UN committee sounds alarm over Labour's benefits bill: 'It should shame the government'

A United Nations committee has raised concerns about the Labour government’s welfare bill and has warned that any reforms must uphold human rights obligations.

In a rare intervention, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has written a letter to the government with a series of recommendations to ensure disabled people are protected.

It comes as the watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill reaches its third reading in parliament and will be subject to another vote by MPs.

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Ministers were forced to make significant concessions to the original bill after more than 120 Labour MPs said they could not support the cuts to disability benefits.

The welfare bill was gutted further during its second reading last Tuesday (1 July), with the government promising to delay personal independence payment (PIP) cuts until a review of the assessment process has concluded.

This will be co-produced by disability minister Stephen Timms alongside disabled people’s organisations, meaning it is unlikely the government will be able to make the PIP cuts originally laid out.

However, there remain major concerns around the welfare bill. The health element of universal credit will be slashed in half for new claimants, and cut entirely for new claimants under the age of 22.

Current claimants will be protected from these changes – but it means an estimated 750,000 people will miss out on financial support worth an average of around £3,000 a year.

The UN committee has requested clarification on whether a full impact assessment has been carried out into these changes.

It would like to see particular focus on how the welfare reforms will affect young people, new claimants, women, people who need a high level of support, and people with mental health conditions.

The government’s latest impact assessment on the bill suggests that 50,000 people will be lifted out of poverty by the end of the decade as a result of the reforms, which will see increased employment support and a universal credit uplift.

However, it is unclear how many people may face poverty as a result of the cuts to the universal credit health element. The UN committee is urging the government to take measures to “address the foreseeable risk of increasing poverty rates amongst persons with disabilities if cuts are approved”.

It has previously sounded alarm over the UK government’s treatment of disabled people, finding “grave and systemic violations” of their human rights.

In its letter, the UN committee warned that “no significant progress” has been made and “there are also signs of regression”.

Amnesty International and disabled people’s organisations have backed the UN in raising concerns around the welfare bill.

Rick Burgess, co-chair of the Disabled Persons Organisations Forum England (DPOFE), said: “Disabled people’s organisations faced such hostility from our government that we reached out for help to the UN. They have now answered our call.

“It is clear that Keir Starmer risks further destroying disabled people’s human rights if his government carries on with its bills and does not change ableist assumptions about us. It is utterly shameful we have to yet again appeal for international help to defend us against our own government.”

DPOFE and Amnesty International are calling for the welfare bill to be scrapped entirely.

Jen Clark, Amnesty International’s economic, social and cultural rights lead, said: “It should shame the government that the UN has felt the need to intervene over these rushed, shambolic brutal cuts to universal credit and wider social security reform.

“These cuts will leave young disabled people or those with illnesses that vary day to day, such as mental health conditions and multiple sclerosis, at high risk of being pushed into poverty and unable to access their basic rights to food, housing and the care they need.

“Following the pause on the cuts to PIP, the bill should now be fully scrapped. It is unforgivable that the government is choosing to balance the books by impoverishing some of the most vulnerable people in our society, instead of asking the very wealthiest to pay more.”

If the bill passes its third reading, there is a chance it could be considered by the government as a ‘money bill’, meaning it could essentially surpass the House of Lords and peers would have no power to ask MPs to consider amendments. The UN committee said this would mean “limited scrutiny”.

It also called for investigation into public statements made by politicians which have portrayed disability benefit claimants as “making profit” off of benefits or “being a burden to society”.

Additionally, the UN committee questioned the extent to which disabled people and organisations have been represented and consulted on in the drafting of the welfare bill.

There was a consultation into the ‘Pathways to Work’ green paper, which laid out some of the proposals, but the UN committee points out that people were only consulted on 10 out of the 22 policy changes proposed.

Mikey Erhardt, policy lead at Disability Rights UK, said: “The fact that the UN has yet again felt it needs to write to the UK government about our cruel and punitive social security system should be a national shame.

“We hope this letter is a wake-up call for MPs. Despite all the chaos of the last-minute climbdowns and concessions, the universal credit bill remains broken. There are still billions of cuts on the table, and we urge MPs to approach tomorrow’s proceedings with caution as their vote will have serious implications for disabled people across the country.

“If disabled people feel unable to trust the government’s promises on co-production and the UN needed to raise concerns over the bill’s impact, how can MPs vote this bill through?”

The UN has called for a response to its letter by 11 August.

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said: “We are changing the broken social security system we inherited so it helps people across the country to live with dignity, genuinely supporting those who can work into employment, and ensuring the safety net will always be there for the most vulnerable.

“We are putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of our review to ensure PIP is fit for the future, and are only making changes to the benefit once we have completed the review.”

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