Research has revealed what Labour hid: the four-point PIP rule will devastate disabled people.
Labour’s proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were made to look like technical tweaks, but newly-released government data shows they could cause a brutal cull of standard rate awards — all while the party continues to insist it’s protecting the most vulnerable.
From November 2026, Labour plans to introduce a rule stripping claimants of the daily living component of PIP unless they score at least four points in a single activity.
On paper, it may seems a minor revision of how entitlement is assessed, but in reality, it’s the effective abolition of the standard rate for hundreds of thousands of – perhaps more than a million – disabled people.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Figures released under a Freedom of Information request reveal staggering implications:
-
Of the 1.28 million claimants currently receiving the standard daily living rate, a shocking 87 per cent — more than 1.1 million people — would no longer qualify under the new rule.
-
Even 13 per cent of those on the enhanced rate would be at risk.
-
That’s more than 1.3 million people set to lose vital financial support — support for which they currently qualify, often after exhausting and traumatic application and appeals processes.
Labour’s spin? The Office for Budget Responsibility suggests only – only! -800,000 will actually lose their entitlement, as many will “fight harder” to push their scores above the four-point threshold.
That’s not optimism — that’s delusion.
Tell your MP to oppose the fatal changes to disability benefits
Many claimants score two or three points across multiple activities, which currently entitles them to the standard rate.
Under Labour’s new rule, they could be scoring seven or eight points overall — still not enough. If none of those scores hit four in a single activity, they get nothing.
Worse still, the system already fails to understand complex or invisible conditions.
Claimants with mental health problems, autism, ME/CFS, functional neurological disorders, and other less visible disabilities are routinely dismissed by undertrained assessors.
Now they’ll face an even higher bar — with less support.
The mandatory reconsideration and appeal process is also long, emotionally draining, and functionally inaccessible for many disabled people.
The government’s solution? Hope people “try harder.”
This isn’t just technocratic reform. This is social security vandalism, dressed up as efficiency.
And it doesn’t stop there. Labour has already announced plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) by 2028 and merge it with a new, single assessment covering both PIP and the Universal Credit health element.
It now seems increasingly clear that the groundwork is being laid for a complete dismantling of the standard rate of daily living support — especially for new claimants post-2026.
The political implications are chilling. The party that once stood for a welfare state based on dignity and solidarity now appears poised to lead the largest cut to disability support in a generation, all while publicly insisting it supports disabled people.
Labour’s ministers – Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall – know that “scrap the standard rate” doesn’t play well on the doorstep.
So they’re hiding it behind technical jargon. Behind scoring thresholds. Behind “reform.”
But the result will be painfully clear:
- Fewer awards.
- More poverty.
- More isolation.
- More disabled people forced to go without care, without support, and without the independence that PIP was designed to protect.
Make no mistake: this is not about fraud. It never was.
This is not about efficiency, either.
This is about cuts.
And it’s about political cowardice — the kind that dresses murderous intent in progressive language and expects no one to notice.
Well, we noticed.
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What Labour hid: the four-point PIP rule will devastate disabled people
Research has revealed what Labour hid: the four-point PIP rule will devastate disabled people.
Labour’s proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were made to look like technical tweaks, but newly-released government data shows they could cause a brutal cull of standard rate awards — all while the party continues to insist it’s protecting the most vulnerable.
From November 2026, Labour plans to introduce a rule stripping claimants of the daily living component of PIP unless they score at least four points in a single activity.
On paper, it may seems a minor revision of how entitlement is assessed, but in reality, it’s the effective abolition of the standard rate for hundreds of thousands of – perhaps more than a million – disabled people.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Figures released under a Freedom of Information request reveal staggering implications:
Of the 1.28 million claimants currently receiving the standard daily living rate, a shocking 87 per cent — more than 1.1 million people — would no longer qualify under the new rule.
Even 13 per cent of those on the enhanced rate would be at risk.
That’s more than 1.3 million people set to lose vital financial support — support for which they currently qualify, often after exhausting and traumatic application and appeals processes.
Labour’s spin? The Office for Budget Responsibility suggests only – only! -800,000 will actually lose their entitlement, as many will “fight harder” to push their scores above the four-point threshold.
That’s not optimism — that’s delusion.
Tell your MP to oppose the fatal changes to disability benefits
Many claimants score two or three points across multiple activities, which currently entitles them to the standard rate.
Under Labour’s new rule, they could be scoring seven or eight points overall — still not enough. If none of those scores hit four in a single activity, they get nothing.
Worse still, the system already fails to understand complex or invisible conditions.
Claimants with mental health problems, autism, ME/CFS, functional neurological disorders, and other less visible disabilities are routinely dismissed by undertrained assessors.
Now they’ll face an even higher bar — with less support.
The mandatory reconsideration and appeal process is also long, emotionally draining, and functionally inaccessible for many disabled people.
The government’s solution? Hope people “try harder.”
This isn’t just technocratic reform. This is social security vandalism, dressed up as efficiency.
And it doesn’t stop there. Labour has already announced plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) by 2028 and merge it with a new, single assessment covering both PIP and the Universal Credit health element.
It now seems increasingly clear that the groundwork is being laid for a complete dismantling of the standard rate of daily living support — especially for new claimants post-2026.
The political implications are chilling. The party that once stood for a welfare state based on dignity and solidarity now appears poised to lead the largest cut to disability support in a generation, all while publicly insisting it supports disabled people.
Labour’s ministers – Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall – know that “scrap the standard rate” doesn’t play well on the doorstep.
So they’re hiding it behind technical jargon. Behind scoring thresholds. Behind “reform.”
But the result will be painfully clear:
Make no mistake: this is not about fraud. It never was.
This is not about efficiency, either.
This is about cuts.
And it’s about political cowardice — the kind that dresses murderous intent in progressive language and expects no one to notice.
Well, we noticed.
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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