Source: MS Society
The UK government has announced proposed changes to disability benefits. They shared these in a Green Paper which is an official document published by government with ideas of things they want to change. This means nothing is changing today. There will be a 12-week consultation on some of the plans. However, some of the key proposals will be brought forward without consultation, as part of a White Paper in autumn this year.
Key proposals include:
Changing the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment criteria
Under the new plans, people would need to score at least 4 points in the ‘daily living activities’ to qualify for the daily living component of PIP. This could mean that people who need support to wash and dress themselves, or use aids to prepare food or to go to the toilet would find it harder to qualify for PIP.
The criteria for the mobility component will not be changed. This would apply to all new claimants and existing claimants, if reassessed, from April 2026. This change won’t be consulted on.
Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)
The WCA currently decides whether people get additional disability-related support on Universal Credit (UC) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Under the new approach, people who get the daily living component of PIP would automatically get additional disability-related support on UC and ESA, instead of this being decided by the WCA. But with a tighter criteria for PIP, it’s possible some people would get less support on UC and ESA. This change won’t be consulted on.
Changing the rate of Universal Credit (UC) and additional allowances
From April 2026, the standard allowance of UC will increase by £7 a week. Disabled people who make a new claim to UC will only receive £50 additional disability-related support a week, on top of the standard allowance of this benefit – that is £47 a week less than under the previous system. Meanwhile current claimants will see their additional disability allowance frozen at £97 a week until 2029.
The government is also proposing that people with the most severe, life-long conditions receiving additional disability-related support on UC will receive an additional premium and will never be reassessed. However, it’s not yet clear how many people with MS this would apply to. These changes also won’t be consulted on.
Find out more
You can read full details of the proposed changes and the MS Society’s response on the MS Society website.
