Tue, 18 Mar 2025

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 At-a-glance: Key changes to benefits in welfare shake-up

How Personal Independence Payments (Pip) and other health-related benefits could change under government plans.

* From November 2026, eligibility criteria for Pip will be tightened up, making it harder to qualify for the daily living component.
* Payments for the daily living component will no longer increase in line with inflation from April next year for new claimants.
* The work capability assessment that determines who is eligible for incapacity benefits will be scrapped in 2028 and replaced with a single assessment based on the Pip system.
* Incapacity benefits under universal credit will be frozen at £97 per week for existing claimants until 2029/30, but new claimants will receive only £50 per week from 2026/27.
* The standard rate of universal credit for those seeking work will increase by up to £775 a year extra by 2029/30.
* Those under 22 will no longer be able to claim the incapacity benefit top-up to universal credit.
* Ministers are consulting on raising the age at which young people move from Disability Living Allowance for children to Pip from 16 to 18.
* The government plans to introduce legislation to guarantee that trying work will not lead to an automatic Pip or work capability reassessment.
* A "support conversation" will be introduced to help people with health conditions or disabilities access work.
* Consultations will start on the Access to Work scheme, looking at improvements to help people stay in the workplace.
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