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The UK government is planning to push millions of disabled people further into poverty than we’ve been told — and it doesn’t want to talk about it.
According to Pathways to Poverty, a report by Citizens Advice, at least 3.2 million families will be worse off due to sweeping changes to disability benefits proposed in the Pathways to Work Green Paper.
Many could lose more than £10,000 a year, yet the government is refusing to consult the public on the most damaging aspects of its plans.
This is the biggest disability benefit overhaul ever assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility. And make no mistake — the scale of the cuts is historic.
<
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
The four-point rule that could cut off millions
At the heart of these changes is a seemingly technical adjustment: to qualify for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), claimants will now need to score at least four points in a single activity, rather than simply reaching eight points in total across multiple categories.
This change will remove support from up to 1.3 million current PIP claimants, many of whom have serious daily care needs.
Those with arthritis, back pain, cancer, MS, epilepsy, or post-stroke disabilities are particularly at risk. Why? Because they often score 2 points in multiple activities — not enough to clear the new artificial hurdle.
Even people already on the enhanced rate of PIP may lose everything under this new system.
And women and older people are disproportionately impacted.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The double whammy: losing PIP and UC health element
As if that weren’t enough, the government also plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment.
Oh, did you think that would be a good thing? So did This Writer – but these assessments currently determine eligibility for extra support through Universal Credit (UC).
In the future, the plan is that receipt of the PIP daily living component will become the only route to claiming the UC health element.
That means if you lose your PIP award, you lose your UC top-up too.
According to Citizens Advice, this “double whammy” could leave hundreds of thousands of people more than £10,700 a year worse off.
That’s before counting all the additional benefits PIP unlocks — from Carer’s Allowance to housing and council tax support.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Families cut in half
The Citizens Advice report includes examples of real families facing financial collapse.
In one case, a disabled father, his carer partner, and their two children stand to lose nearly 50 per cent of their income — more than £1,600 a month — due to these changes.
That’s all because his needs don’t “cluster” neatly enough in a single assessment box.
Thousands more carers — many of them disabled themselves — could lose Carer’s Allowance.
One estimate puts the number at 150,000.
Cuts masquerading as reform
Ministers have described the reforms as necessary to “rebalance” the system and encourage people into work.
But as Citizens Advice points out, the bulk of savings come from cutting PIP, which isn’t a work-related benefit at all.
In fact, around one in four PIP claimants are already in work — and for many, that money helps them stay there.
There is no evidence that slashing benefits makes people more employable.
On the contrary: losing financial support can force people to give up work, worsen their health, and leave them trapped in poverty and debt.
No consultation, no accountability
Shockingly, the most damaging parts of the reform package — including the four point rule, the UC health cuts, and the WCA abolition — are not subject to consultation.
That is unheard-of for a policy change of this magnitude.
Citizens Advice calls this a “savings-first approach” with unknown consequences.
The organisation’s own data show that 700,000 families already in poverty will be pushed deeper.
And while the government’s own figures acknowledge a £6.4 billion benefit cut, they admit the savings are “highly uncertain”.
The real certainty is who will pay the price.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
This is just the beginning
Citizens Advice’s Pathways to Poverty offers a damning, data-rich rebuttal to the government’s narrative — but its implications are still largely hidden from the public.
This article only scratches the surface. In the immediate future, Vox Political will dig deeper into:
-
Who is most at risk from the new eligibility criteria
-
How the PIP changes dismantle support for carers
-
Why the benefit cuts don’t save money — they shift the cost elsewhere
-
What Labour’s silence on the issue could mean
The government wants to push these reforms through quietly. Let’s not let them.
And you can do your bit. Get in touch with your MP – contact details are on TheyWorkForYou.com, put the facts before them, and ask them to do the responsible thing and vote down the Bill when it returns to the House of Commons on or around July 3.
If you don’t tell them, they won’t know they need to do it.
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.
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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:
3.2 million to lose in disability benefit cuts – that the government won’t talk about
Share this post:
The UK government is planning to push millions of disabled people further into poverty than we’ve been told — and it doesn’t want to talk about it.
According to Pathways to Poverty, a report by Citizens Advice, at least 3.2 million families will be worse off due to sweeping changes to disability benefits proposed in the Pathways to Work Green Paper.
Many could lose more than £10,000 a year, yet the government is refusing to consult the public on the most damaging aspects of its plans.
This is the biggest disability benefit overhaul ever assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility. And make no mistake — the scale of the cuts is historic.
<
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
The four-point rule that could cut off millions
At the heart of these changes is a seemingly technical adjustment: to qualify for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), claimants will now need to score at least four points in a single activity, rather than simply reaching eight points in total across multiple categories.
This change will remove support from up to 1.3 million current PIP claimants, many of whom have serious daily care needs.
Those with arthritis, back pain, cancer, MS, epilepsy, or post-stroke disabilities are particularly at risk. Why? Because they often score 2 points in multiple activities — not enough to clear the new artificial hurdle.
Even people already on the enhanced rate of PIP may lose everything under this new system.
And women and older people are disproportionately impacted.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The double whammy: losing PIP and UC health element
As if that weren’t enough, the government also plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment.
Oh, did you think that would be a good thing? So did This Writer – but these assessments currently determine eligibility for extra support through Universal Credit (UC).
In the future, the plan is that receipt of the PIP daily living component will become the only route to claiming the UC health element.
That means if you lose your PIP award, you lose your UC top-up too.
According to Citizens Advice, this “double whammy” could leave hundreds of thousands of people more than £10,700 a year worse off.
That’s before counting all the additional benefits PIP unlocks — from Carer’s Allowance to housing and council tax support.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Families cut in half
The Citizens Advice report includes examples of real families facing financial collapse.
In one case, a disabled father, his carer partner, and their two children stand to lose nearly 50 per cent of their income — more than £1,600 a month — due to these changes.
That’s all because his needs don’t “cluster” neatly enough in a single assessment box.
Thousands more carers — many of them disabled themselves — could lose Carer’s Allowance.
One estimate puts the number at 150,000.
Cuts masquerading as reform
Ministers have described the reforms as necessary to “rebalance” the system and encourage people into work.
But as Citizens Advice points out, the bulk of savings come from cutting PIP, which isn’t a work-related benefit at all.
In fact, around one in four PIP claimants are already in work — and for many, that money helps them stay there.
There is no evidence that slashing benefits makes people more employable.
On the contrary: losing financial support can force people to give up work, worsen their health, and leave them trapped in poverty and debt.
No consultation, no accountability
Shockingly, the most damaging parts of the reform package — including the four point rule, the UC health cuts, and the WCA abolition — are not subject to consultation.
That is unheard-of for a policy change of this magnitude.
Citizens Advice calls this a “savings-first approach” with unknown consequences.
The organisation’s own data show that 700,000 families already in poverty will be pushed deeper.
And while the government’s own figures acknowledge a £6.4 billion benefit cut, they admit the savings are “highly uncertain”.
The real certainty is who will pay the price.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
This is just the beginning
Citizens Advice’s Pathways to Poverty offers a damning, data-rich rebuttal to the government’s narrative — but its implications are still largely hidden from the public.
This article only scratches the surface. In the immediate future, Vox Political will dig deeper into:
Who is most at risk from the new eligibility criteria
How the PIP changes dismantle support for carers
Why the benefit cuts don’t save money — they shift the cost elsewhere
What Labour’s silence on the issue could mean
The government wants to push these reforms through quietly. Let’s not let them.
And you can do your bit. Get in touch with your MP – contact details are on TheyWorkForYou.com, put the facts before them, and ask them to do the responsible thing and vote down the Bill when it returns to the House of Commons on or around July 3.
If you don’t tell them, they won’t know they need to do it.
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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