DWP under fire after spending £500,000 on PIP and Universal Credit shake-up


DWP under fire after spending £500,000 on PIP and Universal Credit shake-up

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DWP under fire after spending £500,000 on PIP and Universal Credit shake-upThe DWP has been blasted after new figures showed it blew half a million pounds defending disability benefit


cuts.NewsJames Rodger Content Editor07:37, 06 Feb 2025 The DWP has been blasted after new figures showed it blew half a million pounds defending disability benefit cuts. The Department for


Work and Pensions has been slammed for spending £500,000 on a Personal Independence Payment shake-up. The DWP has been blasted after new figures showed it blew half a million pounds


defending disability benefit cuts.


A freedom of information (FOI) request, brought by a campaigner who goes by the name of Ben Claimant, found the nine-month legal action cost the DWP almost half a million pounds. The FOI


found the DWP spent a total of £465,804.05 defending itself.


‌ Disability campaigner Ellen Clifford took the DWP court ove plans to change the “scoring” of the work capability assessment (WCA). In January 2025, a damning High Court judgement found the


DWP’s consultation to have been “unlawful”, “misleading”, “rushed” and “unfair”.


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“The picture this presents is of a government hell-bent on depriving disabled people of income supports we need to survive, knowingly pushing hundreds of thousands of the poorest and most


disadvantaged in society into deeper poverty and hopelessness with no escape,” Clifford told the Big Issue.


Article continues below She continued: “All those with experience of disability need now to speak up and challenge the idea that people claim disability benefits because we can’t be bothered


to work and are incentivised by the higher rates that are paid to disabled people who face substantial barriers to employment.”


“Without her steadfast, principled and brave campaigning, the DWP would not have suffered the conclusive loss it has. The FOI highlights what a failure this whole process was, with nearly


£500,000 wasted by the government,” Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK, told the Big Issue.


Erhardt continued: “The ruling that cost savings were at least one, if not the ‘central basis’, that was the impetus to the proposed reforms should be a wake-up call for the current


government, which seems intent on bringing similar proposals forward in the spring.”


Article continues below Claimant added: “The Labour government has said it wants to do things differently, that it wants to treat claimants with respect and dignity. But in pursuing this


case and spending such a huge amount of money, they sent out a completely different message.


“It feels like Labour is doubling down on what the previous administration was trying to do. The disabled people I know are very worried and anxious about what Labour has planned for them.


What they need is stability and security but instead we are being victimised (again) for the failure of government over the last 15-plus years.”