In a desperate effort to distract attention from the growing anger over the proposed personal independence (PIP) cuts, Liz Kendall announced that work has begun on designing a new assessment which will combine the doomed work capability assessment (WCA) with the PIP assessment.
In the Pathways To Work Green paper, Labour announced that the WCA would be scrapped in 2028 and eligibility for the additional UC health element would be based on receiving any rate of the daily living component of PIP.
In order to do this the DWP plan to change the PIP assessment rules, which they claim need “modernising. In particular, the Green Paper notes that:
“People reporting mental health or neurodiverse conditions as their primary condition have increased more rapidly than those reporting other conditions, and increases in disability have been more marked among younger adults than older people, although older working-age people are still more likely to be disabled.”
It seems that Labour have in mind a tightening of the PIP eligibility criteria around mental health and neurodiversity and possibly around the “condition” of being young.
In addition, the Green Paper warns that the aim of the new assessment is to “shape a system of active support that helps people manage and adapt to their long-term condition and disability in ways that expand their functioning and improve their independence.”
It is entirely unclear what this might mean, except it sounds like some claimants may be given something other than cash.
Liz Kendall told MPs “I know how anxious many people are when there’s talk about reform, but this government wants to ensure PIP is fair for people who need it now and into the future. In our green paper we promised to review the PIP assessment, working with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts. And I can tell the house we are starting the first phase of that review today.”
The review is being led by Stephen Timms, the DWP disability minister who has been criticised by many for what they see as a marked change of stance from his opposition days, when he was a fierce critic of the DWP and seen as an ally of disabled claimants.
The fact that a new PIP assessment is due to be introduced in 2028 adds a new layer of fear an uncertainty for PIP claimants.
From November 2026, Labour plans to implement new rules which will remove PIP daily living from any current claimant who does not score at least 4 points for one activity when their award is reviewed.
But now, claimants have the added fear that the PIP assessment may change radically in 2028 and there may be other ways in which their award can be taken away from them.
In addition, the DWP have still not made it clear whether existing claimants who get the limited capability for work-related activity element in their universal credit, will be protected if they do not receive – or lose – their PIP daily living component from 2028.
Kendall claims the DWP review team will be working with disabled people and the organisations that represent them.
But many claimants must be wondering about the wisdom of organisations lending their name to a process which may result in an even more complex and even less generous assessment system.
And many Labour MPs may be wondering about the electoral wisdom of launching yet another attack on both PIP and UC claimants a matter of possibly only months before an election in 2029.
It is likely that hundreds of thousands of disabled claimants voted for Labour at the last election in order to put paid to the Tory’s hated PIP voucher suggestion.
If Liz Kendall had been asked to make absolutely, cast-iron certain that those same voters would never, ever vote Labour again, she could hardly have come up with a better plan.
