Latest news with #PersonalIndependencePayments
Wales Online
13 hours ago
- Business
- Wales Online
UK government accused of 'contempt' after sole PIP cuts meeting in Wales cancelled
UK government accused of 'contempt' after sole PIP cuts meeting in Wales cancelled No impact assessment has been made public about how many people in Wales would be impacted by the changes and the decision to cancel the only event scheduled in Wales has been labelled 'unforgivable' The UK Government has shown "contempt" for Wales by cancelling the single public consultation event there about its planned changes to PIP and Universal Credit. A single event for Wales was organised for the Mercure Hotel in Cardiff North, but it has now been cancelled and no replacement organised. In March, the UK Government announced proposals to change eligibility for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Universal Credit. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced major changes which will affect people claiming welfare payments saying there was both a "moral and economic" argument to reform the benefits system and that many people wanted to get back into work but needed help to do so. They say the changes will save £5bn. Despite repeated request from journalists and their political counterparts in Wales, no impact assessment has been made public by the UK Labour government about how many people in Wales would be impacted by the changes. There has been huge opposition with concerns about how people would be pushed into poverty by the proposals. Article continues below The UK impact assessment shows: 3.2m families – some current recipients and some future recipients – will financially lose out as a result of this package with an average loss of £1,720 per year compared to inflation 370,000 current recipients to lose entitlement to PIP and 430,000 future PIP recipients who do not get the PIP they would otherwise have been entitled with an average loss of £4,500 per year 250,000 people could be pushed into relative poverty, including 50,000 children, after housing costs You can read the data we have about that here. Protesters, angry at the changes, and who say the out-of-town location meant it was inaccessible for many people, instead met in Cardiff Central to protest. Plaid Cymru Senedd member Sioned Williams said the decision to cancel the sole consultation event showed contempt for Wales. She said: "It's unforgivable that the UK Government's one and only in-person consultation event in Wales on the proposed disability benefit cuts, which we know are going to push thousands more families and children into poverty has been cancelled. "It's contemptuous and yet another sign that Wales' voice doesn't matter to those in power at the UK level. "I would urge the First Minister, on behalf of the people of Wales, to use her good office, to ensure interested parties can take part in the consultation as is their democratic right and as is morally correct". It is understood the Welsh Government has asked the UK Government to rearrange the consultation event. A spokesman for Disability Rights UK said: "Welsh disabled people have a right to be completely outraged by the DWP's cancellation of the only consultative event in the country. 90% of people in Wales who claim the standard rate of Personal Independence Payment could lose money from these cuts, yet the DWP doesn't even want to speak to them. Article continues below "Last month, we had to write to the secretary of state because we believed that this consultation was sham-like. Today's events prove us right. How is it democratic for the DWP to be operating like this? These changes will affect millions, but the government is treating them like a foregone conclusion – undermining our basic democratic rights as disabled people. If I were a Welsh MP, I'd be very worried about disabled voters, friends and family and I wouldn't be putting my faith into supporting a department that is operating like the DWP is right now. We hope they all take this as yet another reason to vote against these dangerous cuts." The Department for Work and Pensions was contacted for comment.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Liz Kendall to face Labour MPs as government braces for huge benefits revolt
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is set to address the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) ahead of a major vote this month on cuts to sickness and disability benefits Liz Kendall is expected to face Labour MPs as the government braces for its biggest revolt yet over controversial welfare cuts. The Mirror understands the Work and Pensions Secretary will address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in the coming weeks. It will be a key chance for Labour MPs to quiz the minister on major welfare reforms behind-closed-doors. It is likely to come before MPs are asked to vote in June on major cuts to sickness and disability benefits, with Keir Starmer facing the biggest rebellion of his premiership so far. Earlier this month Keir Starmer faced angry backbenchers at the same private meeting, with many raising the issue of welfare reform and migration. Labour MP Ian Byrne told The Mirror: 'I will be attending the briefing from Liz Kendall and I hope the Government have listened to the disabled community who are terrified of the planned cuts, charities who have outlined their catastrophic impact and MPs who are relaying this message to the Government from their constituencies. 'After the Winter Fuel debacle and the damage it's done to the Government's standing, we need desperately to listen to the country and return to the core Labour values of tackling poverty and inequality and I hope this is the case otherwise I and many of my colleagues will vote against these measures as they currently stand.' Another MP said: 'The PLP has a declining number of true believers. She'll be met by a mix of distant silence, lots of searching questions, and a sense of bewilderment.' One MP told The Mirror: "If you think that Keir Starmer got a bit of a rough ride a couple of weeks ago and the largest issue that people had concerns about was welfare reform, and then you've got Liz Kendall standing in front of them, all of the concerns are going to be about welfare reform." They added: "I would have thought that's going to be quite an interesting meeting." A second MP said: "There's a clear indication of the mood in the PLP - it's not very forgiving at the moment." Concern has been building in the party since March when the government unveiled around £5billion in cuts to sickness and disability benefits. Most of the savings will be made from restricting eligibility to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) - a key disability benefit for people regardless of employment status. Over 100 Labour MPs have said they cannot support the changes without further evidence. And a separate group of more than 40 MPs said they were "impossible to support", describing the cuts as the "biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne". One MP told The Mirror many had also written privately to No10 expressing concerns, adding: "There has to be an alternative way". Last week the Commons Work and Pensions Committee - led by the senior Labour MP Debbie Abrahams - urged the government to delay the reforms. The government has been given until Monday to respond. But in a recent speech Ms Kendall stood by the reforms saying they will ensure "our welfare state is sustainable for the future". She added: "The truth is welfare reform is never easy, and it is rarely popular. Perhaps especially for Labour governments. But no responsible Labour government can resile from taking decisions because they are too difficult. Because this is not good enough for the people we came into politics to serve. "So, we will reform the welfare state. Just as great reforming Labour governments have done in the past." And she recently told The Mirror: "I understand people's concern and I understand people are anxious. But we are consulting with disabled people and the organisations that represent them on our PIP review, to look at the assessment process. I believe the task of helping people who can work, get work, is urgent." Labour MP Ian Byrne told The Mirror: 'I will be attending the briefing from Liz Kendall and I hope the Government have listened to the disabled community who are terrified of the planned cuts, charities who have outlined their catastrophic impact and MPs who are relaying this message to to the Government from their constituencies. 'After the Winter Fuel debacle and the damage it's done to the Governments standing, we need desperately to listen to the country and return to the core Labour values of tackling poverty & inequality and I hope this is the case otherwise I and many of my colleagues will vote against these measures as they currently stand.' Another MP said: 'The PLP has a declining number of true believers. 'She'll be met by a mix of distant silence, lots of searching questions, and a sense of bewilderment.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Foreigners claim £1bn a month in benefits
Benefits claims by households with at least one foreign national have doubled to nearly £1 billion a month in the past three years, government figures show. Households with at least one claimant who is a foreign national received £941 million in March this year, up from £461 million in March 2022, representing nearly a sixth of the month's Universal Credit payments. The figures are likely to reinforce calls for restrictions on benefits for migrants, which Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, urged Rachel Reeves to consider in a leaked memo seen by The Telegraph. Ms Reeves, the Chancellor, is already facing a growing backbench rebellion over her plans to cut welfare spending. Funding two months of benefits for households with foreign nationals cancels out the £1.4 billion the Government saved by axing winter fuel payments. Experts suggested the increase reflected a surge in the number of asylum seekers being granted refugee status and in net migration. Foreign nationals become eligible for Universal Credit and other benefits on the same terms as British citizens once they are granted either indefinite leave to remain or refugee status. Writing in The Telegraph, Neil O'Brien, a former Tory health minister who uncovered the data, said: 'The growth of benefit spending and the rate of migration are both much too fast, and the Government is doing far too little to change either trend. 'Migrants know that if they can make it to the UK, they will be allowed to stay. As long as that is true, we'll see more and more coming. Our soft-touch welfare state makes this worse.' Graham Stringer, a senior Labour backbencher and former leader of Manchester City Council, said that such vast spending on foreign claimants should not be a priority. He said: 'Given the state of the country's finances, everything has to be looked at and reassessed. This expenditure [on foreign claimants] in my opinion is not a priority. 'We have to be absolutely clear on what our priorities are and in my view these people are not a priority. It has to be judged against potential cuts in PIPs [Personal Independence Payments] and the winter fuel allowance and other benefits that may be cut for British citizens.' The Telegraph revealed earlier this month that Ms Rayner told Ms Reeves to consider making it harder for immigrants to gain access to Universal Credit, by raising the fee they must pay for using the NHS and restricting their access to the state pension. Ms Rayner's memo warned that, because of the high rates of immigration in the early 2020s, there would be an increase in the number of people becoming eligible for indefinite leave to remain, entitling them to state benefits. The data, obtained for the first time under freedom of information laws from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), shows that the amount of Universal Credit being claimed by foreign nationals has risen by nearly 30 per cent in a year, from £726 million to £941 million in March. This accounted for 15.5 per cent of the total £6.05 billion payments of Universal Credit that month, up from 14.1 per cent in March 2022 but down slightly since when Labour won the general election in July last year. The rising costs follow soaring net migration, which after Brexit reached a record high of more than 900,000 in 2023. The DWP defines a foreign claimant as a non-Common Travel Area (CTA) national – someone who does not hold British or Irish nationality. Its analysis only included payments to households that are made to 'claimants who have a non-CTA nationality and have passed the Habitual Resident Test (HRT).' HRT checks that an individual has a right to reside in the UK and is 'factually habitually resident' in the UK. The DWP said joint claims that include at least one non-British or Irish national will be classed as foreign, even if other members of the household are British nationals. Sir Keir Starmer announced a crackdown on net migration earlier this month that included proposals to extend eligibility for indefinite leave to remain from the current five years to 10 years, effectively denying tens of thousands access to benefits for longer. Under his plans, migrants will only be able to 'earn' citizenship earlier if they can show a 'real and lasting contribution' to the economy and society. It comes as Reform seeks to capture its first seat in Scotland in a by-election in Hamilton by capitalising on its plans for net zero immigration and restoring the winter fuel allowance. A government spokesman said: 'We inherited a spiralling benefits system that was out of control. Since last July, we have reduced the proportion of benefit payments to nationals outside the British Isles. 'Refugees and non-UK or Irish citizens can only access these payments once their immigration status is formally verified by the Home Office, and they satisfy strict tests.' By Neil O'Brien The soaring bill for Universal Credit payments to people from overseas is the tip of the iceberg. Universal Credit only accounts for about half of working age welfare spending, and the DWP is so far refusing to release the same data for other benefits. And cash benefits are only part of the story. For example, around half of all the council housing in Greater London is occupied by households where the head of the household was born abroad. Of these tenants, around a half are in work, and a half are not. Many of those who commute a long way into the capital, paying a fortune to stand on a crowded tube or train, wonder whether it is fair. For those who have paid in their taxes, it is frustrating to see others who have newly arrived in the country able to access benefits and services without having paid in. The growth of benefit spending and the rate of migration are both much too fast, and the Government is doing far too little to change either trend. Keir Starmer promised to 'smash the gangs', but the number of people crossing the channel is up nearly a third compared to the same period last year. We recently saw a record smashed for the largest number crossing illegally in one day. Having promised to close migrant hotels, the Government has opened more. Starmer was warned by experts like the former head of Border Force, Tony Smith, that simply trying to improve enforcement would fail, unless factors that pull migrants here are addressed. Migrants know that if they can make it to the UK, they will be allowed to stay. As long as that is true, we'll see more and more coming. Our soft-touch welfare state makes this worse. Every week there is some new example of the abuse of human rights law to allow dangerous people to stay in the UK. A Ugandan murderer who clubbed a man to death in the back of a London ambulance wasn't deported because it would be bad for his mental health. A Pakistani paedophile won the right to stay because he risks being persecuted for his crimes back home. There are 17,428 foreign national offenders living in the UK whose deportation the Home Office considers to be in the public interest, but who have not been deported, and the figure just keeps rising. Meanwhile, spending on sickness and disability benefits is forecast to grow to £100 billion by the end of this parliament, double the rate of 2008. Despite this, the present Government has abandoned plans to tighten the Work Capability Assessment, which means 400,000 more people will be signed off as unfit to work. The Government has also trailed plans to spend a further £3.5 billion a year removing the two-child cap on benefits. Both the explosion of welfare spending and the surging numbers arriving in small boats are driven by the same rights culture. Sadly, we have a PM who is a human rights lawyer, who used to sign letters opposing the deportation of criminals. As long as he's in office, the bills for those who play by the rules will just keep on rising. Neil O'Brien is the Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston and is a shadow education minister Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
DWP update shows PIP conditions most at risk of benefit cuts
A new DWP analysis has shown which conditions could be the most likely to have claimants who will not qualify under the new PIP eligibility criteria New DWP analysis shows the conditions set to be most likely to have claimants who will not qualify under the new Personal Independence Payments changes. The PIP reforms are set to be implemented in November 2026. With the current Department for Work and Pensions rules, applicants must score at least eight points across 10 questions in the daily living assessment to claim PIP. Under the proposed changes in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall's welfare reforms, claimants will also need to achieve a minimum of four points in any single question. The latest DWP figures reveal how many current benefit recipients would not meet this requirement, categorised based on what condition they are claiming the benefit for. A total of 79% of people claiming for back pain scored fewer than four points in a single question during their assessment. Similarly, 71% of individuals with chronic pain syndromes would not meet the new criteria. A total of 62% of people with cardiovascular diseases and 55% of those with respiratory diseases could also potentially lose their benefit, according to the Daily Record. The other main condition groups and the number of claimants that do not meet the four-point requirement revealed in the DWP figures include: Regional Musculoskeletal Diseases - 71% Multiple Sclerosis and Neuropathic Diseases - 48% All other conditions - 46% Other neurological diseases - 36% Cerebrovascular diseases - 34% Cancer - 33% Epilepsy - 30% Other psychiatric disorders - 28% Cerebral Palsy and Neurological Muscular Diseases - 24% Psychotic disorders - 23% ADHD/ADD - 19% Autism spectrum disorders - 6% Learning disabilities - 3% Arthritis - 6% The 'all other conditions' category includes ailments that make up a small proportion of PIP claims. For example, visual diseases, skin disease, hearing disorders and autoimmune diseases. Kendall's welfare reform will only impact the daily living component of PIP, officials say. The mobility element, which provides £29.20 for the standard rate and £77.05 for the enhanced rate, is expected to remain unchanged under the reforms. The daily living component does offer higher weekly amounts, at £73.90 for the standard rate and £110.40 for the enhanced rate. Currently, to qualify for the standard rate you need to accumulate a total of eight points in the assessment, and 12 or more to receive the enhanced rate. The assessment concentrates on how safely, effectively and quickly you can perform certain tasks, scoring you based on how much assistance or equipment you require to complete it. The 10 tasks and their maximum available points are as follows: Preparing food - 8 Taking medication - 10 Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition - 8 Washing and bathing - 8 Managing toilet needs or incontinence - 8 Dressing and undressing - 8 Communicating verbally - 12 Reading and understanding symbols and words - 8 Engaging with other people face to face - 8 Making budgeting decisions - 6
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
PM's constituency lit up with messages over DWP cuts - 'Tax super rich instead'
One of the messages on the clocktower at St Pancras Station in Keir Starmer's constituency said 'Tax The Super Rich Instead' while another added 'Being Sick Or Disabled Isn't A Choice' Campaigners against planned disability cuts have projected messages on a key landmark in Keir Starmer's London constituency. One of them on the clocktower at St Pancras Station said "Tax The Super Rich Instead" while another added "Being Sick Or Disabled Isn't A Choice". The campaign group 38 Degrees, who organised the stunt on Wednesday evening, said it was sending the Prime Minister a message he cannot ignore. It comes after the government unveiled around £5billion in cuts to disability benefits in March - largely by restricting eligibility to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Charities have expressed alarm at the changes which could lose to hundreds of thousands of people losing eligibility to the key disability benefit. CEO of the campaign group 38 Degrees, Matthew McGregor, described the cuts as "heartless" and said sick and disabled people across the country "are terrified". "None of us know when we might need a safety net, so it's no wonder that hundreds of thousands of people have spoken out against these plans, and thousands more have chipped in to bring a message to Holborn and St Pancras that Keir Starmer can't ignore: stop these cruel cuts, protect the sick and vulnerable, and tax the super rich instead," he said. The PM is also facing the biggest revolt of his premiership so far when the reforms to PIP are voted on in the Commons in June. Over 100 Labour MPs have written to the Chief Whip saying they cannot support the measures and have urged the government to pause. They have expressed concern over an official government analysis suggesting the reforms could result in extra 250,000 - including 50,000 kids - falling into poverty. And just last week the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee - led by the senior Labour MP Debbie Abrahams - also wrote to the Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall urging her to delay the reforms. They said MPs are being asked to vote on the changes "without the benefit of a full impact assessment" and costing from the economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility. But speaking to The Mirror, Ms Kendall said: "I understand people's concern and I understand people are anxious. But we are consulting with disabled people and the organisations that represent them on our PIP review, to look at the assessment process. I believe the task of helping people who can work, get work, is urgent." She added: "I am listening. I have great respect for Debbie Abrahams and members of the Committee. I am talking in detail with MPs... we want to get this right. I think the task of overhauling the system that has written off and denied people support for too long - there has been failure of the last government to deal with these problems - and I want to make a start."
