New welfare reforms update for people on Adult Disability Payment

The DWP is set to transfer PIP eligibility and assessments from November next year.
The Scottish Government has announced it will not mirror the planned changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in Adult Disability Payment (ADP). The latest Social Security Scotland figures show that at the end of April there were 476,295 people receiving financial support of up to £187.45 per week through the devolved disability benefit.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has urged the UK Government to protect and enhance social security rather than making cuts.The UK Government published the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on Wednesday, which includes the details of the first set of changes to ill-health and disability benefits.
The Bill will provide 13-weeks of additional financial security to existing claimants affected by changes to the PIP daily living component, including those who lose eligibility to Carers Allowance and the carer's element of Universal Credit.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: 'The UK Government's proposed reforms will be hugely damaging to those who rely on social security support, particularly during the ongoing cost of living crisis. These plans have yet to be passed at Westminster, so there is still time for the UK Government to step back from this damaging policy and I strongly urge them to scrap their harmful proposals.
'The UK Government's own analysis highlights how the proposals will push 250,000 more people across the UK into poverty - including 50,000 children. With around half of all children in poverty in Scotland living in a household with a disabled person, the changes threaten to undermine the progress that we are making to reduce child poverty, and the work of the UK Government's Child Poverty Taskforce.
'That the UK Government is prioritising deep cuts to disabled people's support is made even worse by their failure to abolish the two-child limit, which is estimated to have pushed more than 35,000 children into poverty since July last year.'
She added: 'The reforms do not reflect the Scottish Government's values. We will not let disabled people down or cast them aside as the UK Government has done. We will not cut Scotland's Adult Disability Payment.
'The UK Government should follow our lead and protect the social security safety system, rather than dismantling it. If they do not, then disabled people can draw no other conclusion than the UK Government remain content to balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable.'
Proposed PIP changes and online consultation
Proposed package of reforms to overhaul the welfare system, include:
Ending reassessments for disabled people who will never be able to work and people with lifelong conditions to ensure they can live with dignity and security.
Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment to end the process that drives people into dependency, delivering on the UK Government's manifesto commitment to reform or replace it.
Providing improved employment support backed by £1 billion including new tailored support conversations for people on health and disability benefits to break down barriers and unlock work.
Legislating to protect those on health and disability benefits from reassessment or losing their payments if they take a chance on work.
To ensure the welfare system is available for those with the greatest needs now and in the future, the UK Government has made decisions to improve its sustainability and protect those who need it most.
These include:
Reintroducing reassessments for people on incapacity benefits who have the capability to work to ensure they have the right support and are not written off.
Targeting PIP for those with higher needs by changing the eligibility requirement to a minimum score of four on at least one of the daily living activities to receive the daily living element of the benefit, in addition to the existing eligibility criteria.
Rebalancing payment levels in Universal Credit to improve the Standard Allowance.
Consulting on delaying access to the health element of Universal Credit until someone is aged 22 and reinvesting savings into work support and training opportunities through the Youth Guarantee.
DWP also launched an online consultation on the new proposals to coincide with the publication of the Green paper.
The consultation can be completed by anyone and is open until June 30, 2025 - you can find full details on GOV.UK here.

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