What changes are the Government planning to make?
Personal Independence Payment
One of the changes the Government is making is to eligibility for the ‘daily living’ component of PIP. There are currently 10 daily living activities, each of which has ‘descriptors’ that are worth different numbers of points depending on how difficult it is for someone to carry out the activity. Currently, to get the lower rate of PIP, you need to score at least 8 points across the 10 categories, and to get the higher rate, you need to score 12 points.
The Government are changing this so that to be eligible for PIP, someone needs to score at least 4 points in at least 1 category. This will mean that people who do not score at least 4 points in at least 1 single category, who may currently be eligible for PIP because they scored a lower number of points across the 10 categories, will, when these changes come in, no longer be eligible even if their needs have not changed.
When will this change be brought in?
The Government have said that they intend to start implementing this change from 2026.
What does this mean for people with a severe learning disability?
We think that people with a severe learning disability will remain eligible for PIP under these new changes.
Changes to health component of Universal Credit and additional premium for severely disabled people
The Government have said that their aim is to get more people with disabilities and health conditions into work. They have said they are trying to ‘reduce dependency’ on benefits, which means that the amount that many disabled people are entitled to for health-related or disability-related support will decrease. This particularly impacts the health-related component of Universal Credit, which is going to be frozen for existing claimants until 2029/30. This means that people who are currently receiving this health component, or who gain it before April 2026, will continue to receive £97 per week, but this will not go up in line with inflation.
For people who start to claim after April 2026, the health component will go down to £50 per week. However, for people who have “the most severe, lifelong health conditions, who have no prospect of improvement and will never be able to work”, the Government are going to bring in an additional premium for new claimants.
The Government are consulting on whether people aged under 22 should be entitled to receive the health component of Universal Credit. They have said that, as the Youth Guarantee will cover 18-21 year olds, the money that would be saved from not providing those under 22 with the health component could be invested in more general employment support. People with the most severe, lifelong health conditions would not need to wait until they were 22 to be entitled to the health component.
When will this change be brought in?
This change will start to be brought in in April 2026.
What does this mean for people with a severe learning disability?
We don’t currently have details on what the Government classes as being “the most severe, lifelong health conditions”. However, we think that people with a severe learning disability should meet the criteria for this group. In our response to the Green Paper we will be emphasising this. This would mean both that they would be entitled to the additional premium, and that they would not be affected by the change in age-related eligibility for the health component.
Assuming that people with a severe learning disability do fall into the group which is entitled to the additional premium, the Government have not said how much this premium will be. It looks like only new claimants will be entitled to the additional premium, so we would assume that this additional premium will not take the amount of money that they will be receiving in benefits above the amount that existing claimants will receive – however, we cannot say this for certain. We will continue to engage with the Government to try to find out more information about this premium.
The Government have also said that both new and existing claimants who have the most severe, lifelong health conditions and will never be able to work will no longer have to be reassessed. We do not currently know how the Government will determine who will not need to go through reassessments, but we are pleased that there is recognition that people with significant lifelong disabilities and their families should not have to go through repeated assessments when their disability is not going to change. We will share any further information we receive about how this will be put into practice.
Changing the age that someone transitions from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP
Currently, disabled young people move from DLA to PIP when they are 16. The Government are consulting on increasing this age to 18. More young people are entitled to DLA than are entitled to PIP, and the age will align more closely with other transitions that young people with disabilities go through.
When will this change be brought in?
The Government have not said when they would intend to bring this in.
What does this mean for people with a severe learning disability?
We do not think this will have a significant impact on young people with a severe learning disability. We support moving the age to 18, which is the more common age at which young people with disabilities transition from children’s to adult services.
How can I make my views heard?
The Government has published a Green Paper called Pathways to Work, which includes these plans. Being a Green Paper means that these are drafts and might change. Some of the proposals are being consulted on. The full list of questions can be found in Annex A of the Green Paper here. You can see how to respond here. You can respond until 30 June 2025.
A coalition of charities led by Scope have written an open letter to the Chancellor. You can read the letter and sign it here.
Inclusion London have produced an automatic form for people to write to their MP about these proposed changes. There are different forms for if you are a disabled person or a family carer, and for if you are an ally, professional, or someone else who wants to advocate against these cuts. You can find this here.
Mencap have also set up an online campaign to email your MP about the impact this will have. You can find the link to this here.
Where can I find more information?
Mencap have easy read information and further details about the timescales involved here.
Access All have produced an episode on the benefit reforms which you can listen to here.