DWP accused of 'misleading' universal credit and PIP claimants over welfare cuts
The government has used a 'misleading' accounting trick to assess the impact of its welfare cuts on ill and disabled people, meaning 100,000 more people will be plunged into poverty than its figures suggest, researchers have claimed.
In March, the government announced sweeping cuts to benefits payments for claimants in the UK, sparking widespread criticism from campaigners. These included limiting the assessment criteria for PIP and freezing incapacity benefits for those claiming universal credit.
According to the government's own impact assessment published by the department for work and pensions, the measures would push up to 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. It also said some 370,000 people currently on disability benefits would lose on average £4,500 per year in 2029/30, as a result of the changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the benefits cuts would save the government £4.8bn and said she was 'absolutely certain' the welfare reforms would not push people into poverty, claiming the changes would result in more people being in work.
However, analysis from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) seen by Yahoo News shows that cuts to PIP and the incapacity benefit element of universal credit will take almost £2bn more out of the welfare budget for ill and disabled people than the government claims. It says that, in fact, up to 340,000 people face being pushed into poverty once the cuts are rolled out - 100,000 more than the government figure.
The impact assessment was published alongside Reeves' spring statement on 26 March.
Crucially, according to the NEF, it included the potential impact of plans announced by the previous Conservative government to reform the work capability assessment (WCA) announced in autumn 2023.
This policy would have changed the WCA to make it harder for people to qualify for a higher rate of universal credit on the basis of illness or disability. This would have saved the government £1.6bn and potentially pushed 100,000 people into poverty.
These proposals were ruled unlawful by the High Court in January 2025. However, Labour has been accused of including in its spring statement assessment that it has effectively "spent" £1.6bn by scrapping potential savings that never existed - and, at the same, downplayed by 100,000 the number of people projected to be pushed into poverty.
"To put it another way, using this phantom policy to offset the scale and impact of actual cuts happening in the real world is akin to suggesting that you should feel better off because your boss had thought about cutting your wages but then decided against it," the NEF said.
After the NEF made revised calculations, it estimated the full scale of the cuts by 2029-30 will be £6.7bn, not £4.8bn a year by 2029-30.
Tom Pollard, head of social policy at NEF, told Yahoo News: "Although the government may need to account internally for its decision not to proceed the last government's proposed changes to the work capability assessment, it is misleading to suggest that this materially offsets the scale and impact of actual cuts the government plans to implement.
"Ill and disabled people will feel no tangible benefit from a potential cut not being taken forward, but the £6.7bn of cuts that are due to take place will have a very real impact on their lives - potentially pushing an additional 340,000 people into poverty by the end of this parliament.
"The government claims this will be mitigated by more people moving into work, but has not yet been able to produce an assessment of the likely employment impact of their planned reforms."
Other groups have been similarly critical of the government's approach.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation came to a similar conclusion as the NEF. However, it has estimated that up to 400,000 could be plunged into poverty in total - even higher than the NEF.
Iain Porter, senior policy adviser at the JRF, posted on Bluesky: "The 250k net poverty rise in impact assessment is extra to an assumed 150k rise that previous Conservative plans would have created - even they never happened. But DWP has assumed that increase was already on the books and added to it. Real poverty impact is 400k."
James Taylor, Director of Strategy at disability equality charity Scope, warned that "the full extent of the government's catastrophic welfare cuts are being laid bare."
Scope has been supporting disabled people losing out on benefits like PIP after the government said it would be limiting the assessment criteria to restrict the number of people who can claim the benefit.
He told Yahoo News: 'Massive cuts to disability benefits are worse than first thought, and will lower the living standards of disabled people and push even more into poverty.
"It is obvious these cuts are simply about saving money and not by the "moral" desire to get more people into work.
"The government needs to listen to disabled people and understand the catastrophic impact these decision will have on their lives."
A DWP spokesperson told Yahoo News: 'Helping people into good work and financial independence is at the heart of our Plan to Change, but the broken social security system we inherited is failing people who can and have the potential to work, as well as the people it's meant to be there for.
'That's why we're delivering a £1 billion employment support package to break down barriers for disabled people into work. We're also rebalancing universal credit payment levels, so the benefit's main rate rises permanently above inflation for the first time, in a boost for low-income families.
'The OBR will give their assessment on the labour market impacts of our package at the autumn statement, having already concluded 730,000 people are forecast to be receiving the new lower rate of UC health.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sterling rises against a weaker dollar ahead of UK's spending plan
By Linda Pasquini (Reuters) -Sterling rose against the dollar on Monday, as the greenback weakened after rallying on Friday on the back of a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report and investors eyed a spending plan by Britain's government later this week. The pound has been helped by a UK economy that has proved relatively resilient to global turbulence. Investors will, however, be monitoring a spending review on Wednesday that will set government departments' budgets up to 2029, covering most of the remainder of the Labour Party's term in office, while concerns persist around Britain's sovereign debt levels. The pound gained about 0.4% to $1.3575. It held steady against the euro, which was only marginally lower at 84.21 pence. More upbeat business surveys and strong first-quarter GDP indicated the UK economy is recovering from a weak end to 2024, but the public remains impatient for improvements to living standards, finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Thursday. This week's April data on UK jobs, growth and industrial output will not show much, said Kit Juckes, chief FX strategist at Societe Generale. "I think the economy is vulnerable. The economy will ultimately be sterling's Achilles heel because we have no room for fiscal policy, not much economic momentum." However, decent pay rises on average across the economy have helped, he said. "The UK economy is not growing, but there are people turning up in shops and bars because there's some wage growth. And so I think the world is full of sterling bears who are getting frustrated." Markets effectively fully anticipate that the Bank of England will leave interest rates unchanged on June 19 when it announces the result of its next policy meeting, according to data compiled by LSEG. Many of sterling's gains this year have resulted from broad dollar weakness as investors factor in the risk that President Donald Trump's erratic policymaking could result in a U.S. recession that might spill over to the rest of the world. The pound has appreciated about 8% so far this year against the dollar. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Nervous families freeze spending in blow to growth hopes
Nervous families are freezing spending in a blow to hopes that the UK economy will continue its growth spurt. Retail sales rose by just 1pc in the year to May, according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The study, which suggests households are cutting back, will pile fresh pressure on Rachel Reeves amid concerns that the economy's surprisingly strong momentum in the first three months of 2025 is evaporating. The beleaguered Chancellor will likely be forced to find tens of billions of pounds more in the autumn to repair her fiscal headroom if her hopes of a growth miracle fall short. It raises the prospect of further tax rises. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said families were already cutting back on non-essentials amid growing nervousness. She added: 'Consumers put the brakes on spending, with the slowest growth in 2025 so far. This was due largely to declines in non-food sales, as fashion and full price big-ticket items were held back by lower consumer confidence.' Figures from Barclays separately showed card spending grew well below inflation at 1pc in the year to May, down from 4.5pc in April. Sarah Bradbury, from the Institute of Grocery Distribution, said confidence improved slightly in May but remained 'fragile' beneath the surface, adding: 'Shoppers are still navigating financial uncertainty and continue to rely on money-saving tactics like planning ahead and buying on promotion. 'While the mood has brightened, we've yet to see this translate into meaningful changes in behaviour.' It comes as Donald Trump's trade war and Britain's deteriorating job market spark uncertainty for households. Hiring confidence has fallen at the fastest rate since the height of Covid in summer 2020, according to ManpowerGroup UK. Figures from the recruiter revealed that employer confidence has plunged by 12 points to a net score of 19 since the start of the year. It is now at the lowest level since early 2023. In several large industries such as communications, energy and the public sector, more employers are now looking to reduce rather than increase their workforce for the first time since the pandemic. The share of bosses blaming headcount changes on economic challenges almost doubled from the start of the year, to 64pc from 36pc. Petra Tagg, at ManpowerGroup UK, said: 'Hitting this new low is a symptom of the entire labour market re-aligning after the changes imposed by the National Insurance and living wage increases, alongside the recent uncertainties of the US trade tariffs. 'From here, employers will 'wait and see' to gauge the volume of the reset rather than making any swift decisions towards the end of the year.' Meanwhile, BDO said there was a risk of companies 'being paralysed by fear' and stagnating if they put off hiring and investment decisions. The consultancy surveyed 500 C-suite executives at global businesses with more than $100m (£74m) in revenue. Some 84pc described global risks as more defined by crisis than ever.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Labour MPs in call for benefits U-turn after change to winter fuel payment cut
Labour backbenchers have called for a Government U-turn on planned disability benefit cuts, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves restored winter fuel payments to a majority of pensioners. Ms Reeves' £1.25 billion plan unveiled on Monday will see automatic payments worth up to £300 given to pensioners with an income less than £35,000 a year. It followed last year's decision to strip pensioners of the previously universal scheme, unless they claimed certain benefits, such as pension credit. Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, warned ministers they risked making a 'similar mistake' if they tighten the eligibility criteria for personal independence payments, known as Pip. Leeds East MP Richard Burgon called on pensions minister Torsten Bell to 'listen now' so that backbenchers can help the Government 'get it right'. In her warning, Ms Whittome said she was not asking Mr Bell 'to keep the status quo or not to support people into work' and added: 'I'm simply asking him not to cut disabled people's benefits.' The pensions minister, who works in both the Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions, replied that the numbers of people receiving Pip is set to 'continue to grow every single year in the years ahead, after the changes set out by this Government'. In its Pathways to Work green paper, the Government proposed a new eligibility requirement, so Pip claimants must score a minimum of four points on one daily living activity, such as preparing food, washing and bathing, using the toilet or reading, to receive the daily living element of the benefit. 'This means that people who only score the lowest points on each of the Pip daily living activities will lose their entitlement in future,' the document noted. Mr Burgon told the Commons: 'As a Labour MP who voted against the winter fuel payment cuts, I very much welcome this change in position, but can I urge the minister and the Government to learn the lessons of this and one of the lessons is, listen to backbenchers? 'If the minister and the Government listen to backbenchers, that can help the Government get it right, help the Government avoid getting it wrong, and so what we don't want is to be here in a year or two's time with a minister sent to the despatch box after not listening to backbenchers on disability benefit cuts, making another U-turn again.' Mr Bell replied that it was 'important to listen to backbenchers, to frontbenchers'. Opposition MPs cheered when the minister added: 'It's even important to listen to members opposite on occasion.' Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin warned that 'judging by the questions from his own backbenchers, it seems that we're going to have further U-turns on Pip and on the two-child benefit cap'. The Tunbridge Wells MP asked Mr Bell: 'To save his colleagues anguish, will he let us know now when those U-turns are coming?' The minister replied: 'What Labour MPs want to see is a Labour Government bringing down child poverty, and that's what we're going to do 'What Labour MPs want to see is a Government that can take the responsible decisions, including difficult ones on tax and on means testing the winter fuel payment so that we can invest in public services and turn around the disgrace that has become Britain's public realm for far too long.' Conservative former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey had earlier asked whether the Chancellor, 'now that she and the Government have got a taste for climbdowns', would 'reverse the equally ridiculous national insurance contribution (Nic) rises, which is destroying jobs, and the inheritance tax changes, which is destroying farms and family businesses'. Mr Bell said: 'This is a party opposite that has learned no lessons whatsoever, that thinks it can come to this chamber, call for more spending, oppose every tax rise and expect to ever be taken seriously again – they will not.' Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey pressed the Government to make changes to the two-child benefit cap, which means most parents cannot claim for more than two children. 'It's the right thing to do to lift pensioners out of poverty, and I'm sure that both he and the Chancellor also agree that it's right to lift children out of poverty,' the Salford MP told the Commons. 'So can he reassure this House that he and the Chancellor are doing all they can to outline plans to lift the two-child cap on universal credit as soon as possible?' Mr Bell replied: 'All levers to reduce child poverty are on the table. 'The child poverty strategy will be published in the autumn.' He added: 'If we look at who is struggling most, having to turn off their heating, it is actually younger families with children that are struggling with that. 'So she's absolutely right to raise this issue, it is one of the core purposes of this Government, we cannot carry on with a situation where large families, huge percentages of them, are in poverty.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data