Over half a million people on disability benefits could lose their support after major changes were announced this week. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced sweeping changes including scrapping the work capability assessment (WCA) to assess eligibility for sickness benefits.
In what had been dubbed a 'back to work' budget on Wednesday March 15, Mr Hunt said there were around one million vacancies in the economy and seven million adults not in work. Referring to two million people inactive due to a disability or illness, the chancellor said the government would abolish the work capability assessment and said sanctions would be applied "more rigorously" for those who do not undertake specific work search requirements or take up reasonable job offers.
Mr Hunt said he wanted to remove barriers to work by ensuring disabled benefit claimants “will always be able to seek work without fear of losing financial support”. He also announced a new programme called universal support to help disabled people get into work. To get all the latest money-saving news straight to your inbox sign up here.
Read more: 11 key points from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's 'back to work' Budget for people in Wales
But the Resolution Foundation has warned that the UK Government will need to proceed with caution, as hundreds of thousands of people who currently get support could be affected. The Daily Record reports that the think tank said someone who does not have a long-term illness, mental or physical health condition or disability, would not necessarily qualify for personal independence payments (PIP), meaning that despite being too ill to work they could lose out.
In its quickfire analysis and response to the budget, the organisation said: “The scrapping of the work capability assessment (WCA) amounts to the biggest change in disability benefits in a decade. “It will rightly be implemented slowly given that there will be significant winners but also losers. Up to 650,000 people currently receiving support after going through the WCA do not receive personal independence payments. In future, this group, which includes people recovering from surgery, are likely to see support cut back.”
The UK government has promised “transitional protection” for existing claimants to “ensure that no one experiences financial loss at the point at which the reform is enacted”, which is likely to be a few years from now. In its associated White Paper published on Wednesday, the DWP said the current Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) financial top-up would be replaced with a new “UC health element”.
The UK government acknowledged that in the current benefits system some people who receive the UC health element as a result of being determined to have LCWRA do not get a PIP payment. "As we develop our reform proposals, we will consider how disabled people and people with health conditions who need additional financial support may receive it," the paper, adding that cancer patients would be among those given protection from changes.
It said: “We are committed to protecting those claimants who are currently treated as LCWRA due to pregnancy risk or because they are about to receive, receiving or recovering from treatment for cancer by way of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. We will provide explicit provision to allow these claimants to access the new UC health top-up, even when they are not in receipt of PIP.” The reforms will be rolled out geographically for new claims first from 2026/27 to 2029.
The UK government said it would only be at that point in 2029 that the existing caseload of claims would be moved on to the new system and that “transitional protection” would be provided initially for people who were not getting PIP at the point that they move to the new system.
Louise Murphy, economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Scrapping the work capability assessment - the biggest reform to disability benefits in a decade - is a welcome move that should help more people with ill health or a disability back into work.
“However, with up to 650,000 people at risk of receiving lower support in future, the government is right to be proceeding slowly with this reform, which wouldn’t begin until at least 2026, and then take over three years to be fully implemented.
“This will help the government put in place proper protections to ensure that vulnerable people - for example those recovering from major surgery - don’t have their incomes cut.”
READ NEXT:
