However, there remain significant concerns over the cuts, with charities warning that the government is “kicking the can down the road” and “delaying an inevitable disaster”.
It is estimated that more than one million future disability benefit claimants will still be impacted by the cuts and miss out on thousands of pounds of financial support each year.
There will also be a ministerial review of the PIP assessment, co-produced with disabled people and the organisations that support them. Additionally, the government will fast-track a £1 billion employment support package, which originally would not have been rolled out in full until the end of the decade.
It is understood that many of the MPs who were set to vote against the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on Tuesday (1 July) will support the reforms with these changes.
But some remain deeply concerned, particularly for people who may become disabled and need help from the system in the future. They fear that the changes to the bill are rushed.
Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, posted on X: “Many colleagues rightly complained about the parliamentary time given for assisted [dying] bill. This is far worse for the welfare cuts bill.
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“How can someone diagnosed with a condition in a few months be less disabled than someone diagnosed with it already and not be eligible for help? This bill will still drive hundreds of thousands of disabled people into poverty. I will be voting against this shameful piece of legislation and I urge colleagues to do the same.”
Around 250,000 people were set to be pushed into poverty by the original plans to cut disability benefits, according to the government’s own estimates. It is not known how many future disability benefit claimants will face poverty as a result of the continued cuts.
Nadia Whittome, MP for Nottingham East, agreed. She said: “These concessions aren’t enough and they should worry us all. If you become disabled tomorrow, you risk not having the support you need. We would be condemning future generations of disabled people to greater poverty. I will be voting against the bill.”
The government had hoped to save £5bn a year by 2030 through the welfare cuts, which chancellor Rachel Reeves had factored in to her economic plans. According to the Guardian, Labour rebels speculate that that welfare concessions will cost £8bn over the three-year spending review period.
Disability benefit claimant Haitham Elmasri, a 44-year-old who has Parkinson’s disease, said it is a “big relief” that the government appears to be going ahead with concessions. He said he has faced “loss of sleep” over the government’s plans for cuts.
His illness forced him out of work as an area manager, working with cars, and he relies on PIP and universal credit to live.
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Elmasri added that it is a “really big concern” that future claimants, including people who may be diagnosed with Parkinson’s in the near future, will be impacted by the cuts.
An estimated 430,000 future PIP claimants will lose an average of £4,500 a year even with the concessions, according to forecasts from charity Trussell. Meanwhile, 700,00 new claimants of the universal credit health element will lose an average of £3,000 per year.
Helen Barnard, director of policy at Trussell, said “proposals still present a bleak future for future claimants and still risk placing the government’s commitments to end the need for emergency food and tackle poverty in serious jeopardy”.
“Being disabled isn’t a choice. Our fears remain the same, and key MP concerns still remain to be addressed. As it stands, we still have a pledge to review the PIP assessment that has no clear bearing on these changes,” Barnard said.
“MPs will still be voting without a full picture of the impact on their constituents, particularly of the proposed ‘four point rule’ for PIP claims – which are expected to impact nearly half a million people, and force more disabled people to the doors of food banks.”
Barnard urged MPs who stood against the bill to continue to do so, to protect the people these changes will affect in the near future.
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Charlotte Gill, head of campaigns and public affairs at the MS Society, says: “The government are finally being forced to reckon with the crisis that their proposed benefits cuts would present to disabled people, including many with MS. But instead of meaningful action, all they’re doing is kicking the can down the road and delaying an inevitable disaster.
“Down the line, these cuts will still push more people into poverty and worsen people’s health. We urge MPs not to be swayed by these last ditch attempts to force through a harmful bill with supposed concessions. The only way to avoid a catastrophe today and in the future is to stop the cuts altogether by halting the bill in its tracks.”
A spokesperson for groups Disabled People Against Cuts, Mad Youth Organise, Disability Rights UK, National Survivor User Network and Crips Against Cuts said they “totally reject the performative politics being enacted by the government”.
They said: “We will not sell out generations of disabled people past and future by accepting this sham of alleged concessions on welfare spending so that they can save face. The reforms are ill thought out, and MPs still do not have a full understanding of their implications and impact.
“We reject the concessions, and demand a pause until all information is published and scrutinised both by disabled people’s organisations and MPs.”
Nearly eight in 10 families in receipt of disability benefits have already been going without essentials, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
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Katie Schmuecker, the charity’s principal policy adviser, said “new disabled claimants from next year will continue to be pushed into deep hardship by these cuts, which should be opposed”.
She said the government must make good on its pledge to “work with disabled people to improve the system” and take “further action to protect new claimants from harm” before the cuts come into place next year.
There also is relief among disability benefit claimants and the organisations that support them following the news of such a significant climbdown from the original plans for cuts.
Jackie O’Sullivan, executive director of strategy and influence at learning disability charity Mencap, said: “This will come as a huge relief to thousands of people who have been living in fear of what the future holds. It is the right thing to do and sends a clear message – cutting disability benefits is not a fair way to mend the black hole in the public purse.”
But O’Sulliven added: “We fear that if, from next year, new claimants for PIP face different rules, there will be a generational divide in the quality of life for people with a learning disability.”
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