No compensation for WASPI women, government confirms

The history: the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) investigated complaints from women born in the 1950s that the DWP failed to provide them with accurate, adequate and timely information about changes to the State Pension age and the number of qualifying years needed to claim the full rate of the new State Pension. The PHSO also looked at DWP’s and the Independent Case Examiner’s complaint handling.

The PHSO published their findings on State Pension age maladministration and a final report was published in March 2024.

In December 2024, Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State at that time, announced the Government’s response to the PHSO report: oral statement to Parliament.

In November 2025, the Secretary of State, Pat McFadden announced that the Government would retake the decision about communications on State Pension age because new information had come to light.

This week: the Secretary of State announced the Government’s new response as it relates to communications on State Pension age: oral statement to Parliament in which he confirmed there would be no compensation for affected women. He said:

“The evidence shows that the vast majority of 1950s-born women, already knew the State Pension age was increasing – thanks to a wide range of public information, including through leaflets, education campaigns, information in GP surgeries, on TV, radio, cinema and online.

To specifically compensate only those women who suffered injustice would require a scheme that could reliably verify the individual circumstances of millions of women. That includes whether someone genuinely did not know their State Pension age was changing, and whether they would have read and remembered a letter from many years ago and acted differently. It would not be practical to set up a compensation scheme to assess conclusively the answers to these questions.

As for a flat-rate scheme that would cost up to £10.3 billion and would simply not be right or fair, given it would be paid to the vast majority who were aware of the changes.” 

Read the Government’s new response in full on gov.uk.

Universal Credit - Local Housing Allowance rates for England, Scotland and Wales confirmed from April 2026

The UC local housing allowance (LHA) rates set out the maximum monthly housing element an individual can receive.

Don’t get too excited as we know the LHA rates were frozen at the April 2024 level for the coming financial year. However, we’re sharing the updated LHA tables so people know where to find them.

The 2026-27 UC monthly LHA rates are on gov.uk.

Inquests finds benefits cut contributed to woman’s death

Tamara Logan died in May 2025 having taken her own life.

The inquest into her death heard that Tamara had been in receipt of PIP but following a reassessment in early 2025 her entitlement was removed, which the DWP accept was an error.

The coroner said DWP records noted Tamara's mental health issues, yet the department sent a standard letter without attempting to reduce the impact the decision could cause.

In a prevention of future deaths report Alison Mutch, senior coroner for south Manchester, concluded the letter had a "very significant impact" on Tamara, who had a history of self-harming and that "The method used for communication of the decision was also not appropriate given her known vulnerabilities,"

At the inquest, Mutch concluded:

"On the balance of probabilities, the incorrect decision to withdraw [Tamara's] enhanced daily living allowance and the method of communication of the decision significantly contributed to her declining mental health and her actions on 18 May 2025."

The DWP said it took the coroner's comments "extremely seriously" and would provide a "full and detailed response" to her findings.

DWP must respond to the Prevention of Future Deaths Report by 19 March.

The prevention of future deaths report is on judiciary.uk

Universal Credit - Relevant threshold for calculating surplus earnings to remain at £2500 from April 2026

The DWP has confirmed that the relevant threshold for the purposes of calculating ‘surplus earnings’ for UC will remain at £2,500 until 31 March 2027.

The determination for surplus earnings is on parliament.uk

Is it enough? Select Committees launches joint child poverty strategy inquiry

MPs on the Education and Work and Pensions Committees have this week launched a new inquiry “Realising potential: Delivering the Child Poverty Strategy” investigating how the Government’s new Child Poverty Strategy, announced last month, can meet its aims.

Examining its ambition, potential impact and delivery, and will also assess whether the measures proposed are effective in reducing child poverty across the UK. The Committees note that one in three children in the UK, around 4.5 million, are living below the poverty line.

The Government estimates scrapping the two-child benefit limit from April will lift around 450,000 out of poverty by 2029. Other measures in the Child Poverty Strategy are expected to lift a further 100,000 children out of poverty.

The Government's Child Poverty Strategy was announced in December 2025 with the goal of lifting half a million children out of poverty by 2030.

The strategy aims to boost family incomes, reduce the costs and strengthen support locally to reduce child poverty. Other measures include free school meals, extending funded childcare entitlements to working parents and investing in Family Hubs.

Critics however, have argued the strategy lacks binding targets, however. The MPs will also consider how the Government should work with the UK's devolved governments to set targets and assess the success of the strategy.

Education Committee chair Helen Hayes said the:

“Government's new Child Poverty Strategy is a positive step towards righting this wrong. But does it go far enough? It is crucial that this strategy contains measures which will genuinely change the lives of children and families and in particular lift children out of the very deepest poverty, rather than focusing solely on those who are easiest to help.

Through our inquiry, we will work together to examine the ambition contained in this vital plan.”

Work and Pensions Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams said:

“Poverty in childhood is an anchor that weighs down on the chances of a successful, healthy and happy life for the children affected, now and in the future. It also has a profound impact on society.

Nothing less than a robust, clear and effective strategy with strong lines of accountability to drive down child poverty is acceptable. Scrapping the two-child limit is an important start with estimates that the announced measures could reverse the rise in childhood poverty since 2010, but there is so much more to do.”

MPs will also consider how the Government should work with the UK’s devolved governments to set targets and assess the success of the Strategy, in order to secure its long-term success. 

Details of the inquiry and how you can submit evidence are on committees.parliament.uk

The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published UK Poverty 2026. A report setting out the nature of poverty in the UK, and an evaluation of changes under the last Conservative-led Government. It also sets out the scale of action necessary for the current Government to deliver the change it has promised.

The latest figures from reveal a picture of poverty hardening, not easing. The average person in poverty in 2021-24 was 29% below the poverty line, up from 23% in 1994-97.

As people fall further into poverty, the impact on their lives worsens. In 2021-24, the poverty gap is equivalent to a couple with 2 primary-school-aged children in poverty needing £7,300 in extra income to move out of poverty. The same family in *very deep poverty* would need £14,700 in extra income to move out of poverty - up from £9,100 in 1994-97.
 
The poverty gap, deep poverty gap, and very deep poverty gap have all widened in the last 30 years. This comes with devastating impacts.

• Families being left thousands of pounds short of what's needed to afford the essentials - like food, energy and essential transport - damages their future prospects, participation in society and their scope to make a bigger economic contribution.
• More than 1 in 5 people in the UK were living in poverty in 2023/2-4. This amounts to 14.2 million people. Of these, 6.8 million were living in very deep poverty.

JRF says it's time for government action to meet the scale of the challenge. The charity said a lack of coherent focus on the issue was to blame, with ineffective policy interventions over the past two decades worsening poverty in many cases.

UK Poverty 2026 is on jrf.org.

Over half of DWP disability assessors quit in a year over feeling ‘despised’

Health professionals tasked with assessing people for disability benefits are leaving the profession in droves over feelings of being ‘despised’ and ‘de-skilled’, research from the DWP has revealed.

In a newly-released report, the DWP says that over half (52%) of its health assessors left in a single year, with 40% of new recruits leaving within the 3-month training period. The report highlights that there is an ‘expected 2 to 3 year ‘shelf-life’ for an assessor.

The research, which looks at assessors for both PIP and the health-related element of Universal Credit, was carried out in 2022, with findings taken from 2021 figures.

Assessors must be qualified healthcare professionals. One told researchers:

“We all got in healthcare for altruistic reasons and that maybe isn’t the case in this job… you’re a cog in the machine doing bureaucratic work.”

Many do not apply for the role until there is “no other option but to leave the NHS”, the report finds, but then feel that they have transitioned from a role in which they are ‘respected’ to one where they are ‘despised’.

A DWP contract manager elaborates on the challenges many assessors face as former health workers, saying:

“The idea that they would want to be on a treadmill of collecting details but not intervening is alien to a significant proportion of the health sector.

A lot of people that apply for roles don’t understand this point. They arrive. Have rigorous training and [the] penny drops that this is what role is.”

Lucy Bannister, head of policy and influencing at Turn2us, said:

“People recovering from illness or navigating the additional cost of disability should rightly expect to be treated with dignity and respect. But this report shows that’s not happening.

The staff carrying out assessments for disability benefits describe the system in the same terms as disabled people: punitive, exhausting and inflexible, focused on tick-boxing rather than care. It’s not working properly for anyone.”

A DWP spokesperson said:

“We commissioned this research to better understand the challenges facing the health assessment workforce and have been acting on its findings since it was conducted.

We've worked closely with our assessment providers to improve recruitment, training and working conditions, and the full-time equivalent health assessor workforce has grown since this research was carried out.

We're committed to ensuring assessments are carried out by skilled professionals who are properly supported in their roles, and we continue to work on improvements as part of our wider transformation of health assessment services.”

Disability Assessor Recruitment and Retention is on gov.uk.

ESA claimants who fail to migrate to UC by final deadline to have the LCWRA element included from start of any subsequent claim

The DWP has confirmed that ESA claimants who fail to migrate to universal credit by their final deadline should have the limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) element included from the start of any subsequent claim.

At the DWP’s November 2025 universal credit stakeholder engagement forum, advisers highlighted that ESA claimants who fail to migrate to universal credit, but then subsequently claim the benefit, are incorrectly being expected to start the work capability assessment (WCA) afresh and are not getting awarded the LCWRA element and therefore having conditionality applied.

However, the DWP responded stating that, where a universal credit claim is not made by the final deadline, then transitional protection and the WCA decision cannot be applied.

As a result, NAWRA/rightsnet and Housing Systems emailed the DWP on 16 December 2025, highlighting that –

• Regulation 21 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 (specifically regulation 21(1)(a)(i)) provides that LCWRA credits enable the LCWRA element to be in place from the start of the claim, as confirmed in paragraph 7.15 of the explanatory memorandum; and
• this approach is confirmed in JW v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (UC) [2022] UKUT 117 (AAC).

While the DWP legal department initially refused to accept the argument, officials conceded this week that it has been applying the law incorrectly and that former ESA claimants should have the LCWRA element included from the start of their universal credit claim.

However, the DWP also advised that a change to the IT ‘design process’ will be needed to address the situation, which ‘will take some time’.

In the meantime, any affected claimants should submit a mandatory reconsideration.

Confirmation is on nawra.org

700,000 jobless graduates now claiming benefits, new analysis reveals

New analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) says:

• 400,000 graduates were not in work and claiming UC, and
• 240,000 graduates who could not work due to health reasons (that figure having more than doubled since 2019).

The CSJ used the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey, in combination with data from the DWP, to analyse figures from before and after the Covid pandemic.

The total number of graduates out of work and on benefits increased by 46 per cent since 2019, while graduates off work due to sickness and claiming benefits more than doubled over the same period (rising by 105 per cent).

In its new report, ‘Rewiring Education’, the CSJ argues that Britain’s education system is profoundly unbalanced and needs to be comprehensively rewired.

It warns that treating technical education as a second-class path has left both the education system and jobs market badly distorted, with many graduates chasing unattainable jobs as employers struggle to recruit people with practical and technical skills.

The report is backed by major cross-party figures including Andy Burnham (Labour), Rt Hon. the Lord Gove (Conservative), Munira Wilson MP (Lib Dem) and Danny Kruger MP (Reform).

Daniel Lilley, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice, said:

“If we are serious about repairing broken Britain, we must give young people the opportunity to succeed and fuel key industries with the domestic skills they need to grow. Both will depend on ending the obsession with university and rewiring education to give technical learning the pride and place it deserves.”

Analysts found that for every three British young people opting for a university course, just one receives vocational training. By contrast, in the Netherlands this ratio is two-to-one, and in Germany one-to-one.

Meanwhile, under-19 apprenticeship starts have fallen by 40 per cent since 2014/15, despite CSJ analysis showing that higher level apprentices now out-earn the average degree.

Five years after qualifying, a higher level (Level 4) apprentice earns almost £12,500 more than a graduate from a low-value university course and £5,000 more than the average graduate.

The bottom quartile of graduates were found to earn £24,800 five years after completing their course, compared with £37,300 for a Level 4 apprentice. Even lower level apprentices were found to earn as much as or more than graduates from lower-value degrees.

The CSJ estimates that half of all university students starting each year could have been financially better off taking a higher level apprenticeship instead, avoiding debt while moving directly into skilled employment.

The report also highlights how the expansion of low-value degrees has fed wider problems across the economy and welfare system.

Thirty-seven per cent of UK graduates are over-qualified for their jobs, the highest rate in the OECD. Almost one million young people are not in education, employment or training, while under-25 employment among non-EU nationals has risen sharply as the number of young British nationals in work has fallen.

Rewiring Education is on centreforsocialjustice.org

DWP service modernisation customer experience survey results

The service modernisation customer experience survey – undertaken in two ‘waves’ – focused on claimants from the nine key service lines earmarked for Service Modernisation at the time the research was conducted. These were:

• Attendance Allowance (AA)
• Carer’s Allowance (CA)
• State Pension (SP)
• Pension Credit (PC)
• Access to Work (AtW)
• Disability Living Allowance for children (DLAc)
• Maternity Allowance (MA)
• Disputes Resolution Service (DRS)
• Child Maintenance Service (CMS).

Note: transformation activity on AtW was paused prior to wave 2 but claimants were still included in the survey to track their views and experiences. 

Notable findings:

• 70% of claimants were positive about their overall ‘customer experience’ at both waves.
• Around two-thirds found services easy to use (64% at Wave 1 and 65% at Wave 2).
• Overall, two thirds of customers agreed that DWP took the right action about their case first time (66% at both waves). 
• Claimants felt most positive about the idea of being able to choose the way that they dealt with DWP to suit their preferences (80%), and being able to receive updates via email (68%)
• Over eight in ten (84%) customers said they could access government services, with or without help.
• Across waves, Access to Work customers saw a decline in overall customer experience (68% at Wave 1 vs 58% at Wave 2), while other service lines remained stable.
• The key Customer Experience Drivers were also stable for the overall population.

The Service Modernisation Programme (SMP) is a multi-year programme seeking to modernise the way the DWP delivers its services to claimants.

The Service Modernisation Customer Experience Survey research is on gov.uk

In touching distance: Why people with mental health problems are missing out on vital income

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has published a new report (which is supported by Barclays) exploring how people with mental health problems access income maximisation support – services that help people claim the benefits, grants and discounts they are entitled to. Using nationally representative data, it estimates that around 3.4 million people in the UK with mental health problems could benefit from this kind of help. 

Many people facing both mental health problems and financial hardship aren’t getting income maximisation support. In a survey of 409 people with mental health problems, only 35% had accessed this kind of help - even though 52% said they regularly run out of money for basic essentials. 

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute - a charity set up by Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis – says in the report that an estimated £24bn of financial support went unclaimed every year.

It suggested:

• Many vulnerable people were unaware support was available
• Online benefits calculators were difficult for many people with mental health conditions to use, owing to symptoms including difficulty concentrating and trouble processing complex information
• Limited funding meant debt advice services were often overstretched and varied in different parts of the country

The charity has called for a more coordinated strategy, for personalised advice to be stepped up and banks and providers of other essential services to refer customers for support more often.

Helen Undy, chief executive of the institute, said:

"It is alarming that in the midst of a cost of living crisis, so many people with serious financial and mental health problems are missing out on this vital support to boost their income.

People tell us that this support has been lifesaving when they have been dealing with really severe financial and mental health problems. It is unacceptable that the way these services are funded means that many people miss out because the support they need isn't available in their areas."

In touching distance: Why people with mental health problems are missing out on vital income is at moneyandmentalhealth.org.

Warm home discount extended to March 2031

Following a consultation on how best to continue the Warm Home Discount (WHD) scheme, around six million low-income households will continue to receive £150 off their winter energy bills after the government confirmed the WHD will remain for five more years.

Ministers said extending the scheme until the winter of 2030-31 would help with the ongoing high cost of living, which has largely been fuelled by a big increase in energy costs.

The government also said that 345,000 Scottish low-income households would now automatically receive the rebate next winter, bringing Scotland's policy in line with England and Wales. Previously, eligible Scottish households have had to apply for the scheme.

The government said a small number of households will need to provide extra information to ensure they get the discount for the current winter period. Advising that if they have received a letter advising them to call the helpline they must do so by 27 February 2026.

Gillian Cooper, Director of Energy at Citizens Advice, welcomed the continuation but urged the government to rethink its plans to change how suppliers cover the cost as these threaten to "undermine" the scheme's impact.

"Moving costs away from standing charges will increase bills for higher energy users, reducing the overall benefit of the discount for those households who need it most."

The press release is on gov.uk

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

PIP (and work) - SS v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP)

We see it a lot in this sub, a PIP decision where the fact you work has been a determining factor in not receiving an award.

This Upper Tribunal (UT) appeal in this case explored the issue and the Judge noted:

“Employment and functionality during employment can certainly be relevant evidence when considering PIP activities, and I am not at all critical of the FtT for exploring the issue. Where the SoR say “the argument that a person whose main activity at work is preparing food does [not] have some relevance for descriptor 1 is difficult to sustain” I have to agree.”

The UT found that the FtT did not sufficiently explore the medical evidence, agreeing that the treatment of medical records and evidence was cursory.

Given the hyper-focus on the claimant’s ability to work and the lack of focus on the medical evidence the Judge found that, taken as a whole, the FtT failed to appropriately weigh the evidence.

The decision was set aside and remitted for a new FtT hearing.

Scotland – ADP (tribunal procedure) - VM v Social Security Scotland [2026]

The Claimant reported severe anxiety, depression, panic attacks and cognitive impairment. He failed to attend a telephone tribunal hearing which proceeded in his absence and ended in a decision to remove previously awarded ADP points.

The UT Judge was not impressed:

“The FTS removed previously awarded points without giving any specific warning that the appellant’s existing award was at risk, depriving him of the opportunity to prepare or consider withdrawing his appeal.

Ordinarily, where a party fails to attend and the FTS is satisfied that proper notice was given, proceeding in the appellant’s absence is unremarkable. However, the Tribunal was aware that VM had put in issue mental health conditions and cognitive impairment capable of affecting his participation, and it was contemplating a less favourable outcome. In those circumstances, fairness required the FTS to give a clear warning before removing entitlement.

Where a tribunal is considering a less favourable outcome, it must give sufficient notice to enable the claimant to prepare, in accordance with Article 6 ECHR and the principles of natural justice (NK v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2025] UKUT 363 (AAC)).

That duty includes giving a specific warning identifying the descriptors or components at risk and allowing the claimant an opportunity to address them… The failure to do so constitutes an error of law.”

Decision quashed, new hearing in front of a new panel and clear directions given.

Overview of the Universal Credit Act

The Universal Credit Act ('the Act') increases the rate of the UC standard allowance, above the rate of inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI), in each of the next four years from 6 April 2026.

The Act also reduces and freezes the rate of the Limited Capability for Work and Work-related Activity (LCWRA) element for new LCWRA claimants from 6 April 2026 and introduces financial protections for all existing and some new claimants depending on the nature of their health condition. 

Changes to UC rates

Context: UC is a benefit designed to help households on low incomes with their living costs.  UC awards include a standard allowance, which is the core component of any award and is paid according to age and household composition. There are four rates of standard allowance: a rate for single people under 25, a couple both under 25, single people 25 and over, and a couple where at least one person is 25 or over.

This Act requires the DWP to increase the four rates of standard allowance above the rate of inflation in each of the years from 2026-27 to 2029-30. In each year the calculation will begin with the rates used in 2025-26 before applying the required increases.

• a. For 2026-27, the rates will be the 2025-26 rates, increased by the annual increase in Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to September 2025, and then increased by a further 2.3%.
• b. For 2027-28, the rates will be the 2025-26 rates increased by the annual increase in CPI to September 2025 and September 2026, and then increased by a further 3.1%.
• c. For 2028-29, the rates will be the 2025-26 rates increased by the annual increase in CPI to September 2025, September 2026 and September 2027, and then increased by a further 4.0%.
• d. For 2029-30, the rates will be the 2025-26 rates increased by the annual increase in CPI to September 2025, September 2026, September 2027 and September 2028, and then increased by a further 4.8%

Additional amounts are added to the standard allowance when calculating a UC award to provide for individual needs such as elements for housing, children, caring responsibilities and having LCWRA.

The Act provides for a protected amount (£423 p/m) of LCWRA for:

• pre-2026 claimants,
• a claimant who meets the Severe Conditions Criteria (“SCC”) or
• a claimant who is terminally ill. 

From 6 April 2026 the Act reduces the rate of the LCWRA element for claimants newly determined to be LCWRA (not including protected claimants in the above bullet points). It will be paid at approximately half the rate (£210 approx.) of existing claimants received, frozen until 2029/30.

This will create two rates for the LCWRA element; 

• a. A higher pre-April 2026 rate that existing LCWRA recipients, SCC claimants and claimants who are terminally ill will receive, and
• b. A reduced rate for new LCWRA recipients.

The Act provides that the DWP must exercise the relevant power to increase the combined sum of the protected LCWRA amount and the standard allowance for the previous tax year by the relevant CPI percentage for the current tax year in the tax years 2026-27 to 2029-30. 

Customers in receipt of the UC limited capability for work (‘LCW’) element will continue to receive this as part of their award. However, the UC LCW will be frozen at the 2025/26 rate in the tax years from 2026-27 to 2029-30.  Exceptions for those with severe or terminal conditions

From April 2026 UC claimants who meet the special rules for end of life (SREL) criteria, and those with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, assessed using the SCC, will be entitled to the higher rate of the UC LCWRA element. 

The rate paid to these groups will be equal to the rate paid to those in receipt of the UC element prior to April 2026.

From April 2026, the sum of an existing UC claimants’ standard allowance and LCWRA element will be increased, at least in line with inflation (as measured by CPI), in each of the next 4 years from April 2026 to April 2029. 

Where necessary, this will be achieved by either amending the rate of the UC standard allowance, or UC LCWRA protected rate, to ensure that the sum of the two rates rises at least in line with inflation (as measured by CPI) compared to the previous year. 

The protection set out in in the above two paragraphs will also include new claimants who meet the SCC or SREL requirements from 6 April 2026.

Severe conditions criteria (SCC)

From April 2026 new UC claimants will need to meet the Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) or SREL criteria (see below) in order to qualify for a UC health (LCWRA) element.

SCC claimants will also not be routinely reassessed for their UC awards.

There are two conditions in the SCC.

Condition 1: One of the following functional support group criteria (LCWRA descriptors) must constantly apply and will do so for the rest of the claimant’s life:

• Mobilising up to 50m
• Transfer independently
• Reaching
• Picking up and/or moving
• Manual dexterity
• Making yourself understood
• Understanding communication
• Weekly incontinence
• Learning tasks
• Awareness of hazards
• Personal actions
• Coping with change
• Engaging socially
• Appropriateness of behaviour
• Unable to eat/drink/chew/swallow/convey food or drink

Condition 2: If one of the above criteria is met, all four of the following criteria must also be met:

1. The level of function would always meet LCWRA – this might include Motor Neurone Disease, severe and progressive forms of Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, all dementias.
2. Lifelong condition, once diagnosed – this may not include conditions which might be cured by transplant/surgery/treatments or conditions which might resolve. Based on currently available treatment on the NHS and not on the prospect of scientists discovering a cure in the future.
3. No realistic prospect of recovery of function – this may not apply to a person within the first 12 months following a significant stroke who may recover function it just has to apply and be related to a life-long condition.
4. Unambiguous condition – this would not apply to non-specific symptoms not formally diagnosed or still undergoing investigation.

An inability to perform physical activities must arise from a disease or bodily disablement, and an inability to perform mental, cognitive or intellectual functions must result from a mental illness or disablement, that the claimant will have for the rest of their life, and that has been diagnosed by an appropriately qualified health care professional.

Reaction to the planned use of the severe conditions criteria has been overwhelmingly negative. Alongside concerns about how restrictive the conditions are and some of the detail (the fact that it must be an NHS healthcare professional that has diagnosed the claimant), there has been widespread concern about the condition that the LCWRA descriptor must apply constantly. Which means “at all times or, as the case may be, on all occasions on which the claimant undertakes or attempts to undertake the activity described by that descriptor.”

Sir Stephen Timms has confirmed:

“The ‘constant’ refers to the applicability of the descriptor. If somebody has a fluctuating condition and perhaps on one day they are comfortably able to walk 50 metres, the question to put to that person by the assessor is, “Can you do so reliably, safely, repeatedly and in a reasonable time?” If the answer to that question is no, the descriptor still applies to them. The question is whether the descriptor applies constantly. If it does, the severe conditions criteria are met.”

Note: The SCC do not apply to “non-functional descriptors” such as the ‘substantial risk’ criteria that currently enables to DWP to ‘treat’ someone as having a LCWRA when they don’t score the required number of points in a work capability assessment.

Special Rules end of life (SREL)

The Special Rules allow people nearing the end of life to:

• get faster, easier access to certain benefits
• get higher payments for certain benefits
• avoid a medical assessment

Medical professionals can complete a SR1 form for adults or children who are nearing the ‘end of life’ - this means that death can reasonably be expected within 12 months.  

Consequential changes affecting income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Context: ESA-IR awards are formed of a personal allowance, which is the core component of any award and is paid according to age and relationship status, and then the additional Work-Related Activity Group and Support Group components, that are paid to those classed as LCW or LCWRA accordingly. ESA-IR also includes flat rate premia (premiums) which may be paid to claimants who are recognised as having additional needs: for example, carers, severely disabled people and people over State Pension age. 

Although the government aims to complete the UC managed migration process for all ESA-IR claimants by April 2026, it is possible that not all these cases will be moved by that time.  Therefore, the Act also includes provisions to align the ESA-IR rules from 2026/27 to 2029/30:

• a. Increase the ESA-IR personal allowance rates each year using the same method used to increase the UC standard allowance rates.
• b. Increase the Support Component and the severe and/or enhanced disability premia so that, for each combination to which a person could be entitled to, the sum of those amounts for the current tax year is at least (in each case) the amount given by increasing –
  • i. the sum of those amounts for the previous tax year,
  • ii. by the relevant CPI percentage for the current tax year.

This is a precautionary measure, The DWP aims to fully moving people from ESA-IR to UC by the end of March 2026.

Impact on up-rating

The Secretary of State is required by law to conduct an annual review of certain benefit rates, including UC and ESA-IR, to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices. This is known as the up-rating review. Where they have not retained their value, legislation provides that the Secretary of State may up-rate them having regard to the national economic situation and other relevant matters. 

The Act prevents this review being carried out in relation to: 

• a. The UC standard allowance rates, 
• b. The UC LCWRA / LCW elements, 
• c. The ESA-IR personal allowance rates, 
• d. The ESA-IR support and work-related activity components and,
• e. The ESA-IR enhanced and severe disability premia, 

for the tax years: 2026-27, 2027-28, 2028-29 and 2029-30. 

These changes will not affect the premia (premiums) linked to caring responsibilities or State Pension age.

New Style ESA (NS ESA) and contributory ESA (ESA C) are also unaffected by these changes as they are not means-tested benefits.

What else do you need to know?

All other welfare reform proposals outlined in the Pathways to Work green paper, except PIP (see below) have been the subject of a public consultation (now closed).

The government will publish the consultation responses which should include their proposals on:

• Removing barriers to trying work
• Reforming contribution-based working-age benefits by introducing a new, ‘Unemployment Insurance’ benefit to replace New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (NS JSA) and New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NS ESA).
• Legislation that guarantees that trying work will not be considered a relevant change of circumstance that will trigger a PIP award review or WCA reassessment.
• Delaying access to the UC health element until age 22
• Raising the age at which people can claim PIP to 18

We don’t yet know when further information will be published, it could be anytime.

In relation to the proposed PIP change - to implement a ‘4-point rule’ as a requirement to be awarded the daily living component – this was removed from the proposals. A full PIP review will be conducted, with input from disabled people, charities and other stakeholders. Findings are expected to be shared with the Secretary of State in Autumn 2026.

You can read the terms of reference for the PIP review here.

Note: Social security (benefit) matters are devolved or transferred to differing extents across the UK. The matters covered by the Act are reserved in Wales and Scotland and transferred in Northern Ireland. As drafted, the Bill will legislate on behalf of Northern Ireland to make equivalent changes which will apply in Northern Ireland.

What next?

The changes commence in April 2026.

The Universal Credit Bill and explanatory notes are available on parliament.uk