The British Social Attitudes report found that just 7% of respondents backed cuts to disability benefits. Photograph: Andriy Popov/Alamy
Nearly half of respondents say spending on personal independence payments should be increased
There is little appetite for cuts to disability benefits even among Conservative and Reform voters, and proposals to reduce spending could prove politically risky, according to an authoritative national survey.
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) report found that while support for welfare spending as a whole had dipped sharply in recent years, just 7% of respondents backed cuts to disability benefits – and 49% said they should be increased.
Two government-commissioned reviews – of the personal independence payment (Pip) benefit, and support for jobless youngsters – are expected imminently, amid speculation they will seek to restrict spending on disability benefits.
The BSA report notes that any ministerial proposals to axe disability benefits would carry little support among Labour voters, of whom just 5% favoured reduced spending and 57% backed more generous spending.
Support for spending on disabled people remained high among Tory and Reform UK voters of whom 40% supported more spending on claimants who could not work, and just 10% supported less spending.
VICTIM BLAMING: Former health secretary Alan Milburn speaks to the media on the publication of the interim Milburn Report into Young People and Work, at West Library Youth Employment Hub, north London
The Milburn review presents itself as a plan to help young people into work, but Dr DYLAN MURPHY argues it is laying the groundwork for a harsher benefits regime
THE publication of the interim report of the Milburn review into young people and work represents a sinister milestone in the ongoing neoliberal assault on the British welfare state.
Framed as a “discovery phase” to address the rising numbers of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (Neet), the report is a highly ideological document. It does not seek to understand or alleviate the profound, systemic barriers that keep sick and disabled young people out of the labor market. Instead, it serves as the vanguard for a punitive campaign of benefit cuts, increased conditionality, and state-sponsored coercion.
As a disabled person who has first-hand experience of the relentless hostility of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) towards disabled people claiming benefits, I find the contents of this report both terrifying and entirely predictable.
Rather than addressing the catastrophic collapse of the National Health Service, the sparsity of youth mental health services, or the structural refusal of employers to accommodate disabled workers, Alan Milburn has chosen to blame the victims. The report is a masterclass in political distraction, designed to prepare the public for a brutal tightening of the screws on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
Redefining PIP: disability support as labour market discipline
One of the most alarming aspects of the Milburn review is its aggressive attempt to redefine the purpose of the personal independence payment (PIP). Since its inception as the replacement for the disability living allowance (DLA), PIP has been understood as a non-means-tested benefit designed to help disabled people meet the extra costs of living with a long-term health condition or disability.
It was never intended as an out-of-work benefit; it is paid regardless of employment status, because disabled people face additional costs whether they work or not.
Yet, Milburn laments this design as a systemic failure. He complains bitterly: “At no point in a young person’s application or journey on PIP are they asked about, or supported to, work. This is not an accident of delivery. It is how PIP is designed.”
By framing the lack of work-focus in PIP as a “design flaw,” Milburn is paving the way for the benefit to be subjected to conditionality. If the state begins to demand “work-focused” outcomes as a condition for receiving PIP, it will destroy the benefit’s role as a financial safety net, leaving millions of disabled youth in poverty.
The concept of PIP as an “investment” for which there must be a “return” is a recurring theme throughout the report. Milburn complains that the state spends £8 billion a year on PIP and universal credit (UC) for young people, yet “for that investment, claimants are getting worse outcomes.”
This is the barbaric language of venture capitalism applied to human survival. To demand a financial “return” on the money spent to keep disabled people alive is the height of neoliberal depravity.
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 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.
Protesters on Whitehall in London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her spring statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, March 26, 2025
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Long a public opponent of the plans, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth Brian Leishman told the Star: “These so-called ‘concessions’ have succeeded only in turning horrific, cruel and wicked proposals into awful ones.
“I will not be voting for something that cuts £3 billion from the welfare system.
“The government now needs to show some leadership and some common sense.
“They should withdraw the Bill, take the time to talk to MPs, talk to those affected and come back with a plan for a welfare system worthy of the name.”
The view was echoed by Richard Burgon MP, who said: “These changes are nowhere near enough.
“This Bill is still really all about balancing the books on the backs of disabled people.
“MPs should not be voting to take away vital support from disabled people who need help washing, cutting up their food, or using the toilet.
“I will vote against the Bill, and I call on the government to withdraw it entirely.”
Mr Burgon highlighted Disability Labour’s continuing concerns about the planned cuts. The group said the legislation still contains raised eligibility thresholds for PIP, reductions in universal credit support for those unable to work, and ”unexplained and unaddressed proposals to change the ’severe conditions criteria’ which determine long-term entitlement to support.”
“It is significant that Disability Labour — the Labour Party’s official disabled person’s affiliate organisation — has issued a statement that the government’s concessions are insufficient and is calling on all MPs to vote against the benefits Bill on Tuesday,” he said.
A volunteer at a food bank packaging supplies. Credit: IFAN Mary Turner The Welcome Centre
Food banks are already overwhelmed by demand for help. Disability benefit cuts will make it worse, the government has been warned
Hundreds of thousands of people living in disabled households will be at risk of needing to use a food bank if the government goes ahead with its plans for benefit cuts, new research has found.
Experts at Trussell and WPI economics have estimated that 440,000 people who are disabled or living with a disabled person would have to use a food bank by the end of the decade. he decade.
As MPs prepare to vote on legislation to introduce the cuts, charities and disability campaigners are urging the government to rethink its plans.
Labour’s proposals include tightening the eligibility criteria for the personal independence payment (PIP), with the government estimating that around 800,000 people would see their support reduced by 2028/2029.
It also plans to freeze the health element of universal credit for current claimants, slash it in half for new claimants and cut it entirely for people under the age of 22.
Helen Barnard, director of policy at Trussell, said: “This UK government was elected on a promise of change, and with a commitment to end the need for food banks. If the government goes ahead with these ill-considered and cruel cuts to social security, this promise will not be kept – and instead, they will risk leaving behind a legacy of rising poverty and hunger.
“Tackling fiscal challenges should not be done at the expense of people already facing hunger and hardship. These cuts will force 440,000 people in disabled households into severe hardship and leave them at risk of needing a food bank. We urge the government not to continue down this damaging path.”
VICTIM BLAMING: Former health secretary Alan Milburn speaks to the media on the publication of the interim Milburn Report into Young People and Work, at West Library Youth Employment Hub, north London
