The government’s plans to reform benefits could be devastating for disabled workers who rely on the personal independence payment (PIP) to stay in their jobs.
The work and pensions secretary is proposing to tighten up assessments for the daily living part of the payment. It’s this that pays for help with washing, dressing or to administer therapies. Assistance that enables so many disabled workers to work, earn and enjoy their independence.
But now the bar has been raised, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of disabled people. The proposals mean that from November 2026, they’ll have to show higher levels of impairment to qualify.
And while the way the assessments are carried out will be subject to consultation, the tougher requirements are not going to be included in this exercise.
UNISON is clear. The consultation should be about the change itself, not solely the assessment process.
In addition, under the changes announced last week anyone under the age of 22 will no longer be able to claim incapacity benefit. But young people have higher mental health needs today than ever before and for many, this affects their ability to work. For example, in a 2021 survey, 80% of UNISON’s young members told us they had experienced a mental health problem.
Stopping incapacity benefits for some young people is unfair and counter-productive. Axing incapacity benefits will push many into poverty, rather than help them into work.
Ministers must listen to disabled workers. It’s important UNISON’s disabled members raise their voices and tell their stories, so the union can get the government to listen.
The changes announced by Liz Kendall are meant to ‘get Britain working’. Instead, people could be forced to stop working and be pushed on to benefits. They’ll then become worse off, possibly reduced to living in poverty, with all the related stress and mental health issues of being out of a job.
That could mean more strain on the NHS. Add to this the potential loss of tax revenue and purchasing power as disabled workers leave the labour market, and it starts to look very much like a false economy.
As it stands, many people currently aren’t able to work because of lengthy delays in getting NHS treatment and have to rely on benefits while they await operations or appointments.
Helping the NHS turn a corner by investing in services and staff could see thousands of these working age people returning to work and no longer reliant on benefits.
Employers too could do more by getting over their reluctance to employ disabled workers and adapting workspaces and schedules promptly when they do.
There are better ways to keep disabled people in their jobs or help them into work than those set out in the welfare green paper.
The government must listen to concerns about these plans, particularly from disabled people themselves. This is not the way to fix the UK’s fortunes, nor how to grow the economy. This is about real people’s lives and the support they need. Ministers must think again.
The article Opinion: Ministers must listen to disabled people first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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