Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit: Veterans

(asked on 19th June 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to (a) Universal Credit and (b) Personal Independence Payment on veterans.


Answered by
Stephen Timms Portrait
Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 30th June 2025

No assessment has been made. Information on previous occupations is not systematically recorded on DWP IT systems and is not readily available for analysis.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here: Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.

The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to not to be awarded the daily living component of PIP in future. Our intention is that changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. After that date, people already in receipt of PIP will continue to be treated under the current rules, with only new claimants having the new criterion applied. As a result of behavioural responses to the change, we expect that a higher proportion of new claimants will score 4 points against at least one activity than happens currently.

We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including ensuring health and care needs are met. We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.

We will be making changes so no one currently on PIP will lose PIP as a result of the four-point change. The four point eligibility requirement will be implemented from November 2026 for new claims only, subject to Parliamentary approval.

We take our commitments under the Armed Forces Covenant very seriously. My department has taken steps to ensure that veterans with injuries or conditions arising from their service are appropriately supported when accessing statutory support, this includes the establishment of the Armed Forces Independence Payment and ensuring that those receiving War Disablement Pensions and guaranteed income payments made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme do not have their Universal Credit (UC) reduced to take account of this income.

We have welcomed veterans and representative organisations to respond to our Green Paper consultation to share their views on how wounded, injured and sick veterans can best be supported. To promote further engagement, we recently held a specific consultation event for Armed Forces and veterans’ organisations on 25 June to hear their experiences and thoughts directly.

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