The Resolution Foundation has warned that more than half a million people on benefits are likely to see their support cut back as a result of the UK Government’s welfare reforms. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced what he described as the “biggest change to our welfare system in a decade” during Wednesday’s Spring Budget, with the scrapping of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to assess eligibility for sickness benefits.
The reforms, dubbed by the UK Government as shifting the focus onto what people can do rather than what they cannot, would mean only the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) would remain in future. New claims for PIP have been replaced in Scotland by the new Adult Disability Payment (ADP), with more than 320,000 existing PIP claimants set to transfer from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) system to the devolved benefit by the end of 2025.
Mr Hunt said he wanted to remove barriers to work, by ensuring disabled benefit claimants “will always be able to seek work without fear of losing financial support”.
