On 9 July, MPs have a final vote on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.
In spite of the concessions made by Labour yesterday, we are still recommending that you contact your MP and ask them to vote against the bill at third reading.
We know that only 49 Labour MPs rebelled in the end. But we also believe, given the speeches being made in the Commons yesterday, that a lot more would have rebelled if Timms had not announced at the last hour that they were going to remove the 4-point rule from the bill.
It may be, if your MP voted in favour of the bill, that after they have had time to consider things they will wonder if they made the wrong decision in the heat of the moment.
Below are some of the reasons you might want to give for voting against the amended bill, or you may have some of your own. The important thing is that you make it clear, if you believe it is the case, that the bill still harms disabled people and it should not go ahead.
Hundreds of thousands of future disabled claimants still be harmed by their UC health element being almost halved, compared to current claimants, and then frozen.
The severe conditions criteria are extremely hard to meet. The requirement that claimants meet them “constantly” rather than “for the majority of the time” is unreasonable and harsh. Claimants with degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy generally follow a slow path of decreasing ability, with periods of remission. Long after it is clear they will never work again they will have periods of remission. At the moment, a claimant in these circumstances would get the full health element. But from April 2026, new claimants in the same position will only get around half this amount.
Claimants have not been consulted on the changes in the current bill at all.
The Bill has become a confusing shambles with little resemblance to the original text. MPs will have very little time to study the ever changing government amendments before they vote.
A committee process that should take weeks or even months, looking at amendments and getting advice from experts, will all be done in a single afternoon on 9 July, as the government rushes the bill through.
The government wants the bill to be certified as a money bill, preventing the House of lords from having any say over it.
MPs will be voting without seeing a formal impact assessment of the effect of the bill on health or care needs or the Office For Budget Responsibility assessment of how many people will move into work as a result of the changes.
The way in which coproduction with disabled claimants of the Timms review will work has not been explained. Given the very poor standard of the Green Paper consultation, it’s vital that the government shows how it’s going to do better this time.
Disability charities and trades unions are still very much against the bill, even with concessions.
The UC protection may be only temporary for 600,000 current claimants who get the UC health element but don’t get PIP daily living component. They may not be protected once the work capability assessment is abolished and PIP daily living is the gateway to UC health in 2028.
