Key events
Tighter rules for Pip won’t exclude all people claiming as result of severe anxiety, says DWP minister Stephen Timms
In his interview on Times Radio this morning, Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister, said that the government’s decision to tighten the eligibility requirments for Pip would not exclude all people claiming as a result of severe anxiety.
Asked if people with anxiety would no longer by able to claim Pip under the new rules, Timms replied:
No, it depends what the effect of the condition is on people’s wellbeing, and the indicators are all published and set out.
So if you have difficulties doing certain things, then you get points on the Pip assessment. And the number of points you get determine how much Pip you get.
The Guardian has today published this article by Brian, a single father with mental health issues who receives Pip, who explains why he is alarmed about the disability benefit cuts announced yesterday.
Starmer claims no one with ‘condition that means they’ll never be able to work’ will lose out from disability benefit cuts
In his article in the Times about the disability benefit cuts, Keir Starmer makes a bold claim – that nobody with a condition meaning they can never work will lose out. He says:
Our reforms are guided by three principles. First, if you can work, you should. Second, if you want to work, the government should support you to make that a reality. Third, if you will never be able to work because of your illness or disability, the state should help you to get by with security, dignity and respect.
So, nobody with a condition that means they will never be able to work will lose out from our changes. Nor will they have to endure the indignity and fear of endless reassessment – that requirement will be scrapped.
If Starmer can persuade disabled people that this is true, then much of the opposition to what the government is doing would diminish. But, from the reaction we saw yesterday, it is clear that disabled people, and the charities that represent them, do not believe that this is correct.
Most of the savings are going to come from the government tightening eligibility for Pip (the personal independence payment), a disability benefit that covers the extra costs people incur because they are disabled and that is paid to people both in work and out of work. Yesterday the Resolution Foundation thinktank said these changes would cost up to 1.2 million people between £4,200 and £6,300.
Speaking on the Today programme this morning, Ruth Curtice, the foundation’s chief executive, said:
The government haven’t given us a number for how many will be affected, and because they’ve made quite a detailed change to the system, we can’t tell exactly who will be affected.
I think it would have been good if the government had told us yesterday, but given what they’ve told us about how much they’re planning, the Resolution Foundation estimate it’s around a million people who are losing their entitlement to Pip completely ..
You can think of £5bn as small or large, depending on your perspective – getting those from a million individuals means that for those individuals, it’s really significant income loss.
Minister refuses to rule out further benefit cuts amid backlash over disability benefits being reduced by £5bn
Good morning. Keir Starmer and his team got through the announcement yesterday of disability benefit cuts worth £5bn without total Labour meltdown – no one has resigned from the government yet – but backbenchers were broadly sullen and unpersuaded, and the battle to implement these changes is only just starting.
Here is our overnight story, by Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot.
Patrick Butler, the Guardian’s social policy editor, has an analysis here.
And Archie Bland has a good overall uspum of where we are in his First Edition briefing.
Starmer has written an article for the Times defending the cuts (more on that soon), and Stephen Timms, the social security and disability minister, has been giving interviews this morning. His first was on Times Radio, where Kate McCann quickly highlighted one of the reasons why this is perilous territory for Labour. Timms said that, even with these cuts, the welfare bill was still going up; but these measures made the rising cost “sustainable”, he argued. So McCann asked if the government was ruling out further benefit cuts in future. Timms replied:
The proposals were set out in full yesterday. We’re going to be tabling legislation to implement a number of those changes. We’re going to be consulting over a full 12-week period on some of the proposals that we made yesterday. And we’re determined to get this absolutely right.
McCann tried again:
Can we just be very clear, though – are you ruling out coming back for more from the welfare bill?
And Timms replied:
Who knows what will happen in the next five years?
Indeed. And we’re not going to find out today. But we will hear what Starmer has to say in next three hours, when Starmer takes PMQs.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Matt Hancock, the former Tory health secretary, gives evidence to the Covid inquiry has part of its module looking at PPE procurement.
Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
After 12.30pm: MPs debate Lords amendments to the bill putting up employer national insurance.
3pm: Martin Lewis, the consumer champion and founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, gives evidence to the Commons energy company.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.Here is the agenda for the day.
