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

Tia said:
If you filled out a PIP form, what did you tick for the questions where you need to provide further information? For example, 'Are you able to cook and prepare food? - yes or no'. The answer is yes to a degree but it has an impact. I don't know whether to tick yes or no. I will be providing extra notes about the impact. Is it ok to tick neither and say please refer to additional notes?
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What they're actually asking is can you do these things "safely and without difficulty", or "reliably, repeatedly, safely and in a reasonable time" (the exact wording varies between forms) - those criteria apply for every question. If the process was designed more fairly, the form would repeat those words for every question instead of just giving them once at the start.

So tick 'no', and then explain what makes it unsafe/difficult in the box that follows, or on an extra numbered sheet if you need more space.
 
Sly Saint said:
Just a reminder to those replying to this thread that it is not in a members only area and therefore public.
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That's fine. It'd be a worry if people were talking about making things up or exaggerating their disability, but no one is. Just how to apply guidelines and the law the same way welfare advisers do, to make them work for disabilities they're not ideal for.
 
JellyBabyKid said:
My letter arrived the day after the scheme closed last year, and had to get my MPs office to chase it up, so I have already rung the helpline.
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It's automatic this year (except in Scotland, which has its own scheme), so as long as you qualified you'd be able to get it even if the DWP letter didn't arrive. Possibly delayed, but as there's no need to apply they couldn't disqualify you for not doing so.
 
Warm home discount credit's on my energy account now, which is handy since the heating bills are going to increase fairly soon. Just realised that with this and the winter fuel payment, that's almost half my annual energy costs covered. Kinda nice to get a win sometimes!
 


Dear Subscriber,

In this edition, we reveal that the Timms review will cover existing personal independence payment (PIP) claimants as well as new ones.

We warn that Reform UK have declared war on PIP claimants and advice agencies.

We argue that the DWP’s response to the Pathways to Work Green Paper shows that the White Paper has now been abandoned.

We discover that the DWP aim, in the next six months, to clear the backlog of work capability assessments (WCA) for claimants whose conditions have deteriorated.
 
Thread on the Government's 'Keep Britain Working' Review and it's Lead Charlie Mayfield, his worrying interview on Good Morning Britain, in which he revives the BiopsychoSocial Model and applies it to sick/disabled people's inability to work. Despite him being completely unable to even pronounce 'BiopsychoSocial'.

Charlie Mayfield also insists that "‘If you’re disabled, you’re not ill."

Disturbing statements from the Lead Reviewer of a Independent Report commissioned by the Government.

Lou B Lou

Thread 'BioPsychoSocial back in Disability Benefits Policy - Keep Britain Working Report'

UK Government published the 'Keep Britain Working' Report on Thursday 5th November 2025. With lurid Headlines everywhere quoting wildly irresponsible scare figures on how much sick/disabled people are costing the UK and how sick/disabled people are threatening the future of the country.

The Report's lead reviewer is Sir Charlie Mayfield, former boss of John Lewis Partnerships (which includes the low pay supermarket Waitrose) and he was Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills until its closure in March 2017.


Disturbingly the Lead Report Reviewer Charlie Mayfield, when...
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Benefits and Work newsletter

CLAIMANTS TREATED MORE HARSHLY THAN CRIMINALS, REPORT FINDS

Sanctions imposed on claimants who miss a single UC interview are larger than the fines handed out to most criminals and have to be repaid nine times faster than criminal courts recommend, a report by the Public Law Project (PLP) has found.

In addition, the report revealed that sanctions are often a first, not a last, resort and most sanctions are unfair and unlawful, with over 80% overturned where a claimant manages to appeal.

The report, comes at a time when the government are considering whether to use sanctions against sick and disabled claimants as part of the proposed “support conversations” regime.


LABOUR’S KEEP BRITAIN WORKING PLAN FOR DISABLED ALREADY IN TATTERS

After less than a fortnight, Labour’s Keep Britain Working plan for the employment of disabled people is already in tatters, condemned by disability charities and trades unions, whilst the unemployment rate hits a four-year high.

The “Keep Britain Working Review” led by former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield, was a major pillar of the Pathways To Work Green Paper.

The report was released last week, with the government announcing that it will work with 60 “Vanguard” employers over the next three years to create a “healthy working lifecycle” to reduce sickness absence, improve return-to-work rates, and increase disability employment rates.

The Vanguard employers include Capita, Maximus and Unum.

The truth is that taking three years just to set up a voluntary scheme suggests that this is just another pointless, tick-box programme like Disability Confident, designed to make employers look good, whilst doing absolutely nothing to change the reality for disabled people hoping to move into, or stay in, work.

17,000 ESA CLAIMANTS FAIL UC MIGRATION, SO FAR

17,000 ESA claimants have, so far, had their legacy benefits claim ended after failing to migrate to UC, according to official statistics released by the DWP.

That figure is set to rise to over 26,00 by the time the process is complete.

Overall 17% of individuals have failed to migrate from all legacy benefits to UC and had their claims stopped. But, as the DWP predicted, the failure rate for ESA has been much lower at 3% than say for tax credits.

Whilst this is very good news, it is still 17,000 people who may not have lost their benefit if the move to UC had been automatic, instead of obliging claimants to make a fresh claim.

The DWP have provided no information on the reason why these claimants failed to migrate.

But one possibility is that some are the most vulnerable claimants, who were least able to manage the move and who will be the least able to take effective action when their claim ends and they are unable to support themselves.

CHANGES TO THE UNIVERSAL CREDIT ‘HEALTH ELEMENT’ FROM APRIL 2026

Most readers will not be affected by the changes to the UC health element (LCWRA) coming into force on 6 April next year.

The almost halving of the health element will only apply to new claimants who do not meet the severe conditions criteria.

However, you may need to decide whether to make any changes in the near future if:

  • You receive UC and have Limited Capability for Work (LCW) but not LCWRA and your condition has deteriorated.
  • You receive UC but have not reported health issues.
  • You claim New-Style or contribution-based ESA but not Universal Credit, although you think you may be eligible.


 
John Mac said:
The report was released last week, with the government announcing that it will work with 60 “Vanguard” employers over the next three years to create a “healthy working lifecycle” to reduce sickness absence
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Do we think the penny's ever going to drop in government that most disability in the UK is caused by chronic illness, not congenital or acquired physical impairments?

Which means people are always likely to need additional sick leave if they're to stay in work. Especially if they're not allowed to work at home on bad days, or are given no flexibility over the times and days on which they do their contracted hours?
 
Kitty said:
Do we think the penny's ever going to drop in government that most disability in the UK is caused by chronic illness, not congenital or acquired physical impairments?
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Nope. Part of the reason is the DWP doesn't actually capture that correctly and the reason for that is the NHS doesn't capture that data either. With so many chronically ill dismissed by the medical system its no wonder everything that depends on it is misinformed. By the time these conditions with many symptoms get to government all they get told is "mental health problems". No one could make good decisions when the problem is being filtered through this atrocious system. Based on what they have been told by their advisor on these matters, the CMO, trying to force people back to work seems positively reasonable and moral and the right thing to do.
 
Kitty said:
Do we think the penny's ever going to drop in government that most disability in the UK is caused by chronic illness, not congenital or acquired physical impairments?

Which means people are always likely to need additional sick leave if they're to stay in work. Especially if they're not allowed to work at home on bad days, or are given no flexibility over the times and days on which they do their contracted hours?
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It’s allowed, being chronically ill, as long as you don’t claim benefits for it. Nobody cares whether you are working or not, they care whether you are costing them money. If you don’t have the decency to contribute to GDP, the least you can do is not take from it.
 
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