Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

The social security system should be there as a safety net for those most in need—those who are vulnerable, disabled or have ill health—but after 14 years of the Conservatives, it has been left with gaping holes. Disabled people were the ones who suffered the most harm under previous Conservative Governments as well as under their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.

We all know that many disabled people suffered. Indeed, the DWP found that between 2014 and 2020 there were 69 process reviews—for those who do not know, those reviews happen when claimants have committed suicide. The National Audit Office found that in fact the number was probably higher. Just a few weeks ago, the second coroner’s inquest into the death of Jodey Whiting found that the DWP’s failings precipitated her death.

I set that out because it is important that we understand that disabled people’s lives have not been valued or respected for the last 14 years. Then, five years ago, when the pandemic hit, we all know that nearly two thirds of those who lost their lives had either a long-term condition, a disability or ill health. We also know that blanket applications of “do not attempt resuscitation” orders were placed on many. Indeed, Mencap found, and showed in its evidence on that issue, that that was happening to those with a learning disability. When the Government rightly put in place financial support such as the furlough scheme and the £20 uplift to universal credit, again, disabled people on legacy benefits did not attract that support. It is therefore fair to say that disabled people were hammered; in short, our lives were not valued.

In 2009, under the last Labour Government, we signed the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. The coalition Government then came in in 2010 and rather than supporting and implementing that, became the first nation state to be investigated for the way in which they treated disabled people through their welfare reforms. What was found? Grave and systematic violations of the rights of disabled people—and just last year, the update to that review said that there were no significant improvements. That was the record of the last Conservative Government, so we take no lessons from them.

Universal credit and personal independence payment are there as an income-replacement benefit. When we talk about UC and personal independence payment, they are not an out-of-work benefit, and people need to understand that. This is about an extra cost benefit that is there to help those who have a disability and need that additional support.

I come to the Bill, which still includes billions of pounds’ worth of cuts that will have a significant and negative impact on tens of thousands of disabled people. We know that it will potentially create a two-tier—and possibly three-tier—system. It is not me saying that, but the experts—the many organisations that provided Members from across this House with briefings. Imposing that four-point descriptor will mean that many will not be able to get support. If someone like me, who has sight loss, loses their sight in two years’ time, they would potentially not get the support they need. That is unfair and unjust.

It is vital that this Government wait for the OBR’s analysis. The proposals were not developed in consultation with disabled people, nor with us as Members of Parliament. Indeed, the Government’s own impact assessment shows that up to 150,000 people will be affected by the changes, although it will be more than that according to analysis by NEF and many others.

I respect the Minister for Social Security and Disability, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), so I urge the Government to please let us have his review, let us all feed into it and let it be co-produced with disabled people. Let us also wait for Sir Charlie Mayfield’s findings from his Getting Britain Working review. I have met him and I am excited by his work. I welcome some of the other proposals from the Government in their “Pathways to Work” Green Paper on the right to try. That is so important, because I strongly believe that disabled people who want to work should be given the support that they need. Yet we all know that there are far too many challenges in that space.

I stand here as somebody who lives with a disability and as somebody who has served as a shadow Minister for Disabled People for many years. I know their lived experience. It is vital that they are at the centre of all the reforms. We cannot rush through these plans and changes as they will lead to a negative impact. We do not want to see this progressive Labour Government, who want to bring about change, break down barriers and create opportunities for people, end up leaving disabled people worse off.