The UK Government’s key proposals for their programme of ‘welfare reform’ include a number of process-oriented measures like scrapping the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) in favour of a single Personal Independence Payment Assessment; increasing face to face assessments after a shift towards telephone based assessments during COVID; and providing the option for these to be recorded. 

It says its aim is to increase both people’s trust in decisions made and their ability to challenge a decision they believe is unfair. It has also announced measures like a review of the Access to Work scheme, providing employees grants for accessibility equipment, travel assistance, mental health support or communications support to facilitate their working. The programme could have real ability to break down barriers but has long been in need of serious improvements to support people appropriately.

So far so good? Well, not quite.

A quick look at the government’s official PIP statistics (part 8, ‘Customer Journey Statistics’) shows why trust in the process is such an issue. As of January 2024, only 56% of PIP assessments resulted in PIP being awarded. Nearly one quarter of assessors’ decisions were submitted by the claimants for ‘mandatory reconsideration’ (MR) by the department, at which stage one in four decisions were changed. One third of ‘MR’ cases were appealed further, to HM Courts & Tribunals service: a huge seven in ten of these court appeals were successful.

despite announcing the scrapping of the WCA [Work Capability Assessment], the Government will actually be bringing it back onstream, as it works through its review of the Personal Independence Payment assessment. Make it make sense if you can.

If you had said to many social security recipients that the WCA would be scrapped, they’d probably have arranged a party, so detested was an assessment which acted as the cornerstone of a system of ‘Conscious Cruelty.’ A system which disregarded, disbelieved, blamed and shamed disabled people -  no better evoked than in Ken Loach’s film I Daniel Blake. However, in the first instance, despite announcing the scrapping of the WCA, the Government will actually be bringing it back onstream, as it works through its review of the Personal Independence Payment assessment. Make it make sense if you can.

Government isn’t just focused on process; it plans to restrict eligibility for these benefits altogether, by limiting awards of Personal Independence Payment, to only those who have people meeting the criteria for the most severe levels of need in any of the daily living assessment categories.

What this means in practice is that under the new rules, someone with ‘lower level’ needs, but which affect multiple categories and add up to an overall high score, may well be denied the benefit anyway. (This replicates the impact of eligibility changes in the earlier transition from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP which began in 2013).

The changes to eligibility are not confined to non means tested benefits such as PIP. In their desire to break the link between work capability and financial support for health conditions, the new means tested ‘health’ element of Universal Credit will be contingent on the same eligibility criteria as PIP -  so potential applicants  who don’t score highly in at least one category in their PIP assessment after April 2026 may find that they are locked out of both PIP and UC Health. (The Government has however, indicated that people found eligible for UC health before that date through a Work capability Assessment will have their payment protected.)

Finally, the Government is changing the actual award amounts. Although it is proposing an 8% increase in the weekly standard allowance of Universal Credit for people over 25, it also plans to freeze the health element for 4-5 years. New applicants will face a whopping 44% reduction in the rate of UC Health they can expect. And young people under 22 may be prohibited from applying for the payment at all, on the basis of a shiny new ‘Youth Guarantee’ which proposes education, training and employment for all 18-21 year olds.

If you are worried about how the proposed changes may affect you, please be assured that many of them are not due to start for some time and some are subject to further consultation. If you’d like to get advice about your social security entitlements, please follow the links below.

• East Belfast Independent Advice Centre 028 9073 5690

• Advice North West 0300 303 3650

• Advice NI 0800 915 4604

Bear in mind that advice services may be very busy as lots of people are wondering how these changes may affect them.