Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Liz Kendall has been caught scurrying away from a young disabled person questioning her about planned cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit.
Liz Kendall: the Stepford Wife ignoring pleas over DWP cuts
It seems that the encounter happened as Kendall was arriving for her speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Hannah told Kendall as she was arriving that they were one of the potentially 1.4 million people who will see cuts to their DWP PIP thanks to Labour. Hannah wanted to know:
Why you are choosing to cut the support of vulnerable people in the disabled community rather than choosing to tax the super rich and the corporations?
An inanely-grinning Kendall Bot – whose operators had clearly programmed her this morning to just smile like a Stepford Wife at any peasants she might encounter – simply walked away, flanked by her lackeys:
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But of course, Kendall was never going to answer Hannah’s question. And chronically ill and disabled people already know what is really going on with these DWP cuts, anyway.
As the Canary previously reported, as a minimum and according to a DWP impact assessment, as many as 370,000 current claimants could lose their PIP entitlement due to changes in eligibility rules set to be implemented in November 2026, pending parliamentary approval.
But crucially, about 430,000 future applicants are anticipated to be denied the benefit, creating an average annual loss of around £4,500 for those affected. Therefore, Bryant’s 90% figure is not accurate – because people, including children transitioning from Disability Living Allowance to PIP – will lose out.
So, the figure is nearer 20% – not 10% – based on the DWP’s own data – plus 150,000 carers who will also lose their Carer’s Allowance.
However, this is all just before the end of 2028/29. The long-term picture is horrifying.
A horrifying picture of DWP cuts
The changes to DWP PIP Kendall is proposing target neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders. Moreover, disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition, will no longer be eligible.
And revelations from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has also shown that the changes will disproportionately hit PIP claimants over 50 as well. Specifically, the criteria goalpost shifts will deny 1.09 million (nearly 70% of those who could lose out) the Daily Living component of PIP. Part of this cohort is obviously also people Labour is already hammering with the Winter Fuel Payment cuts.
Another FOI made by a member of the public unearthed that around 209,000 people getting enhanced rate DWP PIP Daily Living will lose it. On top of this, around 1.1 million people getting the standard rate will lose it.
In total then, nearly 1.4 million people could, on reassessment, lose their Daily Living element of DWP PIP. However, as the Canary’s Steve Topple previously noted, this doesn’t tell us how many could lose their full PIP altogether. This is because the data does not show how many of these people get standard or enhanced Mobility Element of DWP PIP.
Nonetheless, it’s evident that the plans will be enormously detrimental for chronically ill and disabled people. And in early June, parliament is expected to vote on these plans.
Kendall Bot goes BRRRRRR
Yet the Kendall Bot’s programmers have managed to make her immune to any appeals for humanity. Her OS only allows her to a) look angry, b) grin like a maniac, or c) lie through her teeth (as she did at the speech she made after she met Hannah).
So, it seems no amount of attempts to conjure up empathy from Kendall over DWP cuts will work. Maybe chronically ill and disabled people will have to find other ways to stop Kendall and the Labour government in its tracks.
Featured image via screengrab
