Changes to disability benefits: what you need to know

PIP is a benefit to help with the extra costs disabled people face, whether they’re in work or not. It is not means tested, so disabled people can claim it regardless of income or whether they are working. People who apply for PIP go through an assessment. You can find out if you qualify for PIP on our website.

Universal Credit is a means tested benefit to help with living costs. It is for people on low incomes, who are out of work or who cannot work. How much Universal Credit you receive depends on a few factors such as your income. Disabled claimants can get extra money if they are unable to work. You can find out more about how Universal Credit works and whether you are eligible on our website.

ESA is a means tested benefit for people who cannot work because of disability. There are several types of ESA. The only one people can now apply for is called New Style ESA. How much ESA someone gets depends on factors like age. Like with Universal Credit, disabled people can get extra money if they are found to be unable to work. You can find out more about ESA on our website.

Disabled people who claim Universal Credit or ESA go through a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to find out if they are eligible for extra money. Or different conditions to their benefits entitlement. The WCA puts claimants into one of 3 groups:

• No limited capability for work.
• Limited Capability for Work (LCW), or the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG).
• Limited Capability for Work and Work-related Activity (LCWRA), or the Support Group.

Since 2017, only claimants in LCWRA or the Support Group get extra money. In Universal Credit, this money is sometimes called the ‘health element’. For people on ESA, this is called the 'support component’.

You can find out more about the WCA assessment and the health element on our website.

This week’s Green Paper set out lots of proposals to change disability benefits. The major changes include:

• Changing the eligibility for the Daily Living component of PIP. At the moment, PIP claimants score points against a list of criteria in their assessment. These criteria are called activities. A claimant must score at least 8 points to qualify for PIP. These points can add up to 8 across different activities. Under the new rules, claimants will still need to score at least 8 points in the assessment. But they must score 4 points in a single activity.
• Freezing the health element of Universal Credit for current claimants. New claimants from April 2026 will be given a much lower health element. The timeline for this could change.
• There will also be a Severe Disability Premium for those with severe and lifelong conditions who receive the health element. We do not know much about what the Severe Disability Premium looks like yet.
• Disabled young people will be able to get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) until they are 18. But they won’t be eligible for the health element until they are 22.
• Scrapping the WCA in 2028. It will be replaced by the tougher PIP assessment.
• Merging contribution-based ESA and Jobseeker’s Allowance into a new benefit called Unemployment Insurance. This will only last for a certain amount of time. It will be paid at a set rate. Disabled people will not get extra money on this benefit.

The Government is consulting on its plans to change disability benefits. But they are not consulting on changes to PIP or scrapping the WCA. These changes will be made through primary legislation.

These proposals would mean that access to disability benefits changes for a lot of disabled people. Changes to the PIP eligibility criteria mean that it will be much harder to get PIP. This may make the assessment more stressful as well.

Scrapping the WCA means that disabled people will only have to go through the PIP assessment for disability benefits. While fewer assessments may be less stressful, this means that disabled people must qualify for PIP to get the health element. The restricted eligibility for PIP will mean it is much harder to get any disability benefits at all.

Disabled young people aged between 18 and 21 will be some of the most affected. Many young disabled people aged between 18 and 21 who do not get PIP may not be eligible for any health-related benefits at all. Most young disabled people on Universal Credit aged 18 to 21 will also have to look for work until they are 22.

There is still a lot of detail about these changes that we don’t know yet. The Government has yet to publish an Impact Assessment of the proposals. This will tell us more about how disabled people might be affected.

It is important to know that none of these changes will happen immediately.

The Government is proposing to start bringing in some of these changes from 2026 and 2027. We can't be sure at this stage, but we expect this means most changes won't happen until at least 2026.

It is important to remember as well that this Green Paper is only the first step towards changing disability benefits. The consultation will run until 30 June 2025. Afterwards, the Government will analyse the results. Their plans may change as a result of our feedback.

Changes to PIP and the WCA, which government are not consulting on, will need legislation to become law. This means MPs will have to debate the proposals in Parliament. This may mean the proposals are changed.  

We are deeply concerned about these changes and what they will mean for disabled people. When the consultation was published, our Executive Director of Strategy, James Taylor, called the proposed changes ‘the biggest cuts to disability benefits on record.’ He warned they would be ‘a catastrophe for disabled people’s living standards and independence.’

We are also very concerned about the fact that the Government will not be consulting on changes to PIP and the WCA. The Government needs to hear from disabled people about how these changes would impact them.

We want to see the benefits system reformed for the better. But we won’t accept that making big cuts like these is the answer.

Our Cost of Cuts campaign is calling on the Government to protect disability benefits and ensure they continue to provide vital support. Disabled people already face higher costs for essentials like energy bills. Cutting benefits would push more people into poverty and put further strain on services like the NHS and social care.

Scope will be responding to the consultation calling for the Government to work with disabled people to come up with better reforms to disability benefits. We are gathering evidence from disabled people, our research, and our frontline services to show the real impact of potential changes.

And on 2 April, we will be in Parliament talking to MPs about what benefit cuts really mean for disabled people.