Rachel Reeves’ ‘brutal’ cuts to DWP Universal Credit slammed as all modifications confirmed

Further cuts to benefits have been announced by the Chancellor in today’s Spring statement in which she confirmed financial support for people with health conditions will be frozen for new claimants

Benefits claimants are ‘terrified’ at how they’ll survive ‘brutal cuts to already precarious incomes‘ as a result of chancellor Rachel Reeves’s raft of welfare cuts, charities fear.

Ms Reeves announced sweeping benefits cuts as part of her spring statement on Wednesday, including major changes to disability benefits that have prompted a major backlash.

The big headline cuts were made to elements of the Universal Credit (UC) benefits that millions of people receive. She confirmed that the standard allowance of UC will increase from £92 per week to £106 per week by 2029/30.

But crucially, she said that the health element of Universal Credit will be cut by 50% and then frozen for new claimants. This is the component of the benefit that provides financial support for people with health conditions.

The announcement was met with strong criticism from charities that support the most vulnerable, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and information at food poverty charity Trussell said: “The insistence by the Treasury on driving through record cuts to disabled people’s social security to balance the books is both shocking and appalling.

“People at food banks are telling us they are terrified how they’ll survive. These brutal cuts to already precarious incomes won’t help more disabled people find work, but they will risk forcing more people to skip meals and turn to food banks to get by.

“These cruel cuts are out of touch with what voters want from this government. The government says people voted for change, but we know that seven in ten voters across political parties agree the social security for disabled people should at least be enough to cover essential living costs. This is a change for the worse, and it is disabled people who will pay the price.”

Speaking in the Commons, Ms Reeves said: “The Labour Party is the party of work, we believe that if you can work, you should work but if you can’t work, you should be properly supported.

“This government inherited a broken system. More than one thousand people every day are qualifying for Personal Independence Payments, one in eight young people are not in employment, education or training.

“If we do nothing, we are writing off an entire generation, we will not stand for it – it is a waste of their potential and their futures and we will change it.”

Confirming the Universal Credit changes, she said: “The OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) have said that they estimate the package (announced last week) will save £4.8 billion in the welfare budget, reflecting their judgments on behavioural effects and wider factors.

“This also reflects final adjustments to the overall package, consistent with the Secretary of State’s statement last week and the Government’s Pathways to Work Green Paper.

“The Universal Credit standard allowance will increase from £92 per week in 2025-26 to £106 per week by 2029-30, while the Universal Credit health element will be cut by 50% and then frozen for new claimants.”

Ms Reeves also told the Commons that the government is investing £1 billion to help people back into work. She said: “We are investing £1 billion to provide guaranteed, personalised employment support to help people back into work and £400 million to support the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver these reforms effectively and fairly, taking total savings from the package to £3.4 billion.”

“Overall, these plans mean that welfare spending as a share of GDP will fall between 2026-27 and the end of the forecast period. We are reforming our welfare system, making it more sustainable, protecting the most vulnerable and supporting more people back into work.”

Ms Reeves said the Government “inherited a broken system” on welfare, telling MPs: “More than 1,000 people qualify for personal independence payments every single day and one in eight young people are not in employment, education or training.

“If we do nothing, that means we are writing off an entire generation. That cannot be right. It is a waste of their potential and it is a waste of their futures.”

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