News & Events 8 April 2025

Proposed Disability Benefits Changes: Our first reaction

While these proposals build on earlier government intentions, the detail shared in the Spring Statement sharpens the direction of travel – and raises serious concerns for individuals and communities likely to be affected.

Key Changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

What is PIP?

PIP supports over 3.6 million people with long-term physical or mental health conditions to manage the additional costs of daily life and mobility.

What’s changing?

• From November 2026, eligibility will tighten. Instead of being able to qualify through small points across multiple activities, claimants will need to score at least four points on a single activity.
• Around 800,000 people may lose entitlement as a result.
• There will be more frequent reassessments, except those with severe, permanent conditions.

Payment levels remain unchanged:

• Daily Living: £72.65 (standard) / £108.55 (enhanced)
• Mobility: £28.70 (standard) / £75.75 (enhanced)

Changes to Universal Credit (UC)

What is UC?

UC is a benefit claimed by 7.5 million people, including many with disabilities or long-term health conditions who receive an additional top-up.

What’s changing?

• The disability top-up (£416.19/month) will no longer apply to claimants under 22.
• It will be cut from £97/week to £50/week by 2026–27 and then frozen until 2030.
• Meanwhile, the introductory UC rate will rise incrementally to £106/week by 2029–30.

Who Will Lose Out?

Government figures show that 3.2 million families will be worse off, losing an average of £1,720 a year:

• 370,000 PIP claimants will lose support due to the stricter eligibility rules.
• 2.25 million UC claimants will see real-terms cuts due to the top-up freeze.
• 730,000 future UC recipients could lose up to £3,000 per year compared to current rates.

Who Gains?

Approximately 3.8 million families may benefit from the changes, largely due to the increased basic UC rate and revised assessment systems — gaining an average of £420 a year.

Employment Support and Wider Reforms

Alongside these cuts, the government is introducing a new package of employment-focused initiatives:

• £1 billion will be invested in personalised employment support for disabled people and those with long-term conditions.
• The Work Capability Assessment will be scrapped by 2028.
• A new “right to try” model will allow people to attempt work without losing benefits if it doesn’t work out.
• A more generous, time-limited benefit is expected to replace ESA and JSA.

Why Are These Reforms Happening?

The government cites rising welfare costs as the reason for reform. Welfare spending is projected to increase from £65 billion to £100 billion by 2029, with PIP costs alone expected to double to £34 billion, mainly due to a rise in mental health-related claims.

These plans are part of a long-term strategy to slow growth in spending on welfare benefits on the one hand, while encouraging and supporting greater workforce participation on the other.

Our Response: London Citizens Advice Shares Concerns

It is useful to see more explicit details on the government’s approach, several major concerns remain.

1. A reduction in financial support - affecting many people already on low incomes

The intent is clear: to reduce the number of people entitled to disability and sickness benefits. This will inevitably mean that many people currently receiving help will lose out, even though their needs have not changed. For people already on low incomes, this could mean falling into relative poverty with a knock-on effect across entire communities.

2. The risk of unfair assessments

To encourage re-engagement with labour market opportunities, more frequent and robust assessments may sound reasonable — but experience tells us that when the government has made big changes to assessment processes in the past (whether for PIP or ESA), it has led to increased errors, delays, and unfair decisions. People who should still qualify may lose support, not because they don’t meet the criteria, but because the system fails them - failing to assess the true extent and impact of their illness or disability.

We also know that demand for advice increases whenever the assessment system is expanded or redesigned. But we’re facing pressure too. Despite improvements in the range of funding and therefore services we have developed that help clients maximise income, the state of our specialist provision, especially for helping people challenge decisions through tribunal representation, is less well resourced than it was in the past. Moreover - people affected by these changes won't necessarily just seek advice only about them - but about the consequences: debt, repossession, difficulties in work, relationship disputes. As a network, we help over 160,000 Londoners every year - an increase over time due to our own efforts to secure funding and improved efficiency - our data suggests that around 50% of the clients we see have report health conditions or disabilities, but it sill isn't the full extent of demand for our services.

3. Additional Costs and Barriers for Disabled Londoners and health inequalities

The intention of PIP and the UC disability top-up is to recognise, support and allow for the additional costs that disabled people face with daily living, but a flat rate system doesn't take into account regional variations and differences. 

The cost of living from rents to energy and food has already sky-rocketed in London, and over the years value of benefits has seen an effective cut because they have not kept pace with inflation. Add to this the challenges of living as a disabled person in London - despite improvements, public transport is largely inaccessible for many people with disabilities, but alternatives are becoming more costly with London taxis raising fares by over 7% this year, an the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods and pedestrianised areas with limited blue badge parking makes things difficult to disabled drivers. So whilst London continues to improve accessibility throughout the city with inclusive design such as step-free access, ramps and smooth surfaces, many buildings including disabled peoples homes (especially older historic structures), workplaces and services are not fully accessible due to costs, difficulty, or other factors.

In London, it has been estimated that disabled households face an average extra cost of around £1,000 per month compared to non-disabled households. This figure is equivalent to 63% of a disabled household's income after housing costs. London is also a city of stark health inequalities; the COVID-19 pandemic exposed stark health inequalities across the city, with people from Black and minority ethnic groups, and people living in deprived areas being most at risk of severe health conditions and lower morbidity. There are also large populations of people in excluded health groups (e.g. homeless people, asylum seekers and refugees, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities) living in London who experience greater risk of poor health and complex health challenges.

30% of families in London that include a Disabled person live in poverty compared to 22% of those without a Disabled household member - a gap that has increased over the past 10 years. Disabled Londoners in work are more likely to be low-paid than Londoners who are not Disabled and are in work. The proportion of working Londoners with a disability that are low-paid is above average, and 7 percentage points higher than their neighbours without a disability. 

4. Employment and Health Support needs to improve 

Supporting Disabled Londoners into employment needs to start with fixing accessibility in workplaces and our communities, tackling discrimination and low pay and investing in proper adjustments and approaches to flexible working. Accessing support from appropriate health specialists is also difficult as there are long waiting times. Schemes such as WorkWell need to be developed to help people access appropriate support from different services.

London Citizens Advice will be responding further on these points to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper

Here’s what’s important to know:

✅ Nothing is changing immediately

✅ Current benefits remain in place unless you’re told otherwise

✅ Support is available if you’re confused, concerned, or struggling

London Citizens Advice:

If you’re affected by these changes — or worried you might be — we’re here to help. But these reforms make one thing clear: the safety net is getting smaller. As demand grows, so does the need for strong, well-resourced independent advice services to protect people from falling through the cracks — whether due to changing rules or flawed decisions. To find your nearest Citizens Office office please use the tools at the top of the page.

Check our national website, www.citizensadvice.org.uk for more information (that will be released over time) or reach out to us by contacting your local office if you think you are going to be affected.