Durham MP seeks assurances over benefits reforms

And a County Durham MP has asked for assurances that new welfare reforms will not “push people further into poverty” after the Government announced the biggest shake-up to the system in a generation.

It comes as national charities argued the proposed changes are “immoral and devastating” for people with disabilities as a Government spokesperson refused to rule out a showdown with potential rebel MPs.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the current social security system is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back” and said the Government was taking “decisive action to fix the broken benefits system” while announcing the plans in Parliament today.

Beth Farhat, chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: “We’re deeply concerned that the cuts to support announced today will hit our region hard.

“The North East has the country’s highest proportion of children living in families where someone has a disability – and we know that disabled people are already much more likely to experience hardship, and make up the majority of people forced to access crisis support like food banks.

“It’s hard to see how cutting the support disabled people receive – including for older young people – squares with the Government’s pledges to tackle child poverty and to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels. Measures that could push families into even deeper poverty risk completely undermining these welcome commitments.

“Our social security system undoubtedly needs reform – but that should mean investment to ensure that every family, both in and out work, can live a dignified life. This feels even further away after today’s announcements.’”

And speaking in the House of Commons earlier today, City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy asked for reassurances that her constituents would not be pushed “further into poverty” by the Government’s reforms.

Ms Foy said: “What assurances can the Secretary of State give me that these changes won’t push people in areas like mine further into poverty and ill health?”

The Work and Pensions Secretary replied: “It is absolutely about areas like my Honourable Friend represents – areas that have been written off and denied opportunities for so long. 

“And it’s really important we look at this in the round, the action we’re taking to create more good jobs in every part of the country, through the modern industrial strategy, clean energy and building 1.5 million homes.”

(Image: UK Parliament) Measures announced by the Government include:

– scrapping the work capability assessment for universal credit

This is the process currently used to see who is eligible for  benefit payments based on someone’s fitness for work. In 2028 the Government will replace this with a single assessment set to consider the impact a person’s disability has on daily living, rather than their fitness to work.

– legislating to tighten the eligibility for personal independence payment (Pip) with a higher threshold for someone to qualify

The Government said people who only score the lowest points on each of the assessed daily living activities “will lose their entitlement in future”.

– reviewing the Pip assessment with a view to longer-term reform

This is said to ensure the process is “fit for purpose now and into the future”. The Government has confirmed the payment will not be frozen, as had been rumoured.

– an above-inflation rise in the standard allowance for universal credit by 2029/30 

This will add £775 in cash terms annually.

But new claims from April 2026 will see the health element of the benefit almost cut in half, from £97 a week to £50 and those already claiming UC will have their amount frozen at £97 per week until 2029/2030.

– consulting on delaying access to the health top-up in universal credit until someone is 22-years-old

The Government said this is being done “so every young person is earning or learning, and on a pathway to success.”

It will also discuss the age at which young people move from disability living allowance for children to adult disability benefit (Pip), raising it from 16 to 18 after concerns were raised about the ending of these payments leaving vulnerable teens on a ‘financial cliff-edge’.

– legislating for a so-called “right to try”

The Government said this will ensure people are able to “take the plunge and try work – without the fear this will put their benefits at risk”.

But The Conservatives said the plans were ‘too little too late’, as the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said: “Fundamentally, this is too little, too late.

“The fact is £5 billion just doesn’t cut it. With a bill so big, going up so fast, she needed to be tougher.

“She should be saying no more hard working taxpayers funding the family next door not to work. No more free top of the range cars for people who don’t need them.”

(Image: Lucy North/PA Wire) As part of its reforms, the Government also said it will invest an additional £1 billion a year by 2029/2030 to help support people into work including through one-to-one help.

But the planned changes have been met with anger from Labour MPs, unions and charities.

The Disability Benefits Consortium, an umbrella body representing more than 100 charities and organisations, condemned the “cruel cuts” and urged the government to abandon them.

The consortium’s policy co-chairman Charles Gillies said: “These immoral and devastating benefits cuts will push more disabled people into poverty, and worsen people’s health.”

Chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, suggested “there are alternative, more compassionate ways to balance the books rather than on the back of sick and disabled people”.

However, Ms Kendall confirmed impact assessments on the changes will be published alongside the spring statement next week and insisted spending on working-age sickness and disability benefits “will continue to rise over this parliament”, denying they amount to a ‘cut’.

“The last forecast was that it would continue to rise by £18 billion. It is not a cut.”

The Prime Minister said: “This Government will always protect the most severely disabled people to live with dignity.

“But we’re not prepared to stand back and do nothing while millions of people – especially young people – who have potential to work and live independent lives, instead become trapped out of work and abandoned by the system.

“It would be morally bankrupt to let their life chances waste away.”

The Disability Benefits Consortium, an umbrella body representing more than 100 charities and organisations, condemned the “cruel cuts” while Save the Children voiced concerns child poverty levels will rise “in families where someone has a disability as a direct result of these reforms”.

Of the overall plan, Ms Kendall said: “This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30 and the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) will set out their final assessment of the costings next week.”

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In the run up to the announcements it was reported that cabinet ministers were unhappy with the reforms and senior cabinet members including Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband are said to have privately raised concerns.

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman insisted the Cabinet was united in its agreement on the need for reform, saying “the whole Cabinet agreed on the need for these reforms” amid the “crucial importance of addressing a system that has left people trapped out of work and is not supporting people back into work”.

The announcement comes a week ahead of the spring statement, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves struggles to balance the books in the face of weak economic growth and mounting debt interest costs.