Ask your MP to Vote NO to Bin the Bill

Last week we saw the unexpected sight of the Government rapidly backpedalling on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill (UC & PIP Bill).

Whilst the Government’s backpedalling was a sight to behold we do not actually have any guarantees. Whilst they have removed PIP from the title of the bill, it does not mean that PIP is no longer under threat.

We should remember that the Government haven’t withdrawn the Bill and even if the bill is passed TOMORROW in its current form it will do untold financial damage to disabled workers and disabled people generally.

It would have been much better if last week the Government had simply withdrawn the UC & PIP Bill and gone back to the drawing board. This would have allowed a full review of benefits to take place in partnership and co-production with Deaf & Disabled People’s Organisations.

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You still need to write to your MP to ask them to vote against the renamed Universal Credit Bill. Please click here to follow the link and write to your MP

We think that Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, put it very well when she said: “The government needs to drop its entire welfare bill and start again with the principle of social justice and helping people into work at its heart.”

Unite the Union Oppose the Cuts to Disability Benefits at their Policy Conference

It is clear that cost cutting and NOT Social Justice is at the heart of the Universal Credit Bill

Instead we have what we can only describe as a ‘Dogs Dinner’ where the government’s plans will halve the health element in universal credit, meaning disabled people claiming UC after April 2026 will be over £200 a month worse off. And they want to freeze the health elements in UC and ESA (Employment & Support Allowance) until 2030, meaning another real-terms cut.

Currently we are not clear about the terms of reference of the PIP Review which is being called the ‘Timms Review’ which we believe is due to report by November 2026. However, the early indications are that its recommendations will not be open for debate and revision in Parliament because the Government can, and possibly will, implement its recommendations through ministerial regulations and direction.

Labour’s attack on disabled people and carers: Myths and realities

Just in case you think that the U-turn by the Government means that it is all over and the cuts have been ditched well this is not the case and below we reproduce the information produced by Unite the Union about the Myths and Realities of what the vote tomorrow could mean to disabled people.

Myth: It’s all okay now, Labour has cancelled the cuts after a threatened rebellion

Reality: The bill as it stands still includes a clause which would half the amount of the health element of universal credit (UC) paid to those who cannot work. This cut would mean disabled people making a new claim after April 2026 would be paid over £2,400 a year less in UC, creating an unfair two tier system.

The cuts to personal independence payment (PIP) entitlement were only removed from the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill to placate enough backbench rebels to avoid the bill being voted down.

Labour has now announced a review of PIP conducted by Stephen Timms MP instead of implementing its proposed cuts. But the trust between disabled people and the government has been so damaged, many are worried about what the PIP review will recommend.

Myth: The cuts are bad, but surely they only affect a small number of people?

Reality: The changes to PIP assessments would have meant 1.3 million people currently receiving PIP would have lost their entitlement at their next review - that’s about one third of all PIP claimants. And they would have lost up to £10,000. In addition, loss of PIP would have meant around 150,000 carers losing carers allowance or the carer element of UC.

Most recent figures suggest about 74,000 people claiming UC each month are found to be unable to work and receive the extra health element. This means after April 2026, almost 900,000 new claimants each year will be worse off than people in exactly the same position making a claim before that date.

Myth: Disability benefits are far too generous and this encourages fraudulent claims

Reality: Our social security system is already one of the least generous among all OECD countries and has seen among the biggest cuts since 2010.

Benefit payments are not enough to cover the extra costs of disability for many people. Compared to the wider population, disabled people are twice as likely to be in serious debt, almost twice as likely to be in poverty and more than twice as likely to be referred to a food bank.

The process of claiming PIP is arduous, and the level of evidence required means it is almost impossible to ‘cheat the system’. Less than 1 in 200 PIP claims were fraudulent in year ending April 2025, lower than any other benefit.

Myth: Disability benefits are paying people not to work

Reality: Nonsense! 1 in 6 PIP claimants and 40% of UC claimants are in work. But the TUC found that disabled people are paid on average £4,300 a year less than non-disabled workers. Means-tested in-work benefits like UC are subsidising low-paying employers and exploitative landlords.

If the government wants to reduce the benefits bill, it should start by making employers pay fair wages, improving the Access to Work scheme and looking at the lack of adaptations for disabled workers.

Myth: Okay, the cuts are very bad… but the country is skint and we have no other choice.

Reality: Rubbish! We’ve got plenty of money, but it’s in the wrong place. While the Labour government has picked on pensioners first, and now disabled people and carers, it has left the very rich untouched.

Instead of taking money from those who have little, a 1% wealth tax on the assets of those worth over £4m could generate £25bn a year in additional revenue. Support for a wealth tax is growing, and the Labour leadership cannot continue to ignore it.

Myth: This is what people voted for in July 2024

Reality: No it really isn’t. The 2024 Labour manifesto only made vague commitments to “a proper plan to support disabled people to work” along with cutting Access to Work backlogs and reforming the universal credit work capability assessment. Nothing in the manifesto mentioned reducing disability benefits or changing entitlement criteria, so there is no mandate for the drastic cuts Labour has tried to impose.

Myth: Labour has consulted with disabled people

Reality: Their 2024 manifesto promised that “Labour is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do”.

And yet the March 2025 Pathways to Work green paper involved no consultation whatsoever with disabled peoples’ organisations, charities or experts on most of the proposed changes. The rushed consultation that did happen only covered some of the changes.

By contrast, Rachael Maskell MP’s amendment which would have scrapped the bill, was supported by 138 disability organisations.

Labour ministers didn’t properly consult disabled people because they knew the answer would be a resounding “No!”.

Myth: There’s nothing we can do to stop the cuts though, is there?

Reality: There’s everything still to play for! The Labour front bench panicked at the scale of the opposition to the cuts and made unprecedented changes by withdrawing a whole section of the bill.

Their majority was just 75. If all those MPs who initially said they would vote against the bill had done so, it would have been scrapped. That’s how close it was.

Dozens of Labour MPs have majorities less than the number of people getting PIP in their constituencies. Just like with the Winter Fuel Payment, once they understand that this cruel policy could cost them their seat, we could see more MPs moving position to oppose the bill.