How our campaigning has made an impact against the government's benefit cuts.
I want to thank everybody who took part in our campaign against the government’s benefits cuts. The government has scrapped plans to make it harder to claim the daily living part of PIP. It's also decided not to freeze the health element of Universal Credit for current claimants. - Cath Stanley BEM, Chief Executive of the Huntington’s Disease Association.
We have recently worked with a number of other charities to try and stop the detrimental cuts that the government had planned for benefits. These benefits would directly affect members of the Huntington's disease community.
Cath Stanley BEM, Chief Executive of the Huntington’s Disease Association, continues:
"We worked with other charities to stop some of the most damaging proposals.
I welcome Minister Timms’ review into the PIP assessment process and we look forward to making sure the experiences of people affected by Huntington’s disease are shared as part of the review, which should happen in partnership with disabled people.
I also recognise that this has been, and still is, a worrying time for many of you who rely on the benefits system. We will continue to fight your corner.”
Changes to disability benefits
Disability benefits are going to change in the following ways:
- The Universal Credit standard allowance will increase.
- The health element of Universal Credit will be cut in half and frozen for new claimants from April 2026.
- The rates of income-related ESA will not go up with inflation.
Next steps
Sir Stephen Timms, the Minister for Social Security and Disability, will lead a review of the Personal Independent Payments (PIP) assessment process, which is expected to take place later this year. The review will make recommendations to the government on how to improve the PIP assessment process. We want the review to include the areas where people with Huntington’s disease feel most let down. This includes the assessment criteria and assessors’ lack of awareness of how Huntington’s disease affects people’s lives.
Campaigning
If you want to find out more about what we have been campaigning for, please visit our campaigning section or sign up to our dedicated mailing list.