Charles Gillies, Policy Co-Chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium and Senior Policy Officer at the MS Society, says:
“Today’s Budget indicates that the government may press ahead with the previous administration’s plan to tighten the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Bold leadership could have been shown to set out a fresh approach, so that the least well off disabled people don’t have to shoulder the burden of meeting economic targets.”

“If implemented, these changes to the WCA would represent a betrayal of the needs of the poorest disabled people. This approach could rob many people with severe health conditions like MS of over £400 a month. Being disabled is hard enough, it can be debilitating, exhausting and unpredictable, and these plans will only cause further anxiety and risk to people’s health. If the government is serious about supporting disabled people into work then it shouldn’t be pursuing policies which stigmatise them and deepen mistrust. The government must start to rebuild trust by providing clarity on their long term plans for the WCA, and prioritising disabled people’s financial security over cost-cutting.

Update: After issuing this statement, the DBC Policy Co-chairs, Charles Gillies, Hannah Nicholls-Harrison, and Geoff Fimister, met with the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms MP. Our understanding is that this government will not adopt the previous government’s proposed restrictions to the Work Capability Assessment criteria entirely, though they are committed to delivering the financial savings attributed to that proposal. They will be consulting with disabled people on how to achieve these savings and on the future of the Work Capability Assessment in early 2025. The DBC will oppose benefit cuts in any form.