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.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 1 days ago
    I emailed my Tory MP about this and I never got a reply.  
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      · 1 days ago
      @Monti @Monti. send another email to your MP politely asking why he hasn't replied to any of your previous emails, but this time cc in all the councillors (incl lib dem, tory, labour & independents etc) in his/your constituency. This trick worked for me when my MP failed to reply to any of my emails.
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      · 1 days ago
      @Monti Chase them up! 
      They're your MP and you deserve that courtesy. 
      You can check how they voted too - go to members.parliament.uk/member then find them and under that you will see an option for Voting record...
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @Monti My incumbent MP has replied to some of my emails to her credit but I noticed that she didn’t vote for the motion but seems to have abstained.

      Whereas her-snake in the grass-predecessor voted for it!
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 1 days ago
    What will happen to those on contributory esa support group or new style esa and pip when it is time for re-assessment ? 
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      · 1 days ago
      @CG i would like an answer tonthis question aswell thankyou for raising it 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 1 days ago
    My MP who previously voted against the bill changed his mind yesterday and voted in favour. I am very disappointed to say the least. I'm afraid I don't have the energy to contact him again. I am mentally exhausted and don't see the point. I really thought there was a good chance of the bill being scrapped. Today is not a good day. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @Cuckoo21 This is one of their tactics: to exhaust and stress us out till we have no fight left.
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      · 1 days ago
      @Cuckoo21 Cuckoo21 . It's very frustrating but don't give up fighting, even though the bill was voted through (marginally!!) we won MAJOR concessions (PIP 4 point rule abolition, unfreezing of UC & exemption for existing claimants). This government are on the back foot and drowning quickly. Keep emailing your MP - copy and paste some the editorial articles from this B&W website - and also cc in all the councillors in your constituency, you will be surprised how many sympathetic councillors email you back! 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @Cuckoo21 Same here, thought my local Lib Dem MP did vote against it
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @Cuckoo21 Please don't despair! 
      Believe me, I've not given up hope yet, though I'm close to losing it on many levels myself, right now. 
      It appears my MP (Bedford), didn't actually vote yesterday, so, despite me currently trying to deal with my home being repossessed (court proceedings on the 22nd) and having to keep chasing the WCA for UC - it's now 360 days since I returned the assessment form and a No of things have changed since then... I'm also trying to cope with my elderly parents (almost 93 & 89 and) failing health, and knowing that I cannot get to visit them one last time... 
      I am going to find the time later - in between emailing the CAB ahead of hopefully, speaking to them tomorrow- to email my MP and tell him about my situation and why he needs to vote against this Bill on 9 July. 
      Please, find that last few ounces of strength to write one more email to yours - every single email each of them gets between now and 9 July will count. If its easier, every post on their Facebook page will raise the issue (just ignore the idiots who will post vile slurs about fraudulent claims) and also ensures they see it (most have a phone or tablet in the HoC, so timing can be key there! 
      Think of this final push as an investment in your future and that of every disabled or chronically ill person who comes after. 
      We can do it! 
      You can help!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @Cuckoo21 Same. 
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    · 1 days ago
    I mentioned this in a comment yesterday and after what's happened since I don't know how the hell the government think they'd get away with it but I reckon this is the stroke there gonna try and pull in that when they abolish the current work capability assessment and replace it with the pip assessment i would say a significant majority of the current 600,000 who receive the UC health element and not pip would then no doubt not qualify for LCWRA and be deemed fit for work and therefore lose the £423 health element which it is currently but would of course increase with inflation. Would they really sink that low? Nothing would surprise me!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @tintack @tintack Excellent post and I sincerely hope your right! 👍🏻
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @CJA
      I posted this elsewhere but I'll re-post it here:
      ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      As there are 600,000 of us on UC health who don't get PIP daily living, that's 600,000 people who would lose UC health and be plunged into poverty. Given the almighty mess they've got into over a bill forecast to plunge 150,000 people into poverty, I think they would have a hell of a job getting something through that would push 600,000 people (at least) into poverty.

      One of the key concessions they had to make to win yesterday's vote was that existing PIP claimants would not be reassessed for PIP under the harsher criteria which had been due to come into effect in November 2026 (that was before those criteria were then shelved completely at the last minute, but they had still been forced to make that concession about existing claimants before then). If they try to take UC health from 600,000 existing claimants that's a huge number of people who would be plunged into poverty. Another major campaign of pressure on Labour MPs would inevitably happen and another major rebellion would almost certainly follow.

      At the very least, they would probably have to give a similar concession on existing UC health claimants as they did on existing PIP claimants, i.e. they would have to agree that making UC health dependent on PIP daily living would not apply to existing claimants. Without that concession I doubt they could get it through, especially as their MPs now know that they have the numbers to force concessions and defeat the government (the only way I can see that they could get it through without making such a concession would be if the Tories supported it, but winning a highly controversial vote by relying on Tory votes would probably be politically fatal). It seems to be generally acknowledged that when MPs vote against their own government once, it becomes easier to rebel on subsequent votes. That's even more true when the authority of the PM, chancellor, secretary of state and minister has taken such a battering.
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt we will have to man the barricades again over LCWRA just as we have over the last three months. But the events of the last week or so, and yesterday in particular, strongly suggest that anything which would plunge a large number of sick and disabled people into poverty would be very unlikely to pass without really major concessions - quite possibly concessions which would incur too much political pain to make it worth going ahead.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @CJA Alternatively it could bite Labour on the backside and they could end up getting PIP as well!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 1 days ago
      @CJA This is what terrifies me especially if they don't have the substantial risk catagory in the future in which case I'm done for 

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