If the government’s planned changes to PIP are meant to support disabled people, they have a strange way of showing it. These PIP reforms are a betrayal – and Labour should know better.
The new “four-point rule” will push more than a million people out of eligibility for daily living support—including people with cancer, arthritis, mental health problems, and other long-term conditions.
That’s not reform—that’s erasure.
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If you value independent political journalism that holds power to account — without corporate or party influence — please consider supporting this work. Even £1 helps keep it going.
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The government claims most people will still qualify, but even its own data suggests otherwise: 87 per cent of standard daily living recipients currently score less than four points in every individual activity category.
Under the proposed rule, they would be cut off.
This isn’t about targeting a few people who are “gaming the system”—PIP fraud is virtually non-existent.
It’s about quietly slashing support for the people who need it most.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
And what of the government’s claim that this data is “partial”?
Where’s the rest of it, then?
Why are these proposals being pushed through without full disclosure or public consultation?
Are we really expected to accept a policy of this magnitude based on incomplete numbers and vague reassurances?
PIP was never designed to “trap people out of work” – on the contrary, it exists to help people manage their extra living costs—including costs that make it possible to work. Take that support away, and more disabled people will be pushed out of employment, not into it.
Labour’s decision to champion these changes is especially troubling. This is a party that once fought against austerity-era welfare cuts. Now it risks replicating them under a different banner.
If Labour truly wants to support working people, it must recognise that many disabled people already work—and that those who don’t often can’t, not because of a “broken system,” but because of genuine health limitations.
🧡 **Support Vox Political**
If you value independent political journalism that holds power to account — without corporate or party influence — please consider supporting this work. Even £1 helps keep it going.
👉 Support here via Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Empty slogans like “we’ll protect the most vulnerable” mean nothing if the definition of “vulnerable” is so narrow it excludes hundreds of thousands.
These changes will deepen poverty, increase homelessness, and leave many people without any support at all.
If this is what reform looks like, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
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The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
PIP reforms are a betrayal – and Labour should know better
If the government’s planned changes to PIP are meant to support disabled people, they have a strange way of showing it. These PIP reforms are a betrayal – and Labour should know better.
The new “four-point rule” will push more than a million people out of eligibility for daily living support—including people with cancer, arthritis, mental health problems, and other long-term conditions.
That’s not reform—that’s erasure.
🧡 **Support Vox Political**
If you value independent political journalism that holds power to account — without corporate or party influence — please consider supporting this work. Even £1 helps keep it going.
👉 Support here via Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
The government claims most people will still qualify, but even its own data suggests otherwise: 87 per cent of standard daily living recipients currently score less than four points in every individual activity category.
Under the proposed rule, they would be cut off.
This isn’t about targeting a few people who are “gaming the system”—PIP fraud is virtually non-existent.
It’s about quietly slashing support for the people who need it most.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
And what of the government’s claim that this data is “partial”?
Where’s the rest of it, then?
Why are these proposals being pushed through without full disclosure or public consultation?
Are we really expected to accept a policy of this magnitude based on incomplete numbers and vague reassurances?
PIP was never designed to “trap people out of work” – on the contrary, it exists to help people manage their extra living costs—including costs that make it possible to work. Take that support away, and more disabled people will be pushed out of employment, not into it.
Labour’s decision to champion these changes is especially troubling. This is a party that once fought against austerity-era welfare cuts. Now it risks replicating them under a different banner.
If Labour truly wants to support working people, it must recognise that many disabled people already work—and that those who don’t often can’t, not because of a “broken system,” but because of genuine health limitations.
🧡 **Support Vox Political**
If you value independent political journalism that holds power to account — without corporate or party influence — please consider supporting this work. Even £1 helps keep it going.
👉 Support here via Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
Empty slogans like “we’ll protect the most vulnerable” mean nothing if the definition of “vulnerable” is so narrow it excludes hundreds of thousands.
These changes will deepen poverty, increase homelessness, and leave many people without any support at all.
If this is what reform looks like, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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