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When ministers talk about welfare reform, they love words that sound gentle: sustainability, fairness, co-production.

Those words suggest balance and partnership.

But what happens when the words are just a cover?

That’s exactly what campaigners fear is happening with the so-called “co-production” of changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) warned from the start that the review would not be open, transparent, or inclusive. And the signs suggest that were right.

Instead of a wide, independent panel, the review is being run by a small hand-picked group under ministerial control.

Meetings are secret.

Minutes aren’t published.

And the outcomes already look pre-written: measures that push disabled people into greater hardship, justified by claims of “efficiency” and “incentives”.

Behind the jargon, lives are at stake.

The government’s own projections admit that reforms could push tens of thousands below the poverty line.

Campaigners say real co-production would mean disabled people in the majority, independent oversight, and full transparency.

Without those, “co-production” becomes little more than a fig leaf for cruelty.

This month’s Whip Line pamphlet digs into how the process was stacked and what the changes will mean for real people. Because words matter — but actions matter more.

Find the full exposé in The Whip Line – August 2025, out this Saturday.

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