Following the Government's latest announcement on sickness and disability benefits, we discussed the key changes and their impacts on BBC's Moneybox. This article offers a recap, and outlines what councils should be doing before reforms come into effect.

The biggest changes are that:

 

1. Eligibility for the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is becoming stricter. Currently, a score of eight points in total across 10 different activities is required to receive the standard rate. After this change, applicants will need to score a minimum of four points on at least one daily living activity as well as a minimum of eight points overall. This means the one in four people who currently receive PIP, around one million people, will not be eligible if they are reassessed after this date.

 

2. The Universal Credit LCWRA (Limited Capability for Work Related Activity) award will be frozen for existing claimants and halved for new claimants (from £97 to £50) with eligibility being linked to PiP

Many people will be feeling anxious and worried about what these changes will mean for them. You can remind residents that these changes aren't immediate, they won't come into effect for at least a year, changes to assessment criteria will apply to new applicants before existing claimants  and reassessments typically have a gap of at least two years. 

The Government argues that many disabled people want to work but aren't getting the support to do so, and that claims for disability benefits are growing faster than the prevalence of health conditions. They point to positives as part of this package of reforms, notably boosts to the UC standard allowance from £7 per week (from £91 to £98), and to time-limited contributory benefits, paid at the higher ESA rate of £138 per week.

They also point to investment in employment support, and what they say is additional funding for health and social care. They argue that some people with the right aids and adaptations could become more independent, while incurring a one-off rather than an ongoing cost, and that people with ‘the most severe, lifelong health conditions', will receive an additional premium to protect their income.

But this investment needs to be delivered to people who need it. For councils, helping people to navigate the social care system will be critical to helping them to access adaptations. Councils can also help to engage residents proactively in voluntary employment support. £240m of devolved employment support this year is set to be expanded across this parliament. Smart councils are using data to engage residents, by targeting people most likely to be impacted. Councils can help people today, using data to help them to access support including social tariffs, council tax support and discretionary payments, and letting them know you are there for them.

While additional support from councils will make a difference, there is no getting away from the fact that these changes will have a serious impact on household finances for some of the most vulnerable people in your area. Reforms of this scale can't avoid taking support away from some of those in greatest need, and there is a real risk that sick and disabled people could become ‘invisible' to the system unless they are unwell enough to qualify for support. Policy in Practice is producing analysis on all councils to show the likely economic impact in each local authority as these reforms rollout. Our partner councils will be able to pinpoint which households are at risk of losing out, so people can be offered support proactively.

The £5bn shortfall in the coming parliamentary term won't solely fall on the more than one million disabled people likely to miss out, but on their family, friends, and on social care workers too. Councils will need to work with government and local partners to get support to people, including employment, adaptations, health and care support up and running and making a difference to people before reforms come into effect. Without effective support in place, it's hard to see these doing anything other than to deepen poverty in the worst affected regions. 

We are encouraging everyone, individuals and organisations, impacted by the reforms to feed into the consultation. The green paper, ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working' can be found here, and the consultation here.

 

Deven Ghelani is director of Policy in Practice