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Stories on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) please

ended 11. August 2025

Hi all, the Daily Star is looking for stories on the themes of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Any and all comments welcome on these subjects, we want our users to point out any stories or alert us to any intel.

  • Are there any changes to PIP in the pipeline? 
  • What could Reeves change to them to plug the £42bn financial black hole?
  • What advice do you have for someone on PIP? For example someone in their 60s who is hoping to retire? Any warnings or things you'd point out?
  • Do you have any experiences of people who have had their benefits cut by DWP? 
  • Any advice for people who have had their benefits cut? What should they do?
  • Any other intel for these themes?

Responses by 8am on Monday.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
Although the changes proposed by the government haven’t come into force, many of my clients have had reassessments and the results are clear; they are being tougher. Some have had their PIP withdrawn, others awarded less generous amounts of disability payments. When talking to the assessor be honest, not stoic. They will base their decision on your answers. You’ll have to appeal if you disagree with the outcome and this causes nothing but stress. Don’t panic about the changes, most of these are for new claimants, and if your circumstances haven’t changed then your PIP award shouldn’t either.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
PIP payments now cost £21 billion annually and this is projected to balloon to £34 billion by 2030, making it an irresistible target for Rachel Reeves as she hunts for ways to plug her £42 billion fiscal black hole.

The Chancellor has already fired her opening salvo with the so-called November 2026 reforms, introducing a brutal "four point rule" requiring claimants to score at least four points in a single activity rather than spreading points across multiple needs.

This seemingly technical change will strip support from 800,000 disabled people by 2030, saving £3.5 billion annually while maintaining the political farce that existing claimants are to remain protected.

For someone in their sixties hoping to retire, it gets more stark though. One needs to apply before their 65th birthday or forfeit the right to claim entirely, as PIP cannot be accessed for the first time after state pension age.
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Premium
Carol Vickers
Owner at Created by Carol
PIP is a lifeline for disabled people, who face, on average, extra living costs of more than £1,000 each month. While PIP doesn't entirely cover those costs, it does help disabled people like me to stay independent, in work, or active in society. The government's attempts to reduce support are short sighted; so many disabled people want to work but are excluded through the bias and inaccessible processes of employers. The solution is to make employment, transport, etc, more accessible and implement consequences where this doesn't happen, but I see little progress.

Disability discrimination and hate are rife and rapidly increasing due to the damaging rhetoric we are seeing daily, where PIP recipients are described as fraudulent scroungers. But in reality, PIP fraud is incredibly rare (0.2%) and claimants use their PIP to purchase a wheelchair, fund an assistance dog, buy in carers or help at home, and to access medications and treatments that aren't available on the NHS.