Labour knowingly hugely discriminating against women for PIP cuts

Details: Published: 15 May 2025

The Labour Party is knowingly hugely discriminating against women by using its 4 point or higher rule to reduce the number of personal independence payment (PIP) awards. Currently, daily living component award rates for males and females are just 0.7% apart, but from November 2026 under Labour’s plans, 32% of male claimants are likely to get an award, compared to 25% of female claimants, a ten times greater difference

The shock effect of the proposal that only claimants who get 4 points or more for at least one PIP daily living activity will be eligible for an award was revealed in the response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Winnie Clark.

The DWP’s answer shows that, of those who currently receive an award of the daily living component of PIP:

1,307,000 are male, of whom 39% (507,000) are awarded less than 4 points in all daily living activities.

1,584,000 are female, of whom 52% (818,000) are awarded less than 4 points in all daily living activities.

If these claimants all receive the same points scores on review, it will mean that the number of awards to males will reduce by 509,730 whilst the number of awards to females will reduce by 823,680.

The result will be that instead of 277,000 more women than men being in receipt of PIP, when all the reviews are completed 800,000 current male claimants will still be getting PIP daily living whilst only 766,000 women will have an award.

Male PIP awards will outnumber female awards for the first time.

According to the DWP’s StatXplore tool, at present award rates by gender are almost identical:

Male: 47.77% of claimants get an award of the daily living component.

Female: 47.08% of claimants get an award of the daily living component.

This is a difference of 0.7%

But from November 2026:

32% of new male claimants are likely to get an award of the daily living component.

25% of new female claimants are likely to get an award of the daily living component.

This is a difference of 7%, ten times larger

So, any MP who votes in favour of Labour’s 4 point rule will knowingly be creating a benefits system that puts disabled female claimants at a very significant disadvantage compared to disabled male claimants.

It would be a shocking outcome for any MP to choose to support.

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Bert · 31 minutes ago
I've already invested in a new memory stick,if I have too start looking for work come November 2026.
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SLB · 56 minutes ago
Thank you to all of you who commented on my post about tagging all Labour MPs in a social media post, trying to explain the benefits system in 3 minutes! Thanks to everyone who has offered help or already produced some.

I've had a rather rough day with my mental health (it's been much worse since all of this started), and so I'm going to take a few days off from fighting DWP (or try to, at least).

On Sunday, I'll draft the extended X post (Musk has my £10 to allow 25,000 characters!) and then send it out on Monday. If we want to attract the attention of Labour MPs on X (or elsewhere), then I think a weekday when they're in Westminster will be a good time. It means it would be more likely that they would talk to each other, too. We only need a couple of them to take note for word of mouth to take effect. It probably won't happen, but it's worth a try. At the moment anything is worth a go.

Have a good few days, and I'll be back on Sunday. :)
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The Dogmother · 59 minutes ago
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-05-06.50397.h&s=PIP+Assessments#g50397.r0
Here's the link. To timms waffle.
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The Dogmother · 1 hours ago
Apparently, according to Timms,if you get 1,2,3 points in any activity, instead of the proposed 4 then you can be "helped" by "small" adjustments and aids. In other words minimising any conditions you suffer from. I just can't get my head around it all.
I just read it on "They work for us".
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Gingin · 1 hours ago
Carers UK have published an open letter to Starmer. I know many of you will have signed countless petitions and letters but PLEASE DON’T MISS this one.

https://www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/our-campaigns/disability-and-health-benefits-cuts/open-letter-to-the-prime-minister-on-welfare-reform/
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SLB · 1 hours ago
I've got to say that I think the whole male vs female, and North vs South divides are just a remarkably unhelpful distraction. If you lose your benefits it doesn't matter how many other people share your gender or location. A person is a person.

This report isn't talking about discrimination of any kind. The 4 point system wasn't designed to hit one or another gender. It just falls that way, partly because men and women are more or less likely to have certain conditions. It would be discrimination if the eligibility rules were different for men and women. They're not. I know that we are trying to get attention from MPs and the public as much as possible, but in this instance it looks like desperation on our part, and we would be much better concentrating on what actually matters.
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AW · 1 hours ago
To put it plainly then, the effects of a disability on a Man's life are being more highly valued than those same effects on a Woman's life. In other words, assessors and decision makers believe Men more than they believe Women. Same old story of medical gaslighting as weve always had. Hopefully this should open the door to further research as this cannot be left uninvestigated. It's clearly a breach of equality law.
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keepingitreal · 3 hours ago
WorkshyLayabout As I have posted under the previous article: I don't think it is helpful to set one area of entitlement against another. IT ALL NEEDS TO BE STOPPED.

However, I do think there is value in seizing any feature of the proposals which could expose them to a charge of discrimination. Anything we can challenge in law could build and take down the whole green paper.
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  godgivemestrength · 2 hours ago
  
  @keepingitreal I've always thought it interesting that the pm appointed so many women to senior roles - Rayner, Reeves, Cooper, Kendall, McGovern. Does Starmer think they are more likely to toe the line?
  
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Dave Dee · 5 hours ago
Wasn't it Rosie Duffield who alleged that Keir Starmer has a problem with Women? She resigned the Labour whip only last year to my knowledge, there's no smoke without fire.

Labour on the opposition benches hollered and cried about social justice, about equality and inclusion and when they go into government they suddenly go further than the Tories ever wanted to go on cuts.
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WorkshyLayabout · 5 hours ago
The sex of claimants is totally unimportant. What is important is that many men and women are going to be worse off. We're not here to pit one against the other.
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  AW · 1 hours ago
  
  @WorkshyLayabout You're very wrong there, it matters enormously. It exposes very clearly the health discrimination we all experience, Men are being given more weight to the seriousness of their disabilities than Women are and now we are set to lose much more support than Men, just as we already are being diagnosed and treated for illnesses unfairly all our lives. It's shocking to see it laid out so bare like this, and not a fact that can or should be dismissed. Bear in mind also that a lot of Women will also have responsibility for caring for children alone so the loss of income doesn't just affect them, it will also worsen child poverty.
  
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  Gery · 2 hours ago
  
  @WorkshyLayabout The government wants people to work so are going to stop people giving on benefits
  That's what will happen in the future but the present cohort will suffer badly
  
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godgivemestrength · 6 hours ago
It's a much repeated refrain from Westminster that

"those people who have lifelong conditions, deteriorating health conditions, will no longer be reassessed because it is completely pointless, which recognises the dignity of those people.”

But what about when those people don't score 4 points in any one descriptor? Many people with lifelong and deteriorating health conditions accrue points across the activities, to add up to either standard or daily living awards. This 4 point trick is just a cynical mechanism to disqualify lots of claimants, it's got nothing to do with how serious someone's condition is.
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Frances · 6 hours ago
Surely there could be a legal challenge to that.
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James · 6 hours ago
Good news posting about the 4 point system and how it will also affect female claimants in a very discriminatory way. This only goes to show how ill thought out the so called 4 point rule is and how little thought has been given into the impact it will have on the disabled and sick. I personally believe that the withholding of the governments own impact assessment and the attempt to escape scrutiny before the bill is passed in parliament is a very devious and underhand attempt by Keir Starmer and show the depths he will stoop to. He has show us he has a long track record of appearing to be a friend to causes and then going back on his word and also people and using every underhand trick in the book. I hope the country wakes up that we have been following a pied piper whose word is not worth the paper it is written on -ie his manifesto
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