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My vote on welfare reform

2 July 2025

Many thanks to all those who wrote to me with their worries about the proposed changes to welfare support. I appreciate people’s concerns and have acted upon them.

As someone who has campaigned alongside Disabled people as an ally for many years and who has championed the principle of “nothing about us without us”, I’ve been working hard with colleagues to improve the government’s plans.

I hope you will agree that, as of today, things are in a much better place.

  • There will be a larger, £2.2 billion programme of employment support for Disabled people, with more upfront funding to get this going sooner than planned.

  • Everyone who currently gets Personal Independent Payments (PIP) will have their benefits protected.

  • The PIP assessment system will not change for new claimants until after a review (including points and criteria) led by Sir Stephen Timms, Social Security and Disability Minister. Crucially, this review will be co-produced with Disabled people and organisations themselves.

  • People with lifelong health conditions who will never be able to work will no longer face future Universal Credit reassessments and will get the higher rate of UC health top-up, which will rise in line with inflation.

  • A new “Right to Try” will allow people to try out a job without fear of losing benefits if it doesn’t work out, so starting paid work won’t be treated as a “change of circumstances” and won’t trigger a reassessment.

It has taken a fair bit of work to get here and I set this out below, with apologies for the length.

Green Paper

On 18 March, the government set out plans in a Green Paper for helping Disabled people into work and changing the benefits system.

I had significant concerns that the proposal to change the PIP assessment criteria from November 2026 would drive many people into poverty – and that Disabled people hadn’t been properly involved or consulted about the changes.

While I welcomed the focus on employment support (including the “Right to Try”), I also felt that there needed to be more funding for this upfront to make a difference sooner.

My worries were informed and reinforced by what I heard from Disabled people in individual conversations and at a meeting held by Action on Disability in Fulham.

Welfare Bill

Having made my concerns known behind the scenes, I was disappointed that the Welfare Bill published on 18 June did not address them.

As a result, I joined more than 120 Labour MPs in signing a “reasoned amendment” to the Welfare Bill which would have stopped it from proceeding at “second reading” on 1 July. I also reinforced my concerns directly with senior ministers.

Changes

On 30 June, the government announced several important changes to its proposals.

  • Existing PIP claimants’ current benefits would be protected.

  • There would be a review of PIP assessments for new applicants, led by Stephen Timms and co-produced with Disabled people and organisations (“the Timms Review”).

  • Plans were dropped to freeze the health-related component of Universal Credit so this would instead rise in line with inflation.

  • An extra £300 million would be invested to help Disabled people into work sooner originally than planned.

While this responded to the large part of my concerns, I still felt that it made no sense to change the PIP assessment criteria until the Timms Review had been completed.

I pursued this further with senior ministers, including the Prime Minister.

Further changes

On 1 July, Stephen Timms confirmed in the House of Commons that the government would not make any changes to the PIP assessment criteria until after his forthcoming review.

This is a significant and hugely welcome change. It means that Disabled people themselves now have the chance to create a new PIP system in co-production with the government – a historic opportunity. The existing system will not change until this has happened.

How I voted

On this basis, I withdrew my support for the reasoned amendment – which had achieved its desired effect – and voted for the Bill.

Next steps

In the next days, I expect the government to amend the Bill to give effect to the changes it has promised. If it does so, I plan to support the Bill at its final stage of “third reading”.

We now have the prospect of meaningful welfare reform built on dignity, partnership and co-production. The pledge to co-produce the review of PIP assessments with Disabled people is a major step forward both for this measure and for how the government works with Disabled people in future.

I will keep working closely with Disabled people, charities and campaigners to make sure this happens – in line with my personal commitment always to be an ally for Disabled people.

I hope you find this helpful. Thank you again to everyone for getting in touch and speaking up.

Best wishes

Ben Coleman

Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham

Promoted by Nikos Souslous on behalf of Ben Coleman, both at 28 Greyhound Road, London, W6 8NX