The Universal Credit and PIP Bill: Our Concerns

In defending the Green Paper proposals, Liz Kendall told the Guardian “When we set out our reforms we promised to protect those most in need, particularly those who can never work” and “That is why we are putting additional protections on the face of the bill to support the most vulnerable and help people affected by the changes. These protections will be written into law – a clear sign they are non-negotiable.” 

Now that the new Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill has been published, it is clear that these protections will not actually cover a very substantial proportion of those people Liz Kendall had in mind. 

The key protection in the bill is that those with lifelong conditions would automatically get a higher rate of universal credit (equivalent to the current limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) element). It reflects the current criteria for the LCWRA element, in that you need to meet one of a set of stringent descriptors (set out in Section 7 of the Universal Credit regulations), but with the added provision that this must ‘constantly (apply) to the claimant and will do so for the rest of the claimant’s life’. The insertion of the word ‘constantly’ will make it extremely difficult for claimants with variable conditions, such as MS, Parkinsons Disease, Rheumatoid arthritis and schizophrenia, to meet the new criteria. In these cases, it will be rare for one of the criteria to be met constantly; ie all the time. The new criteria will therefore not protect many of the very groups of people that it would be reasonable to assume would need such protection – in fact, they are deliberately excluded.  

The bill will also provide 13-weeks of additional protection to existing claimants affected by the cuts to the personal independence payment daily living component. The DWP describe this transitional cover as ‘one of the most generous ever’. However, this cover compares poorly with the equivalent Scottish short-term assistance, which allows payments of Scottish disability benefits to continue at the rate of the earlier award while you are challenging a decision. In March 2025, Social Security appeals were taking 32 weeks to clear; prior to this mandatory reconsiderations are taking more than ten weeks to clear – 42 weeks in total. A 13-week protection will be of very little use with such delays.