Labour’s cruel “severe conditions criteria” (SCC) plan is not designed to protect seriously ill claimants as the government claims, it is intended to save money at their expense. Because tens of thousands of claimants too ill to ever work again will be forced to live for years on half the additional payment that current claimants receive.
The SCC are part of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill and are intended to be a concession to Labour MPs concerned about the effect of the cuts on disabled claimants.
From April 2026, new claimants who meet the SCC will not have to face future reassessments for health element of universal credit, though they will still be reassessed for personal independence payment (PIP).
At the same time, Labour is almost halving the limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) element payable to new claimants, but claimants with LCWRA who also meet the SCC will get the full amount.
The SCC qualifying conditions
The current qualifying conditions for LCWRA require one of a number of descriptors to apply to the claimant “for the majority of the time”. For example:
- Cannot pick up and move a 0.5 litre carton full of liquid.
- Cannot press a button(such as a telephone keypad) with either hand or; cannot turn the pages of a book with either hand.
- Cannot cope with any change, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder, to the extent that day-to-day life cannot be managed.
The severe conditions criteria require claimants to meet the same criteria “constantly”.
Constantly is defined in the Bill as “at all times” or “on all occasions on which the claimant undertakes or attempts to undertake the activity”.
However, many degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy follow a slow path of decreasing ability, with periods of remission. So, most days you may be unable to turn the pages of a book, but you may have occasional good days when you can do so.
Or your manual dexterity may be better first thing in the morning but get rapidly worse as fatigue sets in.
At the moment, a claimant in these circumstances would get the full LCWRA amount, which from April 2026 will be £423.27 a month, because they meet the descriptor for the majority of the time.
However from April 2026, new LCWRA claimants in the same position will only get around half this amount, £217.26, because they do not meet the descriptor constantly.
But the same claimant will never improve, their condition will only get worse. So, if they are already unable to work because of a degenerative disease, they will never be able to work again in the future.
Under Labour’s new rules, however, they will have to exist on half the LCWRA element, possibly for years after there is no chance of their ever being able to work again, until they can show that they are constantly unable to carry out an activity, rather than just for the majority of the time.
So, far from guaranteeing that people who will never work again are supported, the SCC guarantees that they will live on a severely reduced income for years, until their degenerative disease enters its most debilitating stage.
For some conditions, including some severe mental illnesses, there may never be a time when the claimant is certain not to have periods of remission, so they may never get the full LCWRA award.
Substantial risk
The SCC do not apply to “non-functional descriptors”.
Most importantly, if a claimant has been found to have LCWRA because “there would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person if you were found not to have limited capability for work-related activity” then they cannot be considered to meet the SCC.
In 2022 14.6% of new awards for LCWRA were on the basis of substantial risk.
The substantial risk could be because, for example you have a heart or lung condition and the exertion involved attending work, or appointments at the Jobcentre, might lead to a serious deterioration in your health. Or you might have severe seizures without warning and travelling to work or being in a workplace would put you at substantial risk.
Or the substantial risk could be due to severe mental illness which means that the anxiety caused by travelling to or attending work would be likely to lead you to harm yourself.
Whatever, the cause, if your have LCWRA because of the substantial risk rules, you cannot be considered for the SCC.
How long will protection last?
The SCC are claimed to protect claimants from ever being assessed again. But, as noted above, people who meet the SCC can still be reassessed for PIP.
From 2028, Labour are planning to abolish the work capability assessment (WCA) and make receipt of PIP daily living the gateway for the UC health element. But they have repeatedly failed to explain what will happen to someone who meets the SCC if they lose their PIP daily living award on review.
Will they still be able to claim UC health even though they no longer meet the basic qualifying conditions? If not, then the SCC guarantee may only last a few years, rather than a lifetime as Labour claims.
As of May 2024, just 32.1% of claimants who received the UC LCWRA element also had a PIP daily living award which included a score of at least 4 points for one activity
Peace of mind
In unveiling the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, Liz Kendall claimed that it “represents a new social contract and marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity. This will give people peace of mind, while also fixing our broken social security system so it supports those who can work to do so while protecting those who cannot. . .”
In reality, the Bill simply seeks every opportunity to take more money from disabled claimants, whilst telling them it really is in their own best interests.
[Edit: information on substantial risk added]
