There were no big surprises for claimants in today’s budget, but a continued lack of certainty about what the future will bring. In particular, there is still no clarity about how the work capability assessment (WCA) will change and no mention whatsoever of changes to personal independence payment (PIP).

WCA

In today’s budget the chancellor announced that “We inherited the last government’s plan to reform the work capability assessment.  We will deliver the savings as part of our fundamental reform to the health and disability benefits system that my right honourable friend the work and pensions secretary will bring forward.”

So, the chancellor appears to be saying that Labour will match the projected savings to the DWP that were to be made by the Conservative’s WCA changes, but she has not confirmed that the savings will be made in the same way. 

ESA to UC migration

It is hardly news, but the budget document does confirm the ESA to UC managed migration has begun.

“The government will accelerate the migration of claimants onto UC from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), bringing the start date forward from 2028 to September 2024. This move will bring more people into a modern benefit regime, continuing to ensure they are supported to look for and move into work. Around half of ESA claimants will receive more financial support on UC, while others will receive transitional protection to ensure nobody is worse off at the point at which they move over to UC.”

Carers allowance

The weekly earnings limit for carer’s allowance is to be increased to the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national living wage. 

The chancellor also said that Labour also looking at a way to remove the current cliff edge, where going even a penny over the earnings limit ends eligibility for carer’s allowance.

The budget document states:

“The government is also giving carers greater flexibility to work and increase their financial security by raising the Carer’s Allowance Weekly Earnings Limit to the equivalent of 16 hours at the NLW. The changes will support those receiving  Carer’s Allowance, 70% of which are women, to start work or work more hours.64 This is an increase of £45 per week and will allow over 60,000 more carers to access Carer’s Allowance.65 This will be the largest increase to the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976.”

“The government also recently announced an independent review into overpayments of Carer’s Allowance, which will consider how they occurred and what operational changes can be made to minimise the risk of future overpayments. Alongside this, the government will also carry out further work on the earnings limit to explore what more can be done to help support more carers into work.”

Fraud and error

In her speech, the chancellor confirmed that the DWP will be able to access claimants’ bank accounts.

Reeves said “I can today announce a crackdown on fraud in our welfare system, often the work of criminal gangs.  We will expand DWP’s counter fraud teams using innovative new methods to prevent illegal activity and provide new legal powers to crackdown on fraudsters, including direct access to bank accounts to recover debt.”

The budget document confirms that:

“The government is expanding DWP’s fraud and error staff by 3,000, as part of its £110 million investment in 2025-26 to tackle fraud and error. This is expected to deliver gross savings of £705 million in 2029-30. “

“The government will increase DWP’s powers to recover debt as part of the forthcoming Fraud, Error and Debt Bill. This is expected to save £260 million in 2029-30. “

“The government will invest in DWP to carry out additional checks on Universal Credit claimants who have changes in their circumstances, as part of a £110 million investment in 2025-26 to tackle fraud and error. This is expected to save £250 million in 2029-30.”

Universal credit  debt recovery

The government will reduce the proportion of money UC claimants can have deducted to repay debts from 25% down to 15% of the standard allowance.

“In addition, the government is helping low-income households on UC by allowing them to pay off their debts over a longer timeframe and keep more of their UC each month. The government is creating a new Fair Repayment Rate which caps debt repayments made through UC at 15% of the standard allowance. This will benefit around 1.2 million households as they will keep more of their UC award each month, with households expected to be better off by £420 a year on average. Around 700,000 of the poorest families with children will benefit as a result of this change, supporting the government’s ambition to tackle child poverty.”

Benefits uprating

The chancellor confirmed that working age benefits will be uprated by just 1.7% in April 2025.

“DWP and HMRC working age benefits uprating for 2025-26 – The government will uprate working age benefits by September 2024 CPI of 1.7% from April 2025. This will see around 5.7 million families on Universal Credit gain £150 on average in 2025-26.”

Get Britain working

The Chancellor confirmed that “The government will shortly be publishing the Get Britain Working white paper tackling the root causes of inactivity with an integrated approach across health, education and welfare.”

The budget document states:

“ Get Britain Working White Paper – The government will shortly publish the Get Britain Working White Paper which will set out its £240 million investment to trail new ways of getting people back into work. The government will test new approaches and collect robust evidence on how to tackle the root causes of ill-health-related inactivity, support young people who are ‘not in education, employment, or training’ (NEET), and help people to develop their careers.”

“Get Britain Working Trailblazers – As part of the Get Britain Working package, the government will establish eight trailblazer areas across England and Wales that bring together health, employment and skills services to improve the support available to those who are inactive due to ill health and help them return to work. This will include NHS England Health and Growth Accelerators in at least three Integrated Care Systems to develop evidence of the impact of targeted action on the top health conditions driving economic inactivity.“

You can download the full budget document here

 

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 7 days ago
    And how awful that the budget document doesn’t have a dedicated section for disability.

    Instead they get a brief mention within the ‘FRAUD prevention section’

    ‘Fraud and error in the welfare system costs the government almost £10 billion a year. The government is cracking down on this with a package of measures saving £4.3 billion in 2029-30. The government will set out reforms to health and disability benefits early in 2025 to ensure the system supports people who can work to remain in or start employment, in a way that is fair and fiscally sustainable.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Deb No they didnt.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Gastuuu Did anybody after the budget even ask any questions about disabled people? Any journalists?  If they did I missed it?  Are we losing the LCWRA? Gosh, my head is spinning 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Gastuuu WHAT  not said  if u claim get LCWRA , NOW  what happens from april 2025  When new rules come in for NEW  claims to lcw/ lcwra .  & 61 payed 42  yrs class1 , ni, tax (paye)  OUR  money paid in GOVERTNMENTS  forget this .  I  had to give up work due disability degenrative for life . DUE  to industrial accident 38 yrs back .  LCWRA  . U UNFIT  for work  LABOUR / TORYS Dont / want understand  CANT  UNDERSTAND this / except this=  === LCWRA , MEANS .  
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 7 days ago
    Carers Allowance = good news. It was a scandal considering the huge savings that carers provide.

    Benefits uprating - not happy at the disparity between the 1.7% increase and the 4.1% to the state pension

    Get Britain working - await the white paper

    UC debt recovery - sensible, although the debt still take longer to clear which might prove problematic for some claimants

    Nothing on reform of PIP but suspect there will be primary legislation or a white paper come the spring.

    Personally, couldn't we have had 10p cut in the cost of a pint?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 5 days ago
      @darinfan It’s not just working people.  The benefit that disabled pensioners can claim if they have care is Attendance Allowance.  It’s going up by 1.7% as well.  I will get an extra £1.83 pence a week.  

      What shall I buy with that?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Matt To be honest, the 1.7% increase won't be felt at all by many people, as we're moving from ESA to UC, and the transition process mean we won't get an increase anyway.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 7 days ago
    Here’s to more worrying about what the future will hold. Does it ever end.

    I wonder if the disgusting conservative  measures regarding substantial risk being removed for most cases will be implemented by labour still?

     
    I also do wonder if they will be going ahead with the only policy that Seemed positive out of the proposed wca changes.

    The conservative proposed ‘chance to work guarantee’ , for people currently assessed as LCWRA that was supposed to be implemented in 2025 . 

    This was supposed to mean those currently assessed as LCWRA would no longer be assessed and given the opportunity to work without fear of losing there LCWRA if it doesn’t work out.

    I read in the new budget document that the new plan for health and disability will be set out early 2025.

    What a long few months this will be .

    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Gastuuu "The conservative proposed ‘chance to work guarantee’ , for people currently assessed as LCWRA that was supposed to be implemented in 2025 .

      This was supposed to mean those currently assessed as LCWRA would no longer be assessed and given the opportunity to work without fear of losing there LCWRA if it doesn’t work out."

      Yep - I have been wondering about this myself over the past year. It was a good idea in principle, so I hope they manage to work with this going forward.

      It plays into where I am at currently and the problems I have in terms of being more active.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 7 days ago
    Can we infer for UC claimants, that there will be some consideration towards people actively getting treatment for things that can be treated? Ie they won’t have their benefits removed if they are getting help?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Col You can't infer anything these people see us as frauds and parasites.  You can't rely on anything .
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 7 days ago
    It's all still up in the air then, no reassurance or easing of the anxiety we're all increasingly suffering until this paper is published. Praying that the charities and disability rights organisations are tooled up for the fight back.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 2 days ago
      @Muppet TRUE  LABOUR 2024  no diffrent torys  2010- 2024  SAM  hard attituide  for folk disabilitys 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Stoko It doesn't matter what the charities or the experts say they go right a head and do what they intend anyway . It matters not the suffering it causes like one person said on here the only mention disability got was under the fraud section so that speakes volumes of what they actually think of the disabled . I'll give it 10 years before they will reopen the work houses for the disabled they can't get to work and rename them disabled retraining centers . It's coming back to dickensian treatment of the sick and disabled .
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 7 days ago
    Transitional protection is a lie, as we will definitely receive less money over time.  Each time we are due an increase due to inflation, it will come out of our transitional protection money. 

    They are taking money that we need, the disability premiums exist for a reason.  I have no idea how they can do this unopposed, it's a really horrible situation. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 7 days ago
      @Alex It got passed under the previous govt, and a long time ago.  There's not really any way that they can reverse that, not least because people who went straight to UC when they became ill or disabled never had the premiums (or transitions) in the first place.  So, it would be a two-tier system.  It was a stupid idea to start with, though, as it meant that someone like myself was never going to take a temporary job because, after, I would have gone straight to UC at £50+ a week less than I was getting before I took the work.   IDS's system is/was heavily flawed.

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