Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to ensure those with learning disabilities will not face “repeated reassessments” under the Government’s changes to disability benefits.
During Prime Minister’s Questions Sir Keir said the Government has pledged that those with the most serious disabilities will “never face the prospect of being constantly reassessed”.
The Government last month announced a tightening of eligibility for the main disability benefit, personal independence payment (Pip), and changes to the sickness element of universal credit.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also used her spring statement to confirm that universal credit health benefits for new claimants will be halved in 2026 and then frozen until 2030.
Labour MP Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) said: “Proposed changes to personal independence payments (Pip) mean that people who require various levels of support due to lifelong conditions, such as learning disabilities, will not meet the new eligibility criteria.
“However, the Green Paper introduces a group of people with lifelong conditions who will not be subject to reassessment.
“Can the Prime Minister confirm that people with a learning disability, which is a lifelong condition that will not change, will be included in the group of claimants who will not be subjected to repeated reassessments?”
Sir Keir replied: “We’re clear on the principles for reform, protecting those with the most severe disabilities who will never be able to work, as she references, and making sure people with the most severe disabilities and health conditions will never face the prospect of being constantly reassessed again.
“We are making sure that extra financial support is based on the impact of health condition or disability, not the capacity to work, and I can reassure her we are carefully considering options for transitional protection.”
The Prime Minister was also questioned on Pip by a Labour former shadow minister, who said the Government’s proposed changes should not cause an increase in poverty.
Andy McDonald, who held an employment rights brief in opposition, said: “I very much welcome the employment support proposals in the welfare Green Paper, but the Government has to be clear about the real opportunities it’s offering more than three million families who it says will lose out financially as a result of this package.
“So before asking MPs to vote, can he confirm that we will see fresh OBR analysis, evidence on who will be affected by the Pip changes, and the Government’s own assessment of the employment impact of its measures, and will he confirm that this policy will not result in increased experience of poverty?”
Sir Keir said the Government has introduced £1 billion of tailored employment support and is “reforming a broken system”.
He said: “I think most people accept that it needs reform because it traps people in unemployment and inactivity, and we need to reform it for that reason. The principles will be that we will provide support where support is needed.”
In his exchanges with Sir Ed Davey, the Prime Minister urged the Liberal Democrat leader to “get a bit more serious” about funding for measures proposed by his party.
Sir Ed said the Tories had broken promises on hospital building “leaving appalling conditions like sewage leaks and patients being treated in corridors”.
He asked: “Will the Prime Minister reconsider his decision to further delay the construction of new hospitals and ask his MPs to vote for our motion today for new hospitals?”
Sir Keir replied: “The previous programme from the party opposite was undeliverable and unaffordable, as I think he knows and accepts.
“We put the new hospital programme on a sustainable footing with a timeline that can be met. We’re not prepared to trade on false promises, as they did, and obviously we put record investment into the NHS.
“But I do just gently urge him to one day get a bit more serious about the funding of these measures, because every week he comes here to basically push me on two issues: to spend a lot more money, but at the same time, in the next breath, opposing the measures in the budget to raise the money that’s necessary.”
Sir Ed responded: “Unlike the Prime Minister, we had a funded programme at the election, and I’m disappointed with his reply and I hope he’ll actually visit some of these hospitals to see the urgent need for rebuilding.”
