Will Labour U-turn on PIP disability benefits cuts? What we know

Yahoo

15 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer says the government's controversial welfare reforms must be pushed through despite facing a backlash from potential Labour rebels.
MPs are set to vote in the coming weeks on measures designed to cut the benefits bill, amid unease from many backbenchers.
But on Sunday, during his trip to the G7 summit in Canada, the prime minister said the social security system is not working and needs to change.
The Welfare Reform Bill is aimed at reducing the number of working age people on sickness benefits. It's supposedly aimed at encouraging more people back into work - but one of its flagship tools to carry that out is through benefits cuts.
It includes plans announced in March to make it more difficult for disabled people with less severe conditions to claim Personal Independent Payment (PIP) by tightening the qualification rules, a highly divisive move among Labour MPs.
The bill also proposes cutting the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC), with the current rate frozen at £97 a week for existing claimants until 2029/30, and reduced to £50 a week for new claimants from 2026/27. Legislation is scheduled to be introduced on Wednesday to introduce the changes, and a vote is expected among MPs in the week beginning Monday 30 June.
Labour are under pressure amid widespread backbencher rebellion ahead of an expected vote on the reforms, with the first draft of the legislation to be made public on Wednesday.
So far, around 170 Labour MPs have outlined their concerns about the plans to the government, according to the Guardian.
A recent letter organised by Labour MP Neil Duncan Jordan and signed by 41 others has urged Rachel Reeves to consider raising taxes on the wealthy instead of reducing welfare payments and limiting eligibility.
The MPs, including Nadia Whittome, Diane Abbott and Stella Creasy — wrote to the Cabinet earlier this month saying that the reforms were "impossible to support" and called for "a change in direction".
Several Labour MPs have taken issue with the cuts, voicing their concerns that Labour has historically supported and championed a robust welfare system.
In total, the cuts will leave 2.25 million households losing out on £500 per year, according to the government's own impact assessment.
Added to this, out of top 20 areas where claimants are set to miss out on PIP, 19 voted for Labour in the general election — with Clacton voting for Nigel Farage's Reform UK party.
In recent weeks, reports have indicated ministers are considering softening the cut.
According to the Financial Times, one of the rumoured changes includes making the proposed changes to eligibility for PIP less strict, which could mean 195,000 fewer disabled people are affected by the reforms.
Claimants could also get a longer 'transitional period' — from when they are informed their benefits are cut to their benefits stopping — so they have more time to plan for the loss in income, the Times reported.
The changes are also expected to include a 13-week payment of PIP for those who lose their award due to new eligibility rules.
There will also be "non-negotiable" protections for the most vulnerable benefit recipients, including no further reassessments for those who are terminally ill.
The government hopes the plans will save £5bn a year by 2030, but it is thought that more than three million people affected by the government's benefits cuts will lose up to £12,000 a year, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The cuts could impact some 800,000 disabled people claiming PIP by 2030, according to the department of work and pension's (DWP) own figures.
But food bank charity Trussell Trust warned the impact could be even worse, saying that an additional 440,000 people in disabled households could face hardship and hunger by the end of the decade.
The government made a U-turn on its heavily criticised plan to cut the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners.
While Labour also faced issues on the doorstep over its welfare cut plans over the local elections, the prime minister has insisted the government will plough on with its benefits reforms.
Speaking to BBC News, Starmer said: "We have got to get the reforms through."
"We have got to get the reforms through, and I have been clear about that from start to finish."
"The system is not working. It's not working for those that need support, it's not working for taxpayers.
"Everybody agrees it needs reform, we have got to reform it and that is what we intend to do," he added.