The vote on the Universal Credit and PIP Bill this week was supposed to be a turning point — a moment when a panicked government appeared to pull back from devastating disability benefit cuts.
The clause about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) eligibility wasn’t scrapped in the Second Reading vote, despite what Disabilities Minister Stephen Timms said — it’s still there in the Bill, just dressed in new language and procedural caveats.
Ministers now say they’ll remove it at Committee stage — but they haven’t yet.
And even if they do, the problem runs deeper.
The amendments published today (July 2, 2025) reveal the government’s true intention: to create a legal pathway that still allows benefit cuts to go ahead, so long as certain “consultation” and “review” boxes are ticked.
By that, I mean they want to be able to say that disability organisations and charities have been consulted, and a review has taken place.
There seems to be no intention to include the recommendations of such exercises in either current or future legislation.
That is not good enough.
Here’s what has to happen now.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
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and provide your details!
1. Strip out the spin — and re-write the Bill in plain law
The government’s own amendment says changes won’t come into force until after the so-called Timms review — but this is not the same as removing those changes.
The new version of the Bill:
Still allows massive changes to eligibility rules;
Still creates a two-tier system for disabled people based on when they applied;
Still enables cuts for future claimants, even as current claimants are “protected.”
If MPs let this Bill pass on the basis of process promises alone, they are giving the government carte blanche to inflict any injustice it pleases on disabled benefit claimants.
The solution: amendments at Committee stage must:
Completely remove any powers to change PIP eligibility without fresh legislation;
Require binding Parliamentary votes on the review’s findings before any implementation;
Enshrine protections for both current and future claimants in law.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
2. Rebuild trust — that means replacing the reviewer
Stephen Timms may have earned trust in the past, but for many disabled people and campaigners that trust is now gone.
For me, it evaporated when he responded to my letter showing that past welfare reforms had led directly to deaths, increased poverty, and caused mental health deterioration on a horrifying scale with a boilerplate mass communication that did not answer any of the concerns I had raised and was clearly written to placate rebel Labour MPs.
I received a copy of an open letter from Swansea DPAC today (July 2). Backed by 150+ individuals and organisations, it is damning. It accuses Timms of:
Ignoring complaints about an inaccessible consultation in Wales;
Failing to meet with grassroots groups raising urgent concerns;
Misrepresenting the nature of changes in the Bill to MPs and the public.
If co-production is to be meaningful, disabled people must help select who leads the review, and how it is run. That means:
Replacing Timms with a panel of disability experts and representatives;
Appointing a joint independent chair, with agreement from DPOs (Disabled People’s Organisations);
Committing to regional events with proper access, notice, and expenses support for disabled people and carers to attend.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
3. Close the two-tier loophole — for good
The amended Bill says the “health element” of UC will rise with inflation for current seriously ill and terminal claimants — but not for everyone.
This risks creating a “deserving vs undeserving sick” system, splitting disabled people into pre- and post-reform tiers.
MPs must:
Ban any benefit structure that differentiates eligibility by application date;
Require an equality test for any new rules that ensures consistency, fairness, and legal accountability;
Protect children moving from DLA to PIP — and their carers — from being penalised under new rules.
4. Force real impact assessments — before any vote
So far, the government has hidden the likely human cost of these changes. Any further progress of this Bill should be conditional on:
Full, public impact assessments, including regional breakdowns, poverty risk, effects on carers, and demand on health and social care;
Publication of all consultation responses, not just summaries;
Statutory requirements for impact assessments before any future benefit rule changes.
5. No cuts without co-production
This principle must be the baseline from now on:
No eligibility changes for disability benefits without genuine co-production — and no implementation without a binding vote in Parliament.
The current plan remains top-down, rushed, and fundamentally untrustworthy.
Disabled people have said clearly: Start again. Involve us. Be honest.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
This is the moment to draw a line
The debate and vote on this Bill has been described as a retreat.
It is not. I
t is a roadmap to future cuts — but with more paperwork attached.
MPs who believed they’d secured real change must now insist on concrete amendments at Committee stage.
Anything less is complicity in a betrayal.
If the government wants cross-party support, it must remove Clause 5 entirely, replace Timms, and guarantee no changes without co-produced, publicly endorsed plans.
Disabled people don’t need promises.
They need protection — in the law, not in headlines.
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The Bill to cut benefits STILL isn’t fixed – here’s how MPs can fix it
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The vote on the Universal Credit and PIP Bill this week was supposed to be a turning point — a moment when a panicked government appeared to pull back from devastating disability benefit cuts.
But as The Canary has rightly warned, that victory may have been largely symbolic.
The clause about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) eligibility wasn’t scrapped in the Second Reading vote, despite what Disabilities Minister Stephen Timms said — it’s still there in the Bill, just dressed in new language and procedural caveats.
Ministers now say they’ll remove it at Committee stage — but they haven’t yet.
And even if they do, the problem runs deeper.
The amendments published today (July 2, 2025) reveal the government’s true intention: to create a legal pathway that still allows benefit cuts to go ahead, so long as certain “consultation” and “review” boxes are ticked.
By that, I mean they want to be able to say that disability organisations and charities have been consulted, and a review has taken place.
There seems to be no intention to include the recommendations of such exercises in either current or future legislation.
That is not good enough.
Here’s what has to happen now.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
1. Strip out the spin — and re-write the Bill in plain law
The government’s own amendment says changes won’t come into force until after the so-called Timms review — but this is not the same as removing those changes.
The new version of the Bill:
Still allows massive changes to eligibility rules;
Still creates a two-tier system for disabled people based on when they applied;
Still enables cuts for future claimants, even as current claimants are “protected.”
If MPs let this Bill pass on the basis of process promises alone, they are giving the government carte blanche to inflict any injustice it pleases on disabled benefit claimants.
The solution: amendments at Committee stage must:
Completely remove any powers to change PIP eligibility without fresh legislation;
Require binding Parliamentary votes on the review’s findings before any implementation;
Enshrine protections for both current and future claimants in law.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
2. Rebuild trust — that means replacing the reviewer
Stephen Timms may have earned trust in the past, but for many disabled people and campaigners that trust is now gone.
For me, it evaporated when he responded to my letter showing that past welfare reforms had led directly to deaths, increased poverty, and caused mental health deterioration on a horrifying scale with a boilerplate mass communication that did not answer any of the concerns I had raised and was clearly written to placate rebel Labour MPs.
I received a copy of an open letter from Swansea DPAC today (July 2). Backed by 150+ individuals and organisations, it is damning. It accuses Timms of:
Ignoring complaints about an inaccessible consultation in Wales;
Failing to meet with grassroots groups raising urgent concerns;
Misrepresenting the nature of changes in the Bill to MPs and the public.
If co-production is to be meaningful, disabled people must help select who leads the review, and how it is run. That means:
Replacing Timms with a panel of disability experts and representatives;
Appointing a joint independent chair, with agreement from DPOs (Disabled People’s Organisations);
Committing to regional events with proper access, notice, and expenses support for disabled people and carers to attend.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
3. Close the two-tier loophole — for good
The amended Bill says the “health element” of UC will rise with inflation for current seriously ill and terminal claimants — but not for everyone.
This risks creating a “deserving vs undeserving sick” system, splitting disabled people into pre- and post-reform tiers.
MPs must:
Ban any benefit structure that differentiates eligibility by application date;
Require an equality test for any new rules that ensures consistency, fairness, and legal accountability;
Protect children moving from DLA to PIP — and their carers — from being penalised under new rules.
4. Force real impact assessments — before any vote
So far, the government has hidden the likely human cost of these changes. Any further progress of this Bill should be conditional on:
Full, public impact assessments, including regional breakdowns, poverty risk, effects on carers, and demand on health and social care;
Publication of all consultation responses, not just summaries;
Statutory requirements for impact assessments before any future benefit rule changes.
5. No cuts without co-production
This principle must be the baseline from now on:
The current plan remains top-down, rushed, and fundamentally untrustworthy.
Disabled people have said clearly: Start again. Involve us. Be honest.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
This is the moment to draw a line
The debate and vote on this Bill has been described as a retreat.
It is not. I
t is a roadmap to future cuts — but with more paperwork attached.
MPs who believed they’d secured real change must now insist on concrete amendments at Committee stage.
Anything less is complicity in a betrayal.
If the government wants cross-party support, it must remove Clause 5 entirely, replace Timms, and guarantee no changes without co-produced, publicly endorsed plans.
Disabled people don’t need promises.
They need protection — in the law, not in headlines.
Share this post:
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