the left and right of the party, sets Keir Starmer up for the biggest rebellion of his premiership when the House of Commons votes on the measures next month.

The letter sets out how the proposals have created “a huge amount of anxiety and concern” for disabled people. According to the DWP, the proposals would hit 700,000 families who are already in poverty. Even so, Starmer has persisted with the plans in an attempt to deliver a saving of £5 billion.

However, as Scottish finance secretary Shona Robison said, the government would be:

balancing books on backs of disabled people.

The letter continued that:

Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine. Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.

It’s unlikely that a broken DWP benefits system is the problem, when just 10% of individuals hold more than half the wealth in Britain. But, it is undeniable that cuts don’t create jobs, or for that matter, savings. Labour’s proposals may wish to pretend that cutting benefits will create savings. However, analysis from Katie Schmuecker at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation actually found that the proposals:

will drive more people to the doors of foodbanks and more children deeper into poverty – the opposite of what the Labour manifesto pledged to do.

‘Impossible to support’

The letter from Labour MPs calls on Starmer to halt proceedings and change direction over the DWP:

We also need to invest in creating job opportunities and ensure the law is robust enough to provide employment protections against discrimination. Without a change in direction, the green paper will be impossible to support.

A list of the signatories of the letter showed MPs from across the left, centre, and right of the party:

Disability benefit cuts impossible to support, 42 Labour MPs tell Starmer

MPs from across the party call for a pause and rethink.

Full list of names here pic.twitter.com/5ySXQeDNl6

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) May 8, 2025

Labour veteran Diane Abbott warned that the proposed DWP cuts were a big reason why voters were turned off:

The single biggest reason cited by voters for Labour's crushing defeat in the local elections was the government's decision to cut welfare provision.

Instead of doubling down, they need to drop the cuts. pic.twitter.com/3RiJbnSAo2

— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) May 8, 2025

Richard Burgon shared calls for a tax on the wealthiest, rather than the poorest:

In Parliament today, I called for the planned cuts to disability benefits to be scrapped.

We should not be balancing the books on the backs of the poorest. Instead, we should be taxing the wealthiest.

If the Government does not drop its plans, I'll be voting against the cuts. pic.twitter.com/69L225X01u

— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) May 7, 2025

Crunch time over DWP cuts

Meanwhile, YouGov’s latest poll shows that only 15% of adults surveyed approve of Labour’s government. 18% said they didn’t know, a whopping 67% said they disapprove of the government. Whilst Starmer has largely suppressed dissent from within the party – especially over the DWP cuts – it’s clearly going to be more difficult for him to continue to do so.

This is the least these Labour MPs can do as disabled people face cuts that will leave many of us struggling to survive. However, this government have attacked the rights of the most vulnerable people in society so much that the news of this letter may well be met with justified surprise.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maryam Jameela

This post was originally published on Canary.

The organiser of a petition to oust Labour MP Stephen Timms as the minister for disabled people has spoken out about why he is unfit to represent chronically ill and disabled communities after a run-in with the dual social security minister himself. In particular, long-time myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) campaigner Sally Callow made the personal observation that Timms’ language was not “fitting” for his role. This was after attending a meeting in which the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister was present.

In short, the encounter with Timms made clear to her precisely why he’s not the champion that chronically ill and disabled people need, or have asked for. If Timms’ recent outrageous comments over Personal Independence Payment (PIP) weren’t enough, now Callow – who IS a champion for the community – has spelled out why people need to join her in demanding a new and separate minister for disabled people.

Stephen Timms petition: a separate minister for disabled people needed

Callow is founder of campaign social enterprise ME Foggy Dog and accredited ME training organisation the Stripy Lightbulb CIC. A prolific campaigner, through her organisations, Callow has been advocating for the ME community for more than a decade.

Standing up for people living with ME, she has publicly spoken out against the DWP’s suite of callous welfare cuts.

So now, she has now set up a petition that throws a spotlight on DWP minister Stephen Timms’ role in pushing these cuts.

This calls for:

the removal of Stephen Timms MP from his role as Minister for Social Security and Disability and demand the creation of a dedicated Minister for Disabled People role.

As the petition aptly sets out, the government outlines that a minister for disabled people should:

represent the interests of disabled people, and champion disability inclusion and accessibility across each government department.

Of course, this is exactly what the DWP minister has NOT been doing.

Cruel and obtuse answers around the DWP benefit cuts

In April, he openly undermined any pretense he is acting in the interests of chronically ill and disabled people.

Specifically, Timms responded with a particularly callous reply to a written question from MP for Leeds East Richard Burgon. This concerned the regressive PIP reforms. In particular, the government is increasing the number of points a person will need to score in their DWP PIP assessment to access the daily living component of the benefit. In effect, this will deny PIP to many disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition. As the Canary’s Maryam Jameela wrote, Timms’ response boiled down to him saying:

that of the various needs Burgon listed in his question, it is the Labour party’s belief that they could be considered “low-level functional needs.” That includes cutting up food, washing your hair and body, and using the toilet.

This was a cruel, and arguably obtuse answer. Given Timms is meant to advocate for disabled people in his role, his ignorant response is all the more appalling. What it demonstrated irrefutably is that the DWP minister either doesn’t understand the needs and lives of chronically ill and disabled people, or he simply doesn’t care.

Considering the minister previously lambasted Conservative governments over similar such cuts, it’s likely this is the latter. His role as minister for disabled people has been subsumed by his own interests in maintaining a position in Starmer’s Cabinet.

Since Callow launched it in mid-April, the petition has taken off, garnering more than 7,500 signatures.

A ‘DWP spokesperson rather than the empathetic representative of disabled people’

Now, Callow has seen firsthand how this glaring conflict of interest operates in practice. And she has argued it only cements the case for her petition further.

Through the Stripy Lightbulb CIC, Callow attended a meeting with other organisations on Tuesday 6 May. The Minister of State for Social Security and Disability Stephen Timms briefly joined to field questions about the government’s Green Paper.

However, Callow said after the meeting that Timms’ answers to the questions throughout his showed how he wasn’t there in his capacity as minister for disabled people. Instead, she felt he had prioritised his role as a spokesperson for the DWP:

Stephen Timms MP has just attended the same meeting as me.

The language he used was fitting in his role as Minister for Social Security but NOT Minister for Disabled People.

Without trying he made the case for https://t.co/xjGMT8TPnQ #pwME #MEcfs #Disability

— ME Foggy Dog (@MEFoggyDog) May 6, 2025

Nope because I don’t want it to sound more divisive than it actually was.

To put it simply- he was a entirely a DWP spokesperson rather than the empathetic representative of disabled people.

— ME Foggy Dog (@MEFoggyDog) May 6, 2025

To put simply, Timms was being a good government lapdog in classic politician’s PR-speak. But he wasn’t being a good minister for disabled people.

Diluting the minister for disabled people role

Ultimately, the case the petition makes is one that was clear to disability rights campaigners from the start.

Attaching the role to the DWP social security minister was always going to be a disaster. In effect, it dilutes the remit, and renders it ostensibly a toothless position. The Canary’s own Rachel Charlton-Dailey was among those voicing this concern at his dual appointment:

Stephen Timms has been appointed minister of Social Security and disability

Mixed feelings about this

On one hand Timms was chair of the safeguarding vulnerable people committee.

On the other there’s no minister just for disabled people anymore.

— Rachel Charlton-Dailey (@RachelCDailey) July 12, 2024

Moreover, as the petition vitally notes:

Disability issues permeate various government sectors, including health, the DWP, and social services. A minister with exclusive focus and authority is crucial to drive the necessary transformational changes.

As such, it argues that:

The absence of a Minister for Disabled People undermines the representation and prioritisation of disability issues across all government departments.

The petition stipulates that Timms can remain the social security minister. However, he is clearly no champion for inclusion and accessibility for disabled people.

Not a single representative for chronically ill and disabled people in government or the DWP

Callow told the Canary:

The conflict of interest with Stephen Timms MP’s dual role has been made glaringly obvious in recent days when attending disability organisation meetings relating to proposed welfare cuts. He has a dual role but the language he used was entirely leaning towards his DWP ‘social security’ position. He parroted DWP official rhetoric as if he was oblivious that all of those organisations were actively fighting against the proposed welfare cuts.

Unfortunately, as a ME/disability rights campaigner, I do not feel there is a single person sitting in the government right now that I could comfortably and confidently contact in the knowledge they would support and represent my communities (ME and disabled).

Not a single minister is in a position to offer dedicated representation and support to 16 million disabled people. We need real allies, not ministers who parrot government propaganda. We deserve better than this.

Callow is right. As it stands, chronically ill and disabled people have no official representative in the government or DWP fighting in their corner.

That’s shameful at any time, but right as Labour rips into our communities rights? That should be a lasting stain on the conscience of this ableist government. However, it’s also not any surprise from the neoliberal Starmerites who have refused to enshrine the UN rights of disabled people into law.

Where accountability is concerned, this Labour government has shown time and again that its focus is to evade it, rather than to listen to the valid fears of chronically ill and disabled communities.

You can sign the petition demanding a dedicated minister for disabled people here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Hannah Sharland

This post was originally published on Canary.

Possible internal moves by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has only exposed once more the contempt that this Labour Party government has for chronically ill and disabled people. Crucially, more chaos from the DWP – this time over purported “operational changes” to its flagship Access to Work scheme – is showing how the government’s cuts to chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits has little to do with supporting them into work, and everything to do with eliminating government expenditures.

Significantly however, the DWP didn’t put forward these changes publicly. It’s only thanks to one disability consultant and Access to Work adviser whistleblowing the unexpected updates that we even know this might be happening. So, the DWP is seemingly attempting to sneak this through without public scrutiny. And of course, it’s doing so all as it claims its broader programme of welfare cuts is to support chronically ill and disabled people into work.

Now, the whole affair is also turning into another DWP shambles. This is because, without explanation, the department appears to have put a pin in these plans. But notably, this was only after the whistleblower raised the alarm on LinkedIn, and a poster shared them further on X.

Access to Work: DWP covert changes afoot

As the name suggests, the scheme provides financial support for disabled people in the workplace, or trying to enter it. In effect, it offers a grant for things like specialist equipment, assistive software, and support workers. It also provides financial help to cover the costs of travel, vehicle adaptations, and other access changes to the workplace environment.

Currently though, the scheme has major backlogs, and is enormously failing to support disabled people when they’re already in work. In April, a disabled campaigner obtained damning Access to Work figures. These revealed the continued failure of the new Labour government to address these soaring backlogs. Notably, an Freedom of Information (FOI) revealed that waiting times had actually shot up exponentially since Labour took power. Specifically, between July 2024, to the end of February, the average processing time for applications to Access to Work increased from 55.3 days, to 84.6 days.

On top of this, the onerous and bureaucratic assessment process is itself a barrier to applicants as well.

Now however, the DWP looks to be taking steps that will only exacerbate these problems. And it’s doing so largely behind closed doors.

Disability consultant and Access to Work adviser Alice Hastie posted about the “upcoming changes” to Access to Work’s “operational delivery” on her LinkedIn.

The DWP had sent the information to her in a private email during the week commencing 28 April. According to the communication, the changes the DWP laid out would go live Tuesday 6 May.

Specifically, Hastie highlighted that these included:

1. Special Aides and Equipment – more pushback onto employers
2. Hard limits on Support Worker hourly rates
3. Stricter rules and criteria for awarding Job Aide Support Workers
4. Removing flexibility to allow small increases in support without the need to raise a Change of Circumstance.

Notably, Hastie explained that:

These changes will affect all decisions made after this date, whether they are on new applications, reconsiderations, renewals or changes of circumstances.

Hastie raised the alarm on this because she had a number of “major concerns”.

Reasonable adjustments become ‘standard business items’

For a start, Hastie disclosed a “clarified” list of reasonable adjustments the DWP Access to Work scheme would categorically no longer fund. These included ergonomic items like chairs, desks, keyboards, and mice. Alongside these, it listed various software, reading support devices, and physical supports such as arm rests, back, and wrist supports.

In essence, the DWP communication suggested it would consider these ‘standard business items’. That is, reasonable adjustments that employers should fund themselves for their employees. However, Hastie pointed out a number of issues with this.

To begin with, Hastie highlighted that there is “no scaling” between self-employed and corporations with large turnovers. In other words, while a multimillion pound company could afford to fund these items, small businesses and self-employed individuals won’t necessarily have the finances to do so.

What’s more, it makes the assumption that employees have recourse to hold employers to account for making these reasonable adjustments. Hastie explained that in here experience, in practice, this is rarely the case. She wrote that there was a lack of support:

for employees to get their employers to provide Reasonable Adjustments, buy ‘standard business items’ or employ Support Workers. This is already a problem – I have a client who has been trying to get a fully funded support worker access to their place of employment for over 6 months now with no success. When Access to Work rejects a request, the employee has very little power to hold their employer to account to do the things that Access to Work has assumed they will do. I’ve seen this over and over again with clients. I would like to see a dedicated set of liaison officers within Access to Work to provide backup to employees and level the power dynamic. So if AtW rejects a claim because all the items needed are ‘standard business items’ or Reasonable Adjustments – the employee knows that AtW will help them get that support out of their employer.

Reducing support in multiple areas

Hastie also raised problems with other Access to Work changes the DWP appears to be mooting. She explained how they are restricting what would constitute as ‘replacement’ versus ‘enablement’ for disabled employees. Ultimately, this would dictate whether the DWP funds support workers and job aides.

Another notable change was that the guidance seemed to downgrade support for certain groups. In particular, Hastie noted the impact on neurodivergent individuals, people with mental health conditions, and executive functioning issues. Specifically, she described how instead of giving job aides this support role, it would now instead be funded as a job coach support or as “Coping Strategies Coaching”. Notably, the job coach would be a temporary support. In other words, it seems to mean entirely withdrawing long-term funding for job aides for these disabled demographics.

There were other changes around payments too. Support workers hourly rates would have a hard cap. Job aide funding would be tied to local job portal rates. If costs increase for certain supports the AtW scheme would no longer increase to match this during an award period. For instance, this might include more expensive travel fares.

Hastie underscored that the DWP changes seemed to lack consideration for the impact on self-employed people in particular. And, as she noted:

The disabled self-employed people I work with are mainly self-employed as their last attempt at staying in employment. They weren’t able to stay in traditional employment, due to high needs and unsupportive employers and they don’t want to give up and claim benefits. They don’t usually have much in the way of capital to buy items to support their disabilities and their turnover is often too small to do it that way either.

And, in the context of the pitiable number of ‘disability confident’ jobs on offer as it is, this should be only too evident:

Semi-regular update on how many jobs there actually are for disabled people in the UK, according to DWP Find a Job

All Jobs: 102,887
Fully Remote: 807
Of which are disability confident: 127
Of which are part time: 10

TEN JOBS IN THE WHOLE OF THE UK

— Rachel Charlton-Dailey (@RachelCDailey) May 5, 2025

Access to Work changes: ready to roll-out..? Not quite

So, instead of addressing the Access to Work scheme’s multiple issues, the DWP appears to be attempting to make sudden changes that will only entrench them further for chronically ill and disabled people attempting to utilise the scheme.

But, to make matters worse, it’s now unclear when the department is going to roll these changes out anyway. This is because the DWP has purportedly paused this. It will not be implementing these changes on 6 May after all.

The Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey established this in conversation with Hastie over Linkedin. In particular, she replied that:

I’ve just had an update to say staff have been told not to go ahead as planned. I do not know what that means!

It appears the DWP may have halted the plans in response to the social media pushback. Overall though, it speaks to more of the DWP’s glaring incompetency and a clear culture of contempt for chronically ill and disabled communities.

While it’s not proceeding with this – for now – it’s evident that it’s attempting to covertly shift the goal-posts to make it harder for chronically ill and disabled people to access support. Once again, it’s trying to make unilateral changes without public input, consultation, or impact assessment.

Labour doing what it does best: punching down on disabled people

Of course, it would hardly be surprising if this is the Labour-led DWP’s response to the Access to Work spiralling backlogs and the perceived soaring costs of the scheme. In short, restricting what chronically ill and disabled people can get support for on the scheme would be one way to drive down both. However, it will naturally invariably mean denying them grants for aids, equipment, and support vital to reducing and removing barriers into, and within workplaces.

In this sense, the changes seem to suggest that the DWP is less concerned with making the scheme more accessible and effective, than it is with quick fixes to its headline backlog figures.

Arguably, it fits right in with Labour’s manoeuvres to scapegoat neurodivergent people and those living with mental health conditions. As the Canary has consistently documented, the right-wing corporate media has been actively laying the groundwork for this.

In January, a number of articles in right-wing outlets like the Telegraph, and the Daily Mail, seized on the ‘sickfluencers’ purportedly abusing the scheme. As we previously highlighted, these:

homed in on the fact it “can hand claimants nearly £70,000 a year”. It juxtaposed this beside the “spiralling costs” of an increasing claim rate to the Treasury. In other words, the ‘economic burden’ narrative is pretty palpable in this.

The DWP’s moves to reduce the scheme would therefore track in this fiscal savings framing.

Another fudge and more underhandedness from the DWP

Yet, none of this should be surprising. The department itself is hardly the champion of access and disability rights in the workplace. On 2 May, the Big Issue revealed that the DWP has lost more tribunals for disability discrimination than any other UK employer. It clearly points to a deeply entrenched and pervasive culture of ableism within the department. So, it’s perhaps little wonder the DWP is pushing more plans that will punch down on chronically ill and disabled people.

Ultimately, it’s all more fumbling and underhandedness from the DWP. At present, it’s unclear when it will make these Access to Work changes. But, at the bare minimum, the whistleblower revelations show these are plans it is considering. In fact, it even appeared ready to roll-out these as recently as last week.

It’s clear this Labour government has no intention of genuinely supporting chronically ill and disabled people. All evidence so far shows it isn’t remotely committed to removing the work barriers for them. Scaling down Access to Work in tandem with its benefit cuts shows it’s ‘back-to-work’ promises of support are nothing but hollow words.

The Canary contacted the DWP for comment, but had received no response by the time of publication.

Featured image via the Canary

By Hannah Sharland

This post was originally published on Canary.

A parliamentary debate is set to take place over the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) controversial cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for chronically ill and disabled people.

However, given the Labour Party government’s recent response to a viral parliamentary petition calling for it to scrap its plans, it’s unlikely this will result in any meaningful changes to its policy agenda. Nor for that matter, is it probable to include any genuine engagement with chronically ill and disabled people’s valid fears. This is not least because while it is ‘a debate’, it doesn’t really constitute a full parliamentary debate in any sense.

Shunted as it is into a separate room outside the House of Commons main chamber, ultimately there won’t be a vote on any of the proposals. So it’s largely just a glorified soapbox for the government to sell its plans to MPs, with some criticism thrown in from the handful with some integrity that oppose it.

DWP PIP cuts: parliamentary debate incoming

In March, DWP boss Liz Kendall finally laid out the government’s sweeping catalogue of plans to ‘reform’ disability and health-related income-based benefits. It set this out in its Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working green paper.

Broadly, this made for a callous combination of catastrophic cuts that will harm chronically ill and disabled claimants.

The paper included a suite of regressive reforms to make it harder for people to claim disability benefits like PIP. As expected, the changes it’s proposing will target certain claimants in particular, namely young, neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders.

Moreover, disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition, will no longer be eligible.

Specifically, it’s increasing the number of points a person will need to score in their DWP PIP assessment to access the daily living component of the benefit. This will now require people to score four points or more in a daily living category to claim it.

The government is now consulting on some of these DWP plans until 30 June. You can respond to this here. Scandalously however, it isn’t consulting on many of its most dangerous proposals. Of course, these are the plans that will hit chronically ill and disabled people hardest.

Now, parliament will be having a debate over these plans. Labour Party MP Diane Abbott will be leading it on 7 May at 2.30pm.

Government petition response has already set the tone

The debate also comes after the government gave a atrocious response to a viral petition railing against the DWP PIP and Universal Credit cuts.

Chronically ill and disabled Leicester West resident Abi Broomfield started the petition and it quickly took off. It demands that the Labour Party government stop the cuts it has set out in its Green Paper. In particular, Broomfield has honed in on some of the worst, most damaging proposals. Notably, these are largely cuts that will leave chronically ill and disabled people unable to work worse off. Or, these will otherwise deny people benefit entitlements entirely.

Currently, the petition has over 16,000 signatures. After hitting 10,000, the government issued an insulting response. First, it stated how:

The Government must urgently tackle the spiralling welfare bill, restore trust and fairness in the system, and protect disabled people. Social security reforms will therefore continue as planned.

Following this, it only doubled down on its cruel and scapegoating rhetoric:

Our welfare system is broken, costing almost a third as much as it does to run the NHS in England while leaving people for years on benefits with no offer of support, no hope of a future in work and no opportunity to improve their standard of living. Working-age adults who are in work are three times less likely to be in poverty than those out of work. We need to act to end the inequality that sees disabled people and people with health conditions trapped out of jobs, despite many wanting to work, and ensure our welfare system is there for people who need it, now and long into the future.

You can read the full response here – but needless to say, it’s dismissive and callous continuity Conservative throughout.

So it’s in the wake of this that parliament will be hosting this debate on the DWP PIP cuts. Of course, it’s likely the government will take much the same dismissive tone at this as well.

Broomfield has therefore reached out to Abbott ahead of it offer input and support:

I have reached out to @HackneyAbbott
Team about the petition and to offer any help I can

Westminster Hall debate on Personal Independence Payment and disabled people is scheduled for Wednesday 7 May 2025 at 2:30pm. The debate will be led by Diane Abbott https://t.co/02gbkMfwSa

— Chronically Vexed she/they (@ChronicallyVex) April 30, 2025

Warm words at Westminster? Not good enough

Ultimately, it should be a given that parliament gets to debate government plans that will – at minimum – impact upwards of hundreds of thousands of people.

A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that the DWP PIP changes could in fact deny 1.3 million people part of, or all of their PIP entitlement. From the start, it has been evident the Labour government hasn’t been upfront or honest about the true scale of its proposals’ impacts.

However, it’s not likely to start changing that now. While an Westminster debate is welcome, too many of its MPs are more than willing to go along with its atrocious plans. So far, reports suggest murmurings from “dozens” MPs opposed to the proposals. It’s not enough.

The forthcoming debate will be a telling moment. It will serve as an indication of how Labour Party MPs are angling themselves at the vote over these plans in June. Chronically ill and disabled PIP claimants will be watching them closely. And it’s safe to say at this point, warm words won’t cut it.

Featured image via the Canary

By Hannah Sharland

This post was originally published on Canary.

New analysis reveals that Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) planned cuts to disability benefits will hit some of the poorest parts of England and Wales hardest, deepening economic hardships in these areas. Predictably, it is London and the South East which will fare better – but even then, the cuts will have dire consequences for chronically ill, disabled, and non-working people.

The DWP: hammering the North and Wales

According to research by the charity Policy in Practice, people living in the North East, North West, and Wales will suffer twice the impact of those in London and the South East. This striking regional disparity threatens to widen the already stark economic divide between the wealthier south and the struggling north.

Policy in Practice’s data highlights that the 10 local authorities most affected by these DWP cuts—including Blaenau Gwent in Wales, Hartlepool, and Blackpool in the north of England—face economic costs roughly five times the national average.

These areas are home to significant numbers of people reliant on DWP disability benefits – particularly women – and a large proportion of their local economies are tied closely to this support.

Deven Ghelani, director of Policy in Practice, warned that these cuts risk “entrenching deprivation” in regions with weaker economies. As Birmingham Live reported, he explained:

These reforms will have an uneven impact on different parts of the country. Some parts of the country will get a double whammy because they have a smaller economy and will lose a larger share of it. One of the reasons they have a smaller economy is that they have more people impacted so the proposals have a serious risk of entrenching existing patterns of deprivation.

He added:

Together this means that deprived areas that have more people on disability benefits who risk losing out also see a greater proportionate impact – impact that hits an already struggling economy.

Counter intuitive

Essentially, the cuts threaten not only individual claimants but the wider economic health of these communities, where every pound matters.

Policy in Practice further commented that these reforms will directly counter initiatives aimed at “levelling up” local economies. Without targeted investment to replace withdrawals from the benefit system, the cuts will leave these regions even further behind.

Yet, despite these serious concerns, the DWP defended its stance. A spokesperson said that, as part of their “Plan for Change”, the government seeks:

a sustainable welfare system that delivers proper support to help sick and disabled people into work, break down barriers, unlock work, boost living standards, and grow the economy.

However, behind this vapid rhetoric, many disabled and non-working people across the north and Wales may soon face sharp reductions in their financial lifelines. The areas worst affected are already grappling with higher unemployment, lower wages, and fewer job opportunities.

Removing vital support from over 1.3 million people risks pushing individuals deeper into poverty at a time when the cost-of-living crisis remains severe.

DWP cuts will make bad situations even worse

The analysis reinforces fears that the government’s welfare reforms are failing to protect vulnerable groups and instead are disproportionately penalising regions long neglected by economic growth.

This “double whammy” of cuts and economic weakness threatens to widen the gap between different parts of the country, leaving disabled people and jobseekers in some of the poorest communities struggling even more.

Policy in Practice’s report starkly exposes the real-world consequences of the DWP’s policies. It shows that disabled people—and the places where they live—are bearing the brunt of a system that seems more focused on reducing welfare spending to appease the rich and powerful than on supporting those who need help the most.

As these reforms loom, communities in the North and Wales face an increasingly uncertain future, with disabled and non-working people confronting the harsh reality of cuts that not only undermine their individual security but threaten the social and economic fabric of entire regions.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

This post was originally published on Canary.

Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, is at the forefront of a campaign that is stirring significant public interest and debate regarding proposed Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) cuts to disability support like Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit.

DWP PIP cuts – or a wealth tax…?

Burgon has initiated a petition titled ‘Tax Wealth – Don’t Cut Disability Support,’ which has already attracted over 40,000 signatures, indicating robust support from the public. You can sign the petition here.

The crux of the campaign relates to the government’s current proposals that aim to tighten eligibility for DWP PIP, which serves as the principal disability benefit across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Additionally, the plans include reducing the Universal Credit health element. These proposed changes have been met with widespread disgust from various quarters, particularly from those who assert that the most vulnerable members of society should not bear the financial brunt of a crisis that they did not instigate.

Speaking to Left Foot Forward, Burgon emphasised the need for the Labour Party to rethink its cuts to both DWP PIP and Universal Credit. He stated:

We shouldn’t cut a single penny in support for disabled people – we should tax the wealthiest instead.

The petition argues that implementing a modest 2% annual tax on assets exceeding £10 million could generate as much as £24 billion annually. This figure dwarfs the £5 billion the government claims it would save through the proposed cuts to disability benefits.

Overarching opposition

The campaign’s petition articulates a poignant argument that:

slashing disability benefits instead of taxing extreme wealth is a political choice—and it is the wrong choice.

Burgon, who has previously held a shadow ministerial role under Jeremy Corbyn, expresses a strong commitment to advocating for the rights of disabled individuals and preserving their vital support systems.

As discussions around welfare reform continue, a vote on these proposed DWP PIP and Universal Credit changes is anticipated as soon as next month.

In a related development, it has been reported by Labour List that at least 27 MPs have publicly committed to opposing the DWP PIP and Universal Credit cuts. However, these MPs may face pressure from Labour whips to conform and back down before the government introduces a bill that would revise the PIP points system and eliminate the health element from universal credit for new claims, scheduled for May.

The campaign against the cruel cuts to DWP PIP and Universal Credit has received a significant boost from the Fire Brigades Union, whose general secretary, Steve Wright, has become the first leader of a Labour-affiliated trade union to explicitly urge MPs to resist these proposed reforms.

Wright expressed his concerns in an interview with the BBC, stating:

The most vulnerable and poorest in society are being asked to pay for a crisis they didn’t cause. I don’t believe that is why people are involved in the Labour movement.

He further warned that such DWP PIP cuts could lead to the “normalisation of the cost of living crisis,” a trend he believes society should vehemently reject.

Don’t cut DWP PIP

The situation serves to highlight an ongoing struggle between government austerity measures and the rights of disabled individuals and those reliant on social support like DWP PIP. As pressure mounts on the government for a more equitable approach to funding, the voices of the advocates, claimants, and trade union leaders continue to grow louder, demanding fair treatment and highlighting a growing disparity in the accountability of wealth distribution in the UK.

With government proposals aimed at reforming crucial welfare support on a fast track, the coming weeks are poised to be decisive in shaping the future for many disabled and non-working people across the nation.

The collective stance of numerous MPs, trade unions, and advocacy groups underscores the importance of accessibility and support for society’s most vulnerable members in an era rife with financial uncertainty.

Featured image via the Canary

By Steve Topple

This post was originally published on Canary.

Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, has asked questions about Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans for people on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and received an outrageous answer. As the Canary’s most recent coverage has demonstrated, Labour have shown nothing but contempt for disabled people when it comes to policy on disability benefits. The announcement of these policies has caused untold distress for disabled people. And, to add insult onto injury, Labour’s insistence on overhauling DWP PIP is pushing up against a 0% fraud rate with almost a 50% rejection rate for applicants.

Now, the response of Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Social Security and Disability, on DWP PIP restrictions has shown just how terrifying these proposed reforms are for disabled people.

DWP PIP restrictions

In a written question Burgon asked why people with the following needs are to no longer be eligible for DWP PIP:

 (a) assistance to be able to cut up food

(b) supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe

(c) assistance to be able to wash either their hair or body below the waist

(d) assistance to be able to get in or out of a bath or shower

(e) supervision or prompting to be able to manage toilet needs

(f) assistance to be able to dress or undress their lower body

(g) supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage medication and, or, to be able to monitor a health condition.

Before we get to Timms’ response – let’s establish something. The needs Burgon is describing form the basic requirements for dignity in any person’s life. They’re not extra requirements – they’re the absolute basic fundamentals of existing as a person. They are a right.

The reason we’re at pains to point this out is because the media reporting of disability has been so abhorrent that it is simply not a given that disabled people who require support with eating and cleaning themselves are full human beings with the same right to dignity and respect as anybody else.

What was the response?

When Timms’ response to Burgon’s question did come, it showed just how callous and cruel Labour’s approach to disabled people is. Timms said:

A high number of people get PIP by having multiple but low-level functional needs across several activities. These could individually be managed with small interventions or the addition of aids or appliances. This change will focus PIP more on those with the greatest needs, ensuring those who are unable to complete activities at all, or who require more help from others to complete them, still get support.

Here, Timms is saying that of the various needs Burgon listed in his question, it is the Labour party’s belief that they could be considered “low-level functional needs.” That includes cutting up food, washing your hair and body, and using the toilet.

Timms is instead saying that these kinds of needs won’t qualify people for DWP PIP anymore. Instead, these needs will be “be managed with small interventions or the addition of aids or appliances.”

Timms didn’t clarify precisely which magical aids and appliances can be used for the above needs without money being spent. His assertion that “this change will focus DWP PIP more on those with the greatest needs” is an incalculably cruel and ignorant assessment of what disabled people’s lives are actually like.

And, on social media Burgon was similarly blunt:

I asked the Government why people will no longer get PIP who need help to go to the toilet, cut up food or wash themselves.

The response is appalling. It claims these disabled people just need “small interventions or the addition of aids or appliances.”

No, they need PIP!

What’s the point of DWP PIP?

In parliament, Burgon made another important point:

The purpose of the daily living component is to cover the cost of extra help needed with everyday tasks such as washing, eating, using the toilet and getting dressed, but the Secretary of State’s proposal to tighten the eligibility criteria could mean that even those who are assessed as needing help on every criterion may not be entitled to PIP.

Given DWP PIP has a 0% fraud rate, and almost half of claimants have their applications rejected nothing in the data points to any kind of fraud or misuse of PIP on the part of applicants. PIP isn’t means tested, and isn’t a benefit designed to get people into work. It is designed to assist people with the additional cost of living whilst disabled.

Timms characterisation of the needs Burgon listed as “low level” is an absolute disgrace. Nobody, never mind a minister for disabilities, should be making such embarrassing and ignorant assertions. People who struggle to wash and feed themselves need the funds to be able to survive. Disabled people aren’t off on a jolly – though fuck knows we could do with one – using DWP PIP.

There is an answer

Burgon wasn’t done there, though. In another response in parliament he said:

Making cuts instead of taxing wealth is a political choice, and taking away the personal independence payments from so many disabled people is an especially cruel choice.

A disabled person who cannot cut up their own food without assistance, cannot go to the toilet without assistance and cannot wash themselves without assistance will lose their personal independence payment.

Have not the Government taken the easy option of cutting support for disabled people rather than the braver option, which would be to tax the wealthiest through a wealth tax?

As ever, disabled people are at the sharp end of government reforms. Labour are trying to look like they’re tough on fraud, and somehow a conservative option in a red tie. The reality is that their plans for DWP PIP will make life immeasurably difficult for disabled people. These plans mean disabled people will die without the basic support they need for “low-level functions.”

Labour could have chosen to tax the unfathomably wealthy. Instead, they’re using disabled people as an easy target.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maryam Jameela

This post was originally published on Canary.

A chronically ill, disability rights activist has launched a vital new petition. It’s to urge the Labour Party government to “halt” the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) brutal benefits cuts to disabled people unable to work.

What’s more, it’s with some irony that the call to stop these cruel cuts comes straight from the heart of none other than DWP boss Liz Kendall’s own constituency. That is, the chronically ill activist behind the petition is Kendall’s constituent. And, she fears – like countless others – that the work and pensions secretary’s plans will strip her of the disability benefits she relies on.

DWP benefit cuts: a vital new petition

In March, DWP boss Liz Kendall finally laid out the government’s sweeping catalogue of plans to ‘reform’ disability and health-related income-based benefits. It set this out in its Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working green paper.

Broadly, this made for a callous combination of catastrophic cuts that will harm chronically ill and disabled claimants.

The government is now consulting on some of these DWP plans until 30 June. You can respond to this here. Scandalously however, it isn’t consulting on many of its most dangerous proposals. Of course, this is those that will hit chronically ill and disabled people hardest.

So now, one chronically ill disability rights activists has taken action against the government’s atrocious plans.

‘Support, not hardship and deprivation’

Chronically ill and disabled Leicester West resident Abi Broomfield has started a parliamentary petition.

This demands that the Labour Party government stop the cuts it has set out. In particular, Broomfield has honed in on some of the worst, most damaging proposals. Notably, these are largely cuts that will leave chronically ill and disabled people unable to work worse off. Or, it will otherwise deny people benefit entitlements entirely.

Notably, the petition reads:

We want the Government to halt all planned benefit cuts for disabled people unable to work. Instead of reducing benefits, we want them to rise in line with inflation. We want support, not hardship and deprivation, for those who cannot work.

We feel that disabled people who cannot work should not have their benefits cut. Acquired Disabilities can end careers, and we feel that those who previously contributed to tax deserve support. We also believe that people born Disabled need steady support without cuts.

Alarmingly, the government’s own Impact Assessment has already revealed the devastating impacts of these cuts on vulnerable populations. For households with disabled members, this is arguably the most stark.

By 2029/30, 3.2 million families (some current, some future claimants) who will lose average of £1,720 per year from DWP benefits in real terms. Of these, a staggering 96% (3.1 million) have at least one family member who is disabled. This equates to 20% of all households with disabled family member.

Households with at least one disabled family member also lose £100 more on average per year than households without a disabled family member. But by comparison, just 1.8 million (48% of total affected) households with a disabled family member purportedly gain from the changes. It means that just 12% of households with disabled family members benefit from the changes.

Disabled people ‘should not be punished for being unable to work’

To top it all off, the government has manipulated its own figures. Specifically, it has deliberately misrepresented the number its cuts will push into poverty. So while it has estimated that it will throw 250,000 – including 50,000 children – into poverty, the reality is likely much higher.

The assessment doesn’t differentiate how many of these are chronically ill and disabled people unable to work. Nonetheless, it’s likely many of those losing out will be those in the LCWRA category. In other words, it will be people who can’t work.

None of this is to even mention the compounding impacts of fourteen years of Conservative class war on welfare. Nor does it take into account repeated below inflation benefit rises and the lingering after-effects of the partly pandemic-induced cost of living crisis. So, as the petition continues:

We feel the pandemic widened the gap between current financial support and the extra cost of living for Disabled people; these proposed cuts will worsen this. We think forcing people to work will strain the fragile NHS and that Disabled people should not be punished for being unable to work.

DWP cuts will only cause more harm and deaths

Broomfield told the Canary what compelled her to set up the DWP-based petition. Firstly, she highlighted that:

Not everyone can work, and this Labour government is penalising Disabled people because of this very fact.

And notably, the government’s plans will directly affect her too:

As it currently stands, I, along with hundreds of thousands of others, will be losing my PIP entitlement. I rely on mine to help pay for some of the additional costs I face due to my disabilities.

Moreover, Broomfield spelled out the brutal reality of these DWP cuts as entirely contrary to Labour’s ‘back-to-work’ claims:

These cuts won’t get Disabled people into work; instead, they will cause serious physical and mental harm, and even deaths within our community. Plus, it’s going to seriously damage an already vulnerable NHS and care sector as Disabled people facing these cuts will inevitably have to rely on them more.

On top of this, Broomfield took the decision to launch the petition because the government has left chronically ill and disabled people with no other participatory democratic recourse:

Another crucial reason why I started this petition is that the government is ignoring us and has conducted little to no research about the benefits they’re cutting and the devastating outcomes this will cause. As parliamentary petitions are the only ones that the government has a legal obligation to respond to and listen to, I’ve gone down this route.

Plus, Broomfield has the unfortunate disadvantage of living in the constituency of one particular parliamentary representative: Liz Kendall. Needless to say, she’s one MP who won’t be convinced to challenge the cuts:

I want to challenge this government, especially my own MP Liz Kendall, to not enforce these Draconian measures but to actually uplift Disability benefits to match the actual real-life costs associated with being Disabled.

Sign the petition and send the Labour Party the message it can’t get away with it

Now, the petition needs as many people as possible to sign it. Currently, the petition is just shy of 1,000 signatures. At 10,000, the government must issue a response. If more than 100,000 people sign it, the government will have to consider it for a debate in parliament.

Together then, signees can send a strong, uncompromising message to the Labour Party government. In no uncertain terms, they can tell it that the public overwhelmingly opposes its callous DWP cuts.

To date, Labour ministers’ response to the outcry hasn’t engendered much to be hopeful about. So far, they have only exhibited the government’s glaring wilful obtuseness.

However, the petition could at least expose this government for the scapegoating neoliberal charlatan it really is. It will ensure that never again can the Labour Party claim to listen to and champion the rights of chronically ill and disabled communities across the UK.

You can add your name to the petition here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Hannah Sharland

This post was originally published on Canary.