On 30 June 2025, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a press release outlining additional details of the Universal Credit (UC) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bill ahead of its second reading in Parliament.
The announcement includes limited concessions and framing designed to reassure MPs, media and disability organisations. While some amendments respond to earlier concerns, the core structure and risks of the Bill remain unchanged.
Key Updates in the Press Release
- Launch of a Ministerial PIP Assessment Review: Will be co-produced with disabled people and representative groups. No clear timeline or scope.
- Introduction of “Right to Try” Guarantee: Legal protection for disabled people attempting work, allowing them to return to benefits if employment fails.
- Clarification of Eligibility Protections: New PIP eligibility rules apply only to new claims from November 2026. Income protection (real-terms uprating) applies only to current UC health-element recipients and new claimants meeting the ‘Severe Conditions Criteria' (~200,000 people).
- Reduction in UC Health Element: From April 2026, most new LCWRA claimants will receive only £217.26/month—down from over £390.
- Standard Allowance Uplift: The basic rate of UC will rise by CPI + ~4.8% over 5 years, adding ~£725/year by 2029/30.
- Additional Employment Support: £300m fast-tracked from the £2.2bn Pathways to Work fund. New Jobcentre Plus training in health-related support.
MEA Key Concerns
Existing Protections Are Superficial and Conditional
The government claims to protect existing PIP claimants—but in reality, it protects existing claims, not people.
Claimants with fluctuating or relapsing conditions (like ME/CFS and Long Covid) who temporarily improve at reassessment could lose entitlement.
If symptoms later worsen, they must make a new claim, which would fall under the stricter eligibility rules with no transitional protection.
With appeal backlogs stretching over a year, claimants would be left without income during this time, and advised workarounds (e.g. new claims) now carry significant risks.
The “Severe Conditions” Criteria Is Too Narrow
This category is defined by a lifelong diagnosis and matching descriptors.
Many people with ME/CFS, Long Covid, or complex progressive conditions will not qualify, even if their functional impairments are severe and permanent in practice.
“Right to Try” Is Not a Safety Net
The guarantee has no detail on how long benefit protection lasts, under what terms, or how quickly benefits will resume.
Risks of reassessment, sanctions, and conditionality still apply. People with ME/CFS often cannot predict or sustain work, making “trial” periods high-risk despite protections.
Uplift to Standard Allowance Is Paid For by Disabled People
The LCWRA cut for new claimants is severe: over £2,000/year loss for most disabled people applying after April 2026.
This is a redistribution away from disabled people to increase general rates. Meanwhile, the PIP reforms could remove support from up to 800,000 people, cutting £3.8bn/year by 2029/30.
The PIP Assessment Review Is Welcome but Not Binding
No start date, end date, terms of reference, or statutory framework. Meanwhile, Clause 5 will become law, setting harmful thresholds before the review concludes.
MEA Position
We welcome:
- Recognition that assessment reform is necessary,
- Moves toward co-production, and
- The Right to Try in principle.
However, these do not compensate for the structural harm built into the Bill.
The PIP threshold change (4 points in one activity) is unjustifiable. The LCWRA rate cut and freeze represent a long-term erosion of disability support.
We urge MPs to:
- Vote against the UC and PIP Bill in its current form,
- Demand a full Equality Impact Assessment,
- Call for a pause on legislation until the PIP review is complete.
You can use our template letter to write to your MP to urge them to #ListentoME about your concerns.
Ella Smith
Welfare Rights Consultant,
The ME Association
Further Information
- GOV UK: Further details on welfare reforms published ahead of Second Reading | June 30, 2025
- Commons Library Briefing | June 27, 2025
- The Guardian: Starmer’s disability benefit concessions are not enough, says rebel Labour whip | June 30, 2025
- The Guardian: Extra cost of being disabled in UK to rise by almost 12% in five years, says Scope report | June 30, 2025
- Financial Times: Labour rebels await details of welfare concessions ahead of key vote | June 30, 2025 (paywalled)
- Disability Rights UK: Unacceptable ‘Concessions' on the Disability Cuts will Permanently Divide The Disabled Community