A protest at the Houses of Parliament in July 2025. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Image
Long delays in processing personal independence payment (Pip) claims have become one of the most damaging and least defensible failures in the UK’s welfare system. Pip is designed to support disabled people with the additional costs of daily living and mobility, yet for many claimants it has instead become a source of prolonged uncertainty, financial hardship and distress. Waiting months – and in some cases more than a year – for a decision can push people into debt, rent arrears and poverty, especially as Pip unlocks other support such as carer’s allowance.
Parliament has been sounding the alarm over the scale of the problem – but it appears the Department for Work and Pensions has its fingers in its ears. The stock response is that a new “health transformation programme” will lead to efficiency gains made by replacing paper Pip applications with an online claims system. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown,the chair of the public accounts committee, last week pointed out that MPs had been told “three years ago that improvements would have manifested by now; we are now told that they are a further three years off”.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
A taped off section inside a school which has been affected with sub standard reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac)
Campaigners dismayed as government plans to replace hospitals built with Raac delayed again
FURTHER delays in replacing hospitals built with Raac concrete are a “blow” to NHS staff, as campaigners wanted to prevent the “severe risk of collapsing floors and ceilings.”
The government’s spending watchdog announced today that a pledge to deal with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in seven hospitals by 2030 would not be met.
A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the infrastructure plans, drawn up by the previous Conservative government, would only be completed by 2032 and 2033.
Despite the new timeline, the NAO also claimed that some new building projects are already facing pressure to finish for their revised deadline.
The watchdog also said that by the end of 2025, works to alleviate the risks of Raac have already cost more than £500 million.
Campaigners and unions hit back, warning that longer delays will mean “greater risks” for patients and NHS staff, and will mean “higher costs” to fix the issues plaguing NHS hospitals.
Raac is a lightweight material which was used widely in the 1960s and ’80s to build public buildings such as hospitals and schools.
Plans to delay access to the universal credit health element until age 22 have triggered fierce opposition from disabled people’s groups, who warn it would deepen poverty and entrench discrimination against young disabled people under the guise of ‘encouraging work.’ DYLAN MURPHY reports
IN A MOVE that has sent shockwaves through disabled communities across the country, the Labour government is considering a policy that would slash vital financial support for young disabled people aged 18 to 21.
As the campaign group Benefits and Work has pointed out, “One of the proposals in the Pathways to Work green paper was to delay access to the UC [universal credit] health element until age 22, meaning that younger people would not be eligible. The claim is that this would make it less likely that young people would be trapped in a life on benefits. The proposal is pencilled in for 2027/28.”
This has sparked a firestorm of criticism from disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), which warn of a “devastating financial impact” that will push a vulnerable generation further into poverty and away from the very employment opportunities the government claims to be promoting.
The government’s rationale for this drastic measure is to prevent young people from being “trapped in a life on benefits.” However, this narrative has been widely condemned as a gross misrepresentation of the reality faced by young disabled people.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies said slashing funding for energy-efficient homes would be a damaging ‘short-term fix’. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households
Rachel Reeves has been told that cutting funding for home insulation at the budget would risk the UK’s climate goals and hurt low-income households in a joint intervention by energy firms, fuel poverty charities and environmental groups.
In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies urged Reeves not to take such a damaging “short-term fix” to slash funding for more energy-efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bills.
The Guardian revealed this week that Reeves is finalising a multibillion-pound energy support package that is likely to cut green levies paying for energy efficiency as she looks to save as much as £170 from the average bill.
In particular, the Treasury has been looking at cutting or getting rid of the energy company obligation (ECO), which pays to improve energy efficiency for low-income and vulnerable households.
In their letter, the dozens of organisations – from Age UK and Citizens Advice to Friends of the Earth – called for the Treasury to reconsider cuts to the ECO programme, saying it would “call into question the ability to meet both the UK’s fuel poverty and carbon budget targets”. They also warned that it was putting thousands of jobs at risk in the £20bn energy efficiency industry and supply chain.
A baby playing with toys at home in Northamptonshire, August 4, 2023
Chancellor urged to unfreeze housing benefit and publish government’s long-delayed homelessness strategy as figures show more than 172,000 children are growing up in temporary accommodation
A NEW record high of more than 172,000 children are living in temporary accommodation in England, almost enough to fill Wembley Stadium twice over, new government figures revealed today.
Official data shows numbers have risen in each quarter since 2021, reaching 132,410 households in temporary accommodation as of the end of June.
This is up 1.2 per cent from the previous three-month period and 7.6 per cent from the same time last year.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said 84,240 of those households included children.
Separate government data showed 8,732 people were sleeping rough in England in June, up from 8,309 a year earlier.
Campaigners are urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to unfreeze housing benefit in next month’s Budget and to publish the government’s long-delayed homelessness strategy.
Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said: “Tragically, we have now become totally accustomed to seeing record levels of children growing up in temporary accommodation.
“So we have to ask, as living costs increase and the supply of social homes recedes, when this will end?”
He said raising housing benefit “would enable more people and families to stay in their homes” and called for “a new generation of social homes” to help families “escape poverty and see a brighter future.”
New figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that one in five families with children living in temporary accommodation in England, and one in three in London, have been there for five years or longer.
The data shows a record 172,420 children are now living in temporary accommodation. Much of this housing is overcrowded and lacks basic facilities such as kitchens and laundry access.
Campaigners warn that these conditions have serious impacts on children’s health and wellbeing, with at least 74 child deaths linked to temporary accommodation over the past five years.
Housing groups say rising rents are trapping families in temporary accommodation, as Local Housing Allowance has failed to keep pace with the private rental market.
ONS data shows that average private rents have risen by 8.5% since April 2024, when housing benefit rates were last updated.
The shortfall is placing severe pressure on local councils, which are spending millions each year either on temporary accommodation itself or incentive payments to landlords to take on homeless tenants.
London Councils has warned that several boroughs are at risk of bankruptcy due to escalating costs.
Tom Darling, director at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “The fact that one in five homeless families have been trapped in temporary accommodation for five years or more is a moral stain on society.
“TA barely merits the term accommodation. Cramped, unhealthy and lacking facilities, it is totally unsuitable for families with children, particularly for long periods of time.”
He added: “The Renters’ Rights Bill will deliver welcome protections for tenants, but it will not address the affordability crisis that is keeping families trapped in homelessness and pushing councils to the brink of bankruptcy.
“The Government must cap rent increases to stop rents from outpacing wages or inflation, and in the longer term we need a National Affordable Renting Commission to make renting genuinely affordable.”
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Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
A taped off section inside a school which has been affected with sub standard reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac)
