GOV UK Announcement: Welfare bill will protect the most vulnerable and help households with income boost

Additional protections for millions of vulnerable people on benefits are set to be written into law, under new measures being introduced to Parliament yesterday (18 June 2025).

GOV UK

GOV UK Summary

New welfare legislation to ensure there are robust protections in place to support the most vulnerable and severely disabled.
Nearly 4 million households to benefit from uprating of Universal Credit standard rate, the largest, permanent real-terms increase to basic out of work support since 1980, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
More than 200,000 people with most severe, lifelong conditions to be protected from future reassessment for Universal Credit entitlement.
13-week period of financial support for those affected by PIP changes as part of upcoming welfare reforms.
Comes alongside £1 billion employment support package that will unlock opportunity and grow the economy as part of the Plan for Change.

Extracts

The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill will provide 13-weeks of additional financial security to existing claimants affected by changes to the PIP daily living component, including those who their lose eligibility to Carers Allowance and the carer’s element of Universal Credit.

The 13-week additional protection will give people who will be affected by the changes time to adapt, access new, tailored employment support, and plan for their future once they are reassessed and their entitlement ends.

This transitional cover is one of the most generous ever and more than three times the length of protection provided for the transition from DLA to PIP.

Link to Announcement

MEA Comment

The ME Association is deeply concerned by the government’s continued claims that its proposed welfare reforms will “protect the most vulnerable.” For people living with ME/CFS and Long Covid — many of whom face complex, fluctuating* symptoms (whereby symptoms are always present ranging in severity) — the proposals risk cutting vital support.
Changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), including the new “4-point rule” and the removal of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), could result in many losing access to both PIP and health-related elements of Universal Credit. The protections currently built into the WCA — particularly Regulations 29 and 35 — are crucial for people whose health would be seriously harmed by work or work-related activity. These safeguards are not included in the PIP assessment and have not been replaced.
We are also concerned that some of the most serious proposals, such as the new impairment threshold, have not been consulted on. It is unclear how the government believes these changes will support disabled people to work or live independently — especially when support is being removed without appropriate alternatives in place.
In response, the ME Association is launching a national survey to gather direct testimony from people affected by these changes. This includes people with ME/CFS, Long Covid, and those who care for them. We believe disabled people must be at the heart of this conversation — and our survey is one way of making sure their voices are heard.
We have submitted detailed evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee and will also respond in full to the government’s Green Paper consultation. In every part of this work, we are calling for reform that is led by lived experience, grounded in evidence, and shaped with disabled people — not imposed upon them.
We urge the government to pause and listen.