IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Money and Mental Health response to government welfare concessions

27 June 2025

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has responded to government concessions on its plans to reform Personal Independence Payments eligibility.

In March the government announced plans to restrict eligibility to the ‘daily living’ component of PIP, which is intended to help people whose condition makes it difficult to complete daily tasks such as preparing meals, cleaning and dressing, communicating and making budgeting decisions.

But responding to mounting political opposition to these reforms, the government has promised concessions which are set out in a leaked letter from Liz Kendall MP (the Work and Pensions Secretary) to Labour MPs. They will include:

• Ensuring that people currently receiving PIP will stay within the current system, with the new eligibility requirements only being implemented from November 2026 for new claims only.
• Existing recipients of the Universal Credit health element — and any new claimant meeting the severe conditions criteria — will have their incomes fully protected in real terms.
• A ministerial review of the PIP assessment, including “co-production with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and MPs so their views and voices are heard.”
• Front loading employment support for sick and disabled people, something called for by Money and Mental Health.

Responding to these changes, Helen Undy, Chief Executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said:

“These concessions will alleviate some of the anxiety that people with mental health problems have experienced due to the planned PIP cuts. But they expose a policy-making system led by political chess rather than real people’s lived experiences – and the collateral damage to people’s mental health over the last few months has been significant and unacceptable.

“The proposals also risk creating systemic inequality in the welfare system, in which current PIP claimants are protected, but people with the exact same needs after November 2026 will be denied support. The concessions will also penalise people with fluctuating mental health conditions, who may move in and out of eligibility for PIP and will find themselves subject to the new harsher eligibility rules unlike those with a more static condition.

“Ultimately these concessions seem designed more to help the government win the vote next week, than to address the serious harms that its PIP changes will cause for many people with mental health problems.”

ENDS

To set up an interview or for any other media enquiries, please contact Brian Semple, Head of External Affairs and Income, on 07935 216 804 or [email protected]