PIP: The harshest cut of all

Dr Radha Nair-Roberts, Disabled campaigner with MS

I can hardly believe I am writing this, but in March 2025 the UK Labour government has selected their target for swingeing cuts.

Is it the tax-evading ultra-rich? Is it amoral corporations for whom profit is the end that justifies all?

No

Inexplicably the UK Labour government has decided that the priority for “savings” is to cut support for disabled people.

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Inaccessible

It’s clear to all that our society is not designed to accommodate anyone with an impairment. Streets, public transport and buildings are often inaccessible and not fit to welcome all members of our communities.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are the meagre support offered by the DWP to attempt to correct for this exclusion. The payments are available to people with impairment whether they are in work or not.

In fact many disabled people in work rely on PIP so they can access their workplaces or make adjustments so they can do their jobs.

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Callous

This makes UK Labour’s assertion that cutting PIP will enable more disabled people into work bizarre, misguided and callous.

These small payments are not enough to afford recipients a life of luxury. Instead they offer a modicum of independence and dignity to disabled people and their families who struggle with increased costs.

UK Labour must urgently reconsider the Chancellor’s plan to inflict the most cruel of cuts on the most vulnerable in society.

The Welsh Government in the Senedd must make its opposition absolute to these inhumane policies immediately or lose the support of a quarter of a million PIP recipients and their families in Wales.