Rumours that disability benefits will not be frozen at current levels are a small victory – but disabled people need more benefit concessions if the Labour government wants to avoid causing serious harm or death.

It emerged last night that Liz Kendall [pictured] and ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions are considering abandoning plans to freeze Personal Independence Payments so they would not rise in line with inflation, after Labour MPs voiced strong opposition.

But this will be almost meaningless if the government goes ahead with its plan to tighten eligibility criteria so that people who are clearly disabled will not be able to claim the disability benefit.

The simple fact is that both these measures are potentially fatal for disabled people: freezing the amount of benefit to be paid would plunge some claimants into poverty – or further into poverty; and denying them the benefit altogether, forcing them to seek work on Universal Credit, could force them into despair, with the possibility of suicide, or worsen their conditions – leading to death.

Some of the government’s ideas seem reasonable, like the “right to try” guarantee – allowing people with disabilities the opportunity to take up employment without the risk of losing their benefits if it does not work out.

But how many employers are signed-up to this? How many will? What research has been done into whether they will?

Without a guarantee that employers will take on disabled workers, this plan is also meaningless.

Apparently Labour sources are saying the measures to be announced in a Green Paper next week would still be difficult and restricting who qualifies for PIP was likely to concern some Labour MPs.

What’s difficult about a decision like that? Disabled people are hardly in a position to storm the House of Commons and force elected representatives to reconsider.

And some MPs have told the BBC they have received assurances that severely disabled people would not be expected to work and would not lose entitlement to benefits.

But who decides what constitutes severe disability? Doctors? Or politicians? That choice could mean the difference between life or death.

Obviously nobody will give up the fight against these changes if they are pushed through Parliament; claimants will still be able to appeal against benefit refusals and it was the number of benefit denials that were reversed by the courts that forced the Tories to end a previous attempt to narrow PIP eligibility.

But cutting benefits is simply not the answer. It is reform of healthcare that is needed.

Some might say that is already under way, with the abolition of NHS England – but it is important to ensure that the NHS focuses on preventing illnesses and disabilities where possible, with a strong focus on health in the workplace.

Where are the plans for that?