Reform UK proposes replacing PIP with a Health Security Allowance
Reform UK is proposing to abolish pip for working-age adults and replace it with a narrower Health Security Allowance if it enters government. The proposal is not an immediate change to existing payments, and the party’s full plans are due to be set out in detail on Monday. BBC News
Reform UK proposes replacing PIP with a Health Security Allowance
The proposed overhaul would abolish Personal Independence Payments for working-age people and remove the health-related element of Universal Credit. Reform says both would be replaced by a Health Security Allowance, with cash payments limited to people with the “most severe, enduring and high-risk cases”. BBC News
People with lower-level conditions would instead receive support through a programme run by councils and mayors. Reform says this could cover verifiable additional disability costs, including equipment, adaptations, transport and personal assistance. The Independent
The party says the changes would affect almost three million people. Its estimate is that 2.16 million existing claimants would keep their current cash entitlement in full, while 2.89 million would have their payments modified or withdrawn after reassessment over three to four years. The Independent
The reports do not establish the final eligibility rules, payment rates or detailed assessment process. Those details are expected in the policy document Reform plans to publish next week, although the party has already said it would introduce a single, rigorous in-person assessment for people who had not returned to work after two years.
What Reform says the wider welfare plan would do
Reform UK says its overall welfare proposals would reduce the benefits bill by about £50bn. The party has attributed between £20bn and £22bn of the proposed savings to changes to disability benefits, depending on which part of the plan is being described. The Guardian
The plan would also require companies with more than five employees to take out insurance covering the first two years after a worker is signed off sick. Reform says employers would receive lower National Insurance contributions to offset the cost, making the measure cost-neutral for businesses, and that it would encourage adaptations and a return to work. BBC News
Reform also says it would spend an additional £1.85bn a year on measures including cognitive behavioural therapy, physiotherapy and employment support. Its proposals would extend changes to anxiety, depression and ADHD support for young people, but only to new claimants. BBC News
A separate part of the package would restrict most benefits for foreign nationals, including EU citizens with settled status. The proposed restrictions would cover Universal Credit, housing benefit, pension credit, jobseeker’s allowance, child benefit, free childcare and disability benefits, with limited exemptions. Foreign-born parents with British-born children would still be eligible for child benefit and free school meals under the proposal. The Guardian
Opposition to the proposed changes
Labour described the £50bn saving claim as “fantasy economics” and said reducing disability support could shift costs on to employers. The Conservatives called the proposals “half-baked”, while disability campaigners said cutting financial support would risk pushing disabled people into poverty. BBC News The Independent
The Guardian reported that critics also challenged Reform’s description of disability payments and argued that payments help people meet the extra costs of disability whether or not they are in work. The Guardian
The latest verified position is that Reform has announced the direction of its proposed welfare overhaul, but the full policy detail and how the new assessments and support systems would operate have not yet been published.