DWP overhaul from Reform is the same old shit

Robert Jenrick has announced Reform UK’s policies on how it would run the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP):

The benefits bill is a time bomb that will bankrupt the country.

And a moral disaster wasting the potential of millions of people.

Reform will fix it. We’re for workers, not welfare. pic.twitter.com/2YJBgOtXeu

— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) February 18, 2026

But all of his terrible policies are already happening, or in the process of happening, under Labour.

Most of this already happens:
– You need a diagnosis and evidence to claim PIP
– DWP are returning to in-person assessments (it’s part of their savings forecast bc they know more fail them)
– Luxury cars are already cut from motability

Dog whistle politics at its finest https://t.co/aUxPG1Xcu3

— Rachel Charlton-Dailey (@RachelCDailey_) February 19, 2026

Our politicians seem to be pretty good at coming up with new ways to screw over disabled people, but Jenrick wasn’t even smart enough to think of his own.

Jenrick recycling policies for the DWP

Jenrick is missing the Tories that badly that they’ve given him a bullshit Shadow Chancellor label. Of course, he is not the Shadow Chancellor, as he is not a Tory.

hes not the fucking shadow Chancellor https://t.co/O44fSmPbnq pic.twitter.com/Xy6ccyNbIe

— Iain🌹🇬🇧🇺🇦🇵🇸 (@Iainite_Iain) February 18, 2026

He’s literally recycling shitty policies. It’s the equivalent of Alibaba ripping off a Temu phone case.

Oddly familiar.. https://t.co/NqzAUw3U5c pic.twitter.com/SutWpkpzgb

— (Cllr?) Danny Mosley (@ThatBritishGuyl) February 18, 2026

Was he taking notes at the Tory conference in October?

Stoking division

Jenrick’s policies for how to run the DWP are bullshit – but more importantly, they are already happening.

In-person benefits assessments are still carried out, and you almost always need a formal diagnosis of mental health conditions to use them to claim benefits. Just attacking people on benefits to generate headlines and stir up anger. Fuck Reform and anyone who votes for them. https://t.co/GnvAnb95K2

— allfunandjames (@allfunandjames0) February 18, 2026

During the Autumn Statement back in November, Rachel Reeves announced that the DWP would:

Improve operations by increasing face-to-face assessments, increasing WCA reassessment capability, and PIP award review changes, starting from April 2026.

Then, in December, the DWP issued a press release stating that it would increase face-to-face assessments. It said PIP face-to-face assessments would increase from 6% to 30%, while work capability assessments (WCA) would increase from 13% to 30%.

Do your research, Jenrick

Jenrick is also forgetting that even to claim benefits for a mental health or neurodivergent condition via the DWP, you already need a diagnosis.

I ain’t reading all that. But the 2nd point, that’s literally already the case😭 you need letters with your diagnosis from your doctor to even start your PIP application. Reform shouting at clouds as usual https://t.co/Q6HMRefXy3

— danny (@danxcix) February 18, 2026

“Clinical diagnosis required for those who claim to have mental health disorders”
Isnt this already how it is? 😳😳😳 https://t.co/iWzdUARrYV

— Xiao R (@1ostwolf) February 18, 2026

Of course, this follows Wes Streeting’s attempts to prove that conditions such as ADHD don’t exist. For a long time now, Streeting has been trying to push the ‘overdiagnosis‘ narrative, because then he would be able to change the criteria to claim benefits for the condition.

Jenrick has clearly never completed a PIP application form.

And as the Canary has previously reported more times than I can count, the mainstream media routinely exaggerates PIP fraud rates to fit the narrative of the people in power.

The actual fraud rate for PIP is 0.4%. That’s practically non-existent.

HMRC’s own researchers found the PIP fraud rate is just 0.4%. Just say you hate disabled people https://t.co/f9t3zadS3y

— han (@jareaunodi) February 19, 2026

Meanwhile, the government effectively lets rich people off over £180bn in tax every year. I guess the government can’t be arsed to chase people who aren’t disabled.

More lies

Jenrick also mentioned cutting luxury cars from the Motability scheme. Again, already done, pal.

motability is not a luxury bc the people who use it are disabled and still have to foot some of the bill. this shit is ableist as fuck and is a precursor for consent to get rid of the scheme under reform or maybe even labour. https://t.co/iARzxydXNH

— el loves gromit and books (@gromitreads) January 13, 2026

As the Canary previously reported:

Motability currently helps around 860,000 people get around with a greater degree of independence. It’s funded primarily through the Motability Endowment Trust and the exchange of individuals’ mobility allowance payments, as part of the DWP’s Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

The mainstream media and most of our politicians would love for you to believe the DWP is using Motability to just give free cars to people with ADHD. However, the reality is far different. Many disabled people cannot drive cars that are not adapted specifically for their disability.

Additionally, many of these so-called ‘luxury’ cars are in fact just bigger cars, which disabled people need in order to transport equipment such as wheelchairs.

Typical right-wing muppet

Jenrick does not have an ounce of originality in his bones. Or an ounce of compassion. But why are we surprised when, like the majority of our MPs, he went to private school, then Cambridge, and became a Tory MP at 28? He is a typical right-wing muppet, with no real work or life experience.

It feels like the world is falling apart, and the people in power, and those who want to be in power, care more about spending so much time victimising disabled people than holding powerful child rapists to account, or saving the planet, or ending the multiple genocides that are going on right now, or literally any other useful contribution to society.

So, as Ben put it so nicely: