'The Government is taking money away from the most vulnerable people'

Angie Williams' daughter Vincent suffers from cystic fibrosis, autism and scoliosis and says she'll be able to afford to live if her PIP payment is taken away
Vulnerable people who are claiming PIP have accused the government of targeting society's most vulnerable by stopping benefits as part of the new Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.
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This is despite Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) confirmation that benefit claimants affected by proposed changes to PIP will have their payments protected for a 13 week transitional period.
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Existing claimants affected by changes to the PIP daily living component, including those who lose their eligibility to Carers' Allowance and the carers' element of Universal Credit, who will receive the additional protection, feel it is nowhere near enough.
Vincent Williams , from Hartlepool has cystic fibrosis, autism and scoliosis and is a history student at Nottingham University. Her mum Angie also has multiple health conditions, including cancer, and her dad is retired.
Vincent, 20, says: 'PIP is my lifeline. If it's taken away I'll have no income except student finance – I won't be able to buy groceries and other basic essentials. I won't be able to afford to live.
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'I've been applying for summer jobs – I have the relevant experience ,but I'm not even getting a response. The government says they want people on PIP in work, but how are they going to facilitate this?
'Businesses are less willing to hire people with medical problems. I had a job in 2023 and I told them about my medical issues when they hired me. But on the days when I was ill and needed to go to hospital there was no understanding. They made it clear I was 'inconvenient' and the workplace was not supportive.
'The changes to the point scoring system will affect me as I don't score four in any category – yet my chest problems affect me to the point that some days I can't breathe at all.
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'I am really upset with the Government. People voted for change and voted for a party they thought would be different, but what Labour is doing is going against their own party values.'
Vincent's mum Angie Williams, 56, says: 'Vincent has been looking for work but when people find out about her cystic fibrosis and autism they are not interested.
'There is a lot of discrimination. She is going into her third year and wants to do teaching but who will take her on? Keir Starmer has no idea. How is Vincent supposed to live if PIP is taken off her? The Government is taking money away from the most vulnerable people and I think there will be suicides.''
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A new 13-week transitional period before payments are stopped has been revealed as part of the new Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, released today.
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The additional protection will apply to existing claimants affected by changes to the PIP daily living component, including those who their lose eligibility to Carers Allowance and the carer's element of Universal Credit.
The DWP says this transitional cover is more than three times the length of protection provided from the switch to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP.
DLA used to be the main disability benefit in the UK until it was largely replaced by PIP. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall first announced proposals to change PIP in the House of Commons in March this year, as part of wider measures to reduce the benefits bill by billions of pounds.
Today Ms Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, published the government's universal credit and personal independence payment bill, claiming it represents 'a new social contract' and that it will bring claimants 'peace of mind') She also claimed the three-month transitional payment for people who are losing Pip is 'one of the most generous' transitional payments ever offered as part of a benefit change.

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Times

an hour ago

• Times

‘RFK Jr is a disaster': Staff describe chaos in ‘anti-science' regime

For the workers of Building 21, keeping a low profile is considered the best way to survive. Zoom meetings are avoided out of fear they are being secretly recorded. Conversations about budgets and policies are held in soundproof offices, as if they were matters of national security. Many employees carry small notebooks with them, jotting down notes instead of logging them on a computer. The desks of several sacked colleagues are empty — save for the few who have left family photos and possessions behind in case a judge rules they can return. It sounds like a scene out of Nineteen Eighty-four — yet this is the headquarters of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. Here, staff do everything they can to avoid the twentysomething officials from the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) who stalk the building's corridors, said a global health specialist at Building 21, who asked that his name not be used. 'There is a constant sense that we're being watched and monitored,' the source said. 'Doge leadership are located several floors above but they have this omnipotent presence … We're counted when we swipe our badges into the building.' Ever since Robert F Kennedy Jr was appointed health secretary in February, more than 10,000 staff — many with decades of experience — have been fired. Now, the tens of thousands of health workers and scientists still employed by the US government feel like their lives have been turned upside down, according to ten current and former staff at the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), speaking to The Times. Under instruction from Kennedy and Doge, health priorities have been reset, longstanding scientific norms disrupted and thousands of research programmes cancelled because of their perceived 'wokeness', officials said. 'RFK Jr is a disaster,' said one CDC grant specialist who joined the agency within the past five years. 'He is completely dismantling things to the point where the damage is going to become irreparable.' • Tom Whipple: Trump's tragic war on science could be an opportunity for Britain Kennedy's vision to 'make America healthy again' has sparked the most significant transformation of the country's health infrastructure in generations. And the health secretary's allies argue this reform is long overdue. But in interviews with The Times, sources describe scenes of dysfunction and chaos that threaten to make America sicker. Decades-old research centres dedicated to preventing chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease are being shuttered, one source said. Another claimed that layers of bureaucracy had been added to the approval process for grants, even though Doge's stated aim is to improve government efficiency. A third source said funding was so short that staff were rifling through others' desks for stationery: 'We are literally going through the offices of our fired colleagues to scavenge supplies like paper and pens as we no longer have the ability to buy those types of things.' Asked to comment on the claims, Andrew Nixon, director of communications at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said: 'Secretary Kennedy was appointed to drive bold, necessary reforms in a system long plagued by inefficiency and complacency. 'Streamlining outdated programmes, ensuring fiscal discipline and demanding transparency are not attacks on science — they are a defence of it. Secretary Kennedy remains committed to evidence-based leadership that serves the American people — not the preservation of status-quo bureaucracies.' Kennedy's crusade to overhaul America's vaccine policies has generated the most controversy. Earlier this month he abruptly fired all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunisation practices (ACIP), a group that has reviewed vaccine trial data and advised the government on which jabs to approve for more than six decades. The former independent presidential candidate, who has claimed for years that some vaccines are unsafe and could cause autism, said the committee was hobbled by conflicts of interest. Firing its members en masse, he said, would 're-establish public confidence in vaccine science'. Days later he hired eight new advisers, including a Covid conspiracy theorist and prominent critic of pandemic-era lockdowns. Dr Charlotte Moser, one of the 17 sacked experts, said vaccines were being 'politicised' under Kennedy. 'My fear at this moment is for the health of the people of the United States if vaccines become less available,' she told The Times in her first public interview since her dismissal. She pointed to the removal of Covid-19 vaccines from the list of jabs recommended for pregnant women and children — a decision that was made last month without any input from Moser and her colleagues, and which 'does not align with the science', she said. Dr Yvonne Maldonado, another former committee member, warned that 'the firings, disruption and the chaos' of Kennedy's administration were 'incredibly damaging' and unlikely to benefit public health. 'I can't think that these downstream impacts are going to be good ones,' she said in her first public comments. month Kennedy announced 'Generation Gold Standard' — a $500 million initiative to develop vaccines using technology dating from the 1950s. Scientists fear it marks a step back from newer, more innovative vaccine technologies like the mRNA platform, which was used for several highly effective Covid vaccines but has been demonised by antivaxers, including the organisation that Kennedy once chaired, Children's Health Defence. An NIH source with knowledge of the initiative said the senior leadership had bypassed all the 'typical internal scientific review, discussions and grant-making processes' to launch the programme. The source said Kennedy was 'fixated on a link between vaccines and autism' and described the programme as a 'waste of money'. 'He's dropping half a billion dollars on God knows what,' said the NIH source, who asked not to be named because he is still working for the agency. • Meet the antivax whisperer fighting the vaccine slump Preventing chronic disease is one of the cornerstones of Kennedy's mission. In proposals that are widely supported, he has pledged to improve the quality of American produce, crack down on ultra-processed foods, detoxify the environment, diminish people's dependence on drugs and promote cleaner, healthier lifestyles. But insiders say the teams of experts needed to achieve these aims are being dismantled. 'He's shooting himself in the foot,' said a federal worker who was recently fired from the CDC's global health centre. Earlier this year the CDC's childhood lead-poisoning prevention programme was shuttered — despite one in two American toddlers showing detectable levels of lead, a neurotoxin that can cause cognitive impairments and developmental issues, in their blood. No reason was given for the programme's closure. It meant the CDC was unable to help when Wisconsin requested formal aid to tackle a growing lead-contamination crisis in its schools in March. 'Due to the complete loss of our lead programme, we will be unable to support you with this,' the CDC said in response. Kennedy later said the lead programme's 26-person team would be rehired, but one CDC source close to the situation told The Times: 'Those folks are not back yet.' It is also understood that the Prevention Research Centres (PRC) programme — a network of 20 research hubs dedicated to chronic disease prevention in poorer communities in the United States — is to be closed after its team of federal scientists was fired in April. 'They're saying that they're just going to cancel the entire programme,' a CDC source with knowledge of discussions said. Universities and clinics partnered with the PRC programme, like Georgia State University and the Arkansas Centre for Women's Health, have been 'left in the dark about what happens next, with no one available to answer their questions'. Established in 1984 and renewed last year for another five years, the programme is likely to have prevented thousands of premature deaths from obesity, addiction, diabetes and cancer. 'It's one of the country's most vital and important research programs,' the CDC source said. At the FDA, experts responsible for inspecting factories to ensure food products are safe have been hamstrung by the mass firing of project managers, administrators and communication specialists, according to one source from the agency's human foods programme. 'These are the people who keep the day-to-day operations running,' the source said. Inspectors are now expected to book flights and hotels for assignments using their own credit cards, but because it can take weeks to get reimbursed many are reluctant to travel, the FDA source said. He added that a hiring freeze and funding constraints had made it harder for laboratories to analyse samples, further slowing the inspection process. 'The erosion of the oversight will eventually result in [food producers] cutting corners, maybe not being caught as quickly,' said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. 'As a result, things are going to slip and people will get sick.' • RFK Jr and Dr Oz are on a mission to save Canadian ostriches With Kennedy unable to pursue his vision of reform amid the disruption, questions are being raised over who really is in charge of the nation's health. One source speculated that it is Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, who is calling the shots. 'It's unclear to me how much RFK is actually in charge versus other Trump appointees, like Vought,' said a CDC programme co-ordinator with more than ten years at the agency. 'Kennedy clearly has certain ideas he's interested in but at this point it seems more about cutting programmes than anything else.' Despite the push to save money and improve efficiency, three sources criticised Kennedy's team of Doge officials for adding extra layers of bureaucracy to the processing of CDC grants. Every time a grant recipient wishes to make a drawdown from their funding allocation they must now fill out a questionnaire, which gets sent to Doge for final approval. Previously, grant recipients who had been meticulously assessed and cleared for funding could access their money whenever they wanted. 'It's the exact opposite of efficiency,' the CDC grants specialist said. Among staff who have been fired — but whose contracts remain in limbo as federal judges review whether Kennedy's mass terminations are lawful — many said they had no desire to return to an administration they accused of being anti-science. 'There's been a number of different steps that we could take to potentially get back into the agency and I haven't taken any of them,' said the worker fired from the CDC global health centre. 'What this administration is doing, whether it's RFK, Trump or Doge, is so antithetical to my own values that I can't work there any more.' As for those continuing to labour under Kennedy's regime, there is not much hope for the future. 'It's the perpetual anxiety, it's the lack of knowing anything that is going on. There is no plan in place,' said the global health specialist in Building 21. 'This will have real consequences for people both here in America and overseas. It breaks my heart.'

Rhyl Journal

3 hours ago

• Rhyl Journal

ADHD waiting list led to rise in unregulated private providers

The ADHD taskforce, commissioned by NHS England with the support of the Government, has published an interim report saying the system for diagnosing and managing ADHD needs to be overhauled. At the moment, ADHD assessment and treatment in England is provided by highly specialised doctors in secondary care. But the report warned: 'Inability to access NHS services has led to a significant growth in the use of private providers that are not regulated, resulting in two-tier access to services, diagnosis and treatment; one for those who can pay and another for those who cannot. 'This drives health inequalities and links to disproportionate impacts and outcomes in the education and justice systems, employment and health.' Experts behind the study said waiting times for NHS ADHD services 'have escalated and are unacceptably long' and demand on services is 'very likely' to continue to rise. The taskforce concluded that ADHD is not solely the remit of the NHS and other health providers, with schools being vital for identifying and meeting needs at an early stage. And while a clinical diagnosis of ADHD via the NHS is required if a person needs medication, early support can still be provided to others. The report said: 'We need timely recognition and early support of suspected ADHD and neurodivergence across all settings. 'This is especially important in schools and the early years, to prevent adverse impacts and costly outcomes in the future. This should be needs-led and not require a clinical diagnosis.' The report also suggested there is no evidence of over-diagnosis of ADHD in the UK. It argued: 'England and the rest of the UK have much lower service recognition and treatment rates of ADHD diagnosis compared with other European countries. 'Recent data show a very high level of under-recognition and under-treatment of strictly diagnosed ADHD, with significant inequalities in access to care.' The report also addressed concerns about potential 'over-medicalisation and over-diagnosis', including worries that people are self-diagnosing ADHD based on information from social media. However, the report, said that 'currently there is no good evidence on what percentage of those waiting to see a clinician have self-diagnosed ADHD using social media and eventually meet or do not meet ADHD diagnostic criteria after a high-quality assessment. 'We only know currently that in England, recognised rates of ADHD are lower than the expected prevalence of ADHD.' Currently, the estimated economic costs of not treating ADHD are around £17 billion to the UK economy, the report went on. This includes through lower tax contributions, people needing state benefits and more likely to be not in education, employment or training, or who are long-term unemployed. 'Many of these costs are avoidable, as with appropriate, early support, people with ADHD can thrive,' it said. Professor Anita Thapar, chair of the ADHD Taskforce, said: 'The recommendations put forward by the taskforce will require action across Government and cross-sector organisations to make the necessary changes to improve the lives of people with ADHD. 'We need to get this right, to make sure people get early diagnosis and support, not just in the NHS but across society.' Dr Adrian James, NHS England's medical director for mental health and neurodiversity, said: 'We know that too many people with ADHD have been waiting for too long for support, which is why we launched the taskforce last year to help respond to the significant growth in the need for care. 'It is clear that much more needs to be done to improve ADHD assessment and care in England and ensure people can get a timely diagnosis, and we welcome the findings from the interim report, and look forward to its final conclusions later this year.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Lord Darzi's report into the state of the NHS laid out how severe the delays have become for people waiting for an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis. 'We welcome the publication of the ADHD Taskforce's interim report, which provides valuable insights into the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including access to services and support.' The NHS has launched publicly-available data collection on ADHD referrals and waiting times to help local teams better understand how they are performing. By March 2026, the Government also aims for six in 10 pupils to have access to a mental health support team in school.

South Wales Argus

5 hours ago

• South Wales Argus

Assisted dying: All you need to know following the crunch Commons vote

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the Bill and what happens next after a significant moment in its journey to become law. – What is in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill? The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has since been amended by a committee (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death. This would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. The terminally ill person would take an approved substance, provided by a doctor but administered only by the person themselves. On Friday, MPs voted 314 to 291, majority 23, in favour of legalising assisted dying as they completed the mainstay of their work on the Bill. It will now face further debate in the House of Lords. – When would assisted dying be available if the Bill became law? Kim Leadbeater is the MP behind the Bill (Jordan Pettitt/PA) The implementation period has been doubled to a maximum of four years from royal assent, the point it is rubber stamped into law, rather than the initially suggested two years. If the Bill was to pass later this year that would mean it might not be until 2029, potentially coinciding with the end of this Government's parliament, that assisted dying was being offered. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who is the parliamentarian behind the Bill and put forward the extended timeframe, has insisted it is 'a backstop' rather than a target, as she pledged to 'hold the Government's feet to the fire' on implementing legislation should the Bill pass. The extended implementation period was one of a number of changes made since the Bill was first introduced to the Commons back in October. – What other changes have there been? A High Court safeguard was scrapped during the committee process (Alamy/PA) On Friday, MPs bolstered the Bill so people with eating disorders are ruled out of falling into its scope. Another amendment, requiring ministers to report within a year of the Bill passing on how assisted dying could affect palliative care, was also approved by MPs. Previously, a High Court safeguard was dropped, with the oversight of judges in the assisted dying process replaced with expert panels. The change was much criticised by opponents, who said it weakened the Bill, but Ms Leadbeater has argued it strengthens it. At the end of a weeks-long committee process earlier this year to amend the Bill, Ms Leadbeater said rather than removing judges from the process, 'we are adding the expertise and experience of psychiatrists and social workers to provide extra protections in the areas of assessing mental capacity and detecting coercion while retaining judicial oversight'. Changes were also made to ensure the establishment of independent advocates to support people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions and to set up a disability advisory board to advise on legal implementation and impact on disabled people. Amendments added earlier this month during report stage in the Commons will also see assisted dying adverts banned if the Bill becomes law, and a prohibition on medics being able to speak to under-18s about assisted dying. – Do we know much more about the potential impact of such a service coming in? A Government impact assessment, published earlier this month, estimated that between 164 and 647 assisted deaths could potentially take place in the first year of the service, rising to between 1,042 and 4,559 in year 10. The establishment of a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner and three-member expert panels would cost an estimated average of between £10.9 million and £13.6 million per year, the document said. It had 'not been possible' to estimate the overall implementation costs at this stage of the process, it added. While noting that cutting end-of-life care costs 'is not stated as an objective of the policy', the assessment estimated that such costs could be reduced by as much as an estimated £10 million in the first year and almost £60 million after 10 years. – Do healthcare staff have to take part in assisted dying? Doctors will not have to take part in assisted dying (Lynne Cameron/PA) It was already the case that doctors would not have to take part, but MPs have since voted to insert a new clause into the Bill extending that to anyone. The wording means 'no person', including social care workers and pharmacists, is obliged to take part in assisted dying and can now opt out. Amendments to the Bill were debated on care homes and hospices also being able to opt out but these were not voted on. Ms Leadbeater has previously said there is nothing in the Bill to say they have to, nor is there anything to say they do not have to, adding on the Parliament Matters podcast that this is 'the best position to be in' and that nobody should be 'dictating to hospices what they do and don't do around assisted dying'. – What will happen next? MPs debated the Bill in the House of Commons (Malcolm Croft/PA) Friday's vote in the Commons makes it more likely for the assisted dying Bill to become law, now that it has the backing of a majority of MPs. But this is not guaranteed, and first it must continue on a journey through Parliament. The Bill now heads to the House of Lords, as both Houses of Parliament must agree its final text before it can be signed into law. During the next stages, peers are expected to put forward amendments to the Bill. If the Commons disagrees with these amendments, this will spark a process known as 'ping pong' which will continue until both Houses agree over its text. – Will the Bill definitely become law? There is a risk that the Bill could be stuck in a deadlock between the House of Commons and House of Lords, as it goes back and forth in disagreement. If this continues until the current session of Parliament ends, then the Bill would fall. Ms Leadbeater told journalists on Friday she hoped there were no attempts to purposefully wreck it by peers. 'I really hope there are no funny games, because the process has been extremely fair,' she said. The Spen Valley MP said she did not know when the current parliamentary session would end, but suggested it could stretch into late 2025, giving her Bill the best part of six months to complete the full parliamentary process. Speaking about the end of the session to reporters, Ms Leadbeater said: 'I am not imagining that is going to be imminently, but it could be before the end of the year.' One member of the House of Lords, Bishop of London Dame Sarah Mullally, has already indicated she is against it. The Church of England bishop said peers 'must oppose' the assisted dying Bill when it reaches them because of the 'mounting evidence that it is unworkable and unsafe'. – What about assisted dying in the rest of the UK and Crown Dependencies? The Isle of Man's parliament took its final vote in favour of assisted dying in March (Alamy/PA) The Isle of Man looks likely to become the first part of the British Isles to legalise assisted dying, after its proposed legislation passed through a final vote of the parliament's upper chamber in March. In what was hailed a 'landmark moment', members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in May voted in favour of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, backing its general principles. It will now go forward for further scrutiny and amendments but will become law only if MSPs approve it in a final vote, which should take place later this year. Any move to legalise assisted dying in Northern Ireland would have to be passed by politicians in the devolved Assembly at Stormont. Jersey's parliament is expected to debate a draft law for an assisted dying service on the island for terminally ill people later this year. With a likely 18-month implementation period if a law is approved, the earliest it could come into effect would be summer 2027.