Labour to plough ahead with 'dangerous' DWP shake-up despite warnings

Labour is carrying on a "dangerous" Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reform, it has been warned. In today’s budget the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the Labour Party "inherited the last government’s plan to reform the work capability assessment."

Ms Reeves said: "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.” Anti-poverty charity Z2K called for the Labour government – which the charity say has been “worryingly silent” on its plans for the WCA – to drop these Tory-era plans.

“We’re very concerned that the new government has yet to rule out bringing forward these dangerous and poorly thought-out plans,” said Anela Anwar, Z2K chief executive. “We’re calling on the government to do the right thing and scrap these half-baked, deeply harmful plans.’

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More than 11,000 people have signed a petition calling for the WCA reforms to be dropped. Miracle Maduforo previously called on the government to “inject compassion and understanding” into policy. Maduforo, who has multiple disabilities including a visual impairment, said: “Disabled people have ambitions and hopes."

"We want stability so we can live the lives we wish to live,” he said. “People are unique. Everybody has different needs… if the assessor is not aware about the issues that disabled people face, how are they going to make the right decisions for that person?”

Another claimant Carl described his experience with the WCA as “traumatic.” “For those whole 18 months, I was sort of questioning myself. They’re telling me there’s nothing wrong with me – you start thinking, is this all in my head? Or, you know, am I? Am I actually just being lazy and can’t be bothered to work?” he asked the Big Issue.

Thomas Lawson, CEO of anti-poverty charity Turn2us, says: “Today’s Budget doesn’t go far enough. Our broken social security system is trapping millions of us in poverty. There are some positive steps, like raising the minimum wage and easing debt for Universal Credit recipients. But it’s not enough. The reforms to the Work Capability Assessment should be scrapped. They risk leaving 450,000 people, whose health prevents them from working, nearly £5,000 a year worse off.

“The government needs to act. Scrap the two-child limit, scrap the 5-week wait, and raise Universal Credit to cover essentials. It’s time for a social security system that’s compassionate, free from stigma, and shaped by people with lived experience.”