UK: Disability benefits (UC, ESA and PIP) - news and updates 2024 and 2025

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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Love and belonging needs
Esteem needs
and Self-actualization needs


Dr Jay Watts:

"Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is one of the most widely accepted models of what humans require to survive and thrive—starting with food, heat and safety, and building up to dignity, connection and purpose. Cut disability benefits, and you pull out the foundation."

"Basic Survival (Maslow: Physiological Needs) You cannot “incentivise” someone out of disability by taking away the money folk use to eat and heat. Poverty is indexed to worsening mental and physical health and early death. That is backed by international evidence.#TakingThePIP "

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MrMagoo said:
Massive reduction in assessments from Covid onwards, is that because ESA was being phased out at the time?
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During the pandemic they reduced all assessments, I think.

But by late 2023 there was also a huge backlog with PIP reassessments, and that might have had a knock-on effect on ESA. DWP never have enough staff, so they redeploy people wherever the biggest blaze happens to flare up in the ongoing bonfire.

It's harder if people's PIP assessments are delayed too long because of the entitlements that depend on it. Renewing your Motability contract requires a minimum of 12 months left on an award, and people's ability to work and self care might depend on having access to a vehicle. I think there was a fair bit of noise made via people's MPs.
 
Kitty said:
During the pandemic they reduced all assessments, I think.

But by late 2023 there was also a huge backlog with PIP reassessments, and that might have had a knock-on effect on ESA. DWP never have enough staff, so they redeploy people wherever the biggest blaze happens to flare up in the ongoing bonfire.

It's harder if people's PIP assessments are delayed too long because of the entitlements that depend on it. Renewing your Motability contract requires a minimum of 12 months left on an award, and people's ability to work and self care might depend on having access to a vehicle. I think there was a fair bit of noise made via people's MPs.
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WCA is separate from PIP, it’s not even carried out by the same contractors. I had WCA in west London and PIP in South, although I didn’t attend PIP in person, but WCA I was required to attend between lockdowns.

So PIP is unlikely to affect WCA assessments carried out to date, although they now want to “merge” the two.
 
MrMagoo said:
WCA is separate from PIP, it’s not even carried out by the same contractors.
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No, but the contractors might be managed by the same staff and the ultimate decision making done by them. It wasn't the availability of outside contractors that held up PIP reviews, it was mostly DWP staff.

I know they transferred some over from other areas (a family member used to work for them yonks ago and is still friends with a couple of current staff), but I'm not sure exactly which. If they're not bringing in and training new people, it would mostly be from the ESA and UC pools, because they have experience in claims management. Even if they do need a whole week of training first on the comically out of date computer systems.

Pension credit's a bit different, and is mostly done based on a short web form you submit. My circumstances are straightforward enough that they didn't need additional info, and they turned it round really quickly.
 
Kitty said:
No, but the contractors might be managed by the same staff and the ultimate decision making done by them. It wasn't the availability of outside contractors that held up PIP reviews, it was mostly DWP staff.

I know they transferred some over from other areas (a family member used to work for them yonks ago and is still friends with a couple of current staff), but I'm not sure exactly which. If they're not bringing in and training new people, it would mostly be from the ESA and UC pools, because they have experience in claims management. Even if they do need a whole week of training first on the comically out of date computer systems.

Pension credit's a bit different, and is mostly done based on a short web form you submit. My circumstances are straightforward enough that they didn't need additional info, and they turned it round really quickly.
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I still think the drop in ESA assessments was from Covid, then due to it being phased out.
Because they don’t still have a backlog, and the drop is huge, hundreds of thousands.
And also not everyone having a WCA has applied for ESA.
 
I want to see the venn diagram of people unfit to work (LCWRA) and on PIP, then on PIP with no 4’s for daily living.

My LCWRA assessment is really well written but PIP won’t look at it, despite it being in the bundle.
 
This is from the Green Paper -

121. There are already rules in place that are intended to encourage working-age people who are in receipt of health and disability benefits to try work. Both PIP and UC health are in and out of work benefits. In UC there are work allowances specifically for those who have a disability or a health condition (the limited capability for work (LCW) and LCWRA groups). In addition, there is also a single taper rate that withdraws financial support at a steady rate as earnings increase, smoothing the transition into work and ensuring you are always better off in work. Both the work allowance and single taper rate will remain unchanged to continue to incentivise trying work.

122. Under permitted work rules, anyone claiming ESA can work for fewer than 16 hours per week and earn up to £183.50 per week (increasing to £195.50 from April 2025), without it affecting their benefit entitlement. People claiming ESA that work over and above these thresholds are no longer eligible for the benefit.

123. At present, people claiming UC and NS ESA can return to their previous benefits should they stop working. If a person claiming UC starts work and has earnings which exceed the threshold for entitlement to UC following application of the Work Allowance and the UC taper, their UC entitlement and award can resume if their earnings fall below the threshold again within 6 months. For NS ESA, if a person leaves the benefit to try work, ESA linking rules allow people to reclaim within 12 weeks without needing to undergo a WCA (providing there are no other changes of circumstances).

I knew there had always been the possibility of some permitted work, but if you can currently work substantially on UC and ESA the only change should be to a LESS punitive system so that there really is no danger of losing benefits in working.
 
MrMagoo said:
I want to see the venn diagram of people unfit to work (LCWRA) and on PIP, then on PIP with no 4’s for daily living.

My LCWRA assessment is really well written but PIP won’t look at it, despite it being in the bundle.
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Quite a lot of these statistics are available from Benefits and Work.

Most at risk PIP health conditions revealed

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

Increasing amounts of Green Paper data

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

Almost nine out of ten standard rate PIP awards fail new test

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

I don't know if these cover what you are looking for.
 
When asked what he made of the protections Kendall had added to the bill, Duncan-Jordan said: "Poverty delayed is still poverty."

Another discontented Labour MP, Ian Byrne, said: "After 14 weeks do the disabled and sick affected miraculously end the need for the vital assistance being taken away? An absolute nonsense."

And Labour MP Rachael Maskell said Kendall had "just restated the proposals in Pathways to Work with a three-month transition before people lose their support".

She added: "It will therefore not change the material facts nor my intention to vote against."

Another Labour MP said the added protections will not stop dozens of his colleagues from opposing the bill.

"The whips are pushing very hard with MPs but it's not working," the Labour MP said.

www.bbc.com

Minister to soften impact of planned disability benefit cuts - BBC News

Liz Kendall tries to ease the impact of planned benefits cuts as Labour MPs consider rebelling.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
tornandfrayed said:
This is from the Green Paper -

121. There are already rules in place that are intended to encourage working-age people who are in receipt of health and disability benefits to try work. Both PIP and UC health are in and out of work benefits. In UC there are work allowances specifically for those who have a disability or a health condition (the limited capability for work (LCW) and LCWRA groups). In addition, there is also a single taper rate that withdraws financial support at a steady rate as earnings increase, smoothing the transition into work and ensuring you are always better off in work. Both the work allowance and single taper rate will remain unchanged to continue to incentivise trying work.

122. Under permitted work rules, anyone claiming ESA can work for fewer than 16 hours per week and earn up to £183.50 per week (increasing to £195.50 from April 2025), without it affecting their benefit entitlement. People claiming ESA that work over and above these thresholds are no longer eligible for the benefit.

123. At present, people claiming UC and NS ESA can return to their previous benefits should they stop working. If a person claiming UC starts work and has earnings which exceed the threshold for entitlement to UC following application of the Work Allowance and the UC taper, their UC entitlement and award can resume if their earnings fall below the threshold again within 6 months. For NS ESA, if a person leaves the benefit to try work, ESA linking rules allow people to reclaim within 12 weeks without needing to undergo a WCA (providing there are no other changes of circumstances).

I knew there had always been the possibility of some permitted work, but if you can currently work substantially on UC and ESA the only change should be to a LESS punitive system so that there really is no danger of losing benefits in working.
Click to expand...
ESA will cease to exist anyway, everyone is supposed to have transitioned now aren’t they?
So going forward it’s only UC Health anyway which has the tapering and rejoining within 6 months already built in.
Spin, spin and more spin.
Thanks for the links, I will have a read and digest later
 
tornandfrayed said:
Quite a lot of these statistics are available from Benefits and Work.

Most at risk PIP health conditions revealed

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

Increasing amounts of Green Paper data

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

Almost nine out of ten standard rate PIP awards fail new test

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments, reviews, appeals.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

I don't know if these cover what you are looking for.
Click to expand...
No sorry there’s no LCWRA info in with any of the PIP data
 
MrMagoo said:
ESA will cease to exist anyway, everyone is supposed to have transitioned now aren’t they?
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My understanding is that the income related ESA will cease, but the contributions based ESA will continue, though claimants may only receive it for a limited time.
I'm unsure whether this applies only to existing claimants, or whether new claimants will still be able to claim CB ESA.
 
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