The proposals form part of a package of welfare reductions that Reform says could cut £20 billion from disability benefits, alongside a further £21 billion linked to stopping payments to foreign nationals. The plans have prompted criticism from disability charities and political opponents, who argue that PIP supports people with the additional costs of disability and is not an unemployment benefit.
Disability Charities Warn of the Impact on Claimants
Abdi Mohamed, head of policy at disability equality charity Scope, said the debate should focus on creating opportunities for disabled people rather than reducing their financial support. He argued that PIP helps meet costs associated with disability regardless of whether a claimant is working. “Life costs a huge amount more when you’re disabled, and PIP goes towards covering those costs, whether or not you’re in work. It’s not an unemployment benefit,” Mohamed said.
According to the Birmingham Mail, Mohamed also said young disabled people continue to face multiple barriers to employment and that cutting billions of pounds from financial support would not address those problems. He called instead for more accessible workplaces, better employment support and stronger provision of workplace adjustments by employers.
Jackie O’Sullivan of learning disability charity Mencap said the organisation had not yet seen the full details of Reform’s proposals. She warned, though, that major reductions to PIP could push large numbers of disabled people into poverty and isolation. “Cuts of this scale would be devastating and make efforts to try and help disabled people into work unlikely to succeed,” O’Sullivan said. Her comments underline one of the central disagreements surrounding the proposals: whether reducing disability-related payments would encourage employment or make it harder for some claimants to participate in work and wider society.
Labour MP Points to a Different Approach to PIP
Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP who previously led a campaign against disability benefit cuts under Keir Starmer, also criticised the proposals. She said PIP can help disabled people work, take part in society and manage daily life, and argued that removing it would reduce their ability to participate fully.
According to the report, Maskell contrasted Reform’s plans with Labour’s current approach, saying the party was working with disabled people through the Timms review to examine how PIP could deliver value for both taxpayers and claimants. “Instead of making it harder for disabled people, who already experience significant financial deprivation, they should spend time learning of the benefit it brings,” she said.
Reform finance spokesperson Robert Jenrick is expected to set out the proposals in more detail as the policy document is published. For now, the central figures remain those contained in the reported plan: 2.89 million working-age claimants potentially affected, £20 billion in proposed disability benefit reductions, and a further £21 billion associated with stopping payments to foreign nationals. The debate is therefore centred not only on the scale of the proposed savings, but on what removing or modifying PIP would mean for people who currently use the payment to meet disability-related costs.
