Disabled people set to take to parliament en masse to oppose DWP cuts

On Wednesday 21 May, disabled people from across the UK will be travelling to Westminster to tell their MPs to vote against Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare cuts.

Disabled people have been requesting meetings with their MPs over Labour’s plans to cut DWP benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit. Even for those without a pre-arranged meeting, you are within your rights to turn up at parliament on 21 May from 1pm and ask to see your MP.

The mass lobby has been co-ordinated by disabled activists from groups including Disability Rights UK and, WellAdapt, to unite disabled people across the country.

DWP cuts: brutal

As the Canary has documented, there has been uproar over plans DWP boss Liz Kendall laid out in March to ‘reform’, that is – cut – chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits. It set this out in its Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working green paper.

Notably, the paper included a suite of regressive reforms to make it harder for people to claim disability benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The changes it’s 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.

Labour lies: time to call it out

Overall, Labour and the DWP have already lied about the number of people its Green Paper plans will affect. Research keeps exposing the devastating scale of the governments planned cuts. While its impact assessment calculated 370,000 current claimants, and 420,000 future ones would lose their DWP PIP entitlement, it’s likely to be much higher than this.

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. So, disabled people’s groups are taking action.

Lobby your MP

Disabled people will be asking their MPs to vote against these cuts and stand against these poverty-creating policies, as cuts to PIP and changes to Universal Credit are not being consulted on, this is a vital opportunity for MPs to hear directly from their constituents.

The lobby will be taking place in Westminster Hall on the 21st May 2025, between 1-4pm. As WellAdapt says on its website:

On the day, you will arrive to Westminster where stewards will show you how to get to the lobby registration desk.

We will provide you with a briefing of the proposals and some key messages. From here, you and potentially others from your constituency will meet with your MP wherever arranged.

If your MP still hasn’t replied by the 21 May – we’d still love for you to join us, as we feel that this is an opportunity for us to show strength and solidarity in numbers…

DWP cuts: time to take further action

If your MP does not reply, WellAdapt says you can:

Attend the mass lobby and “Green Card”.

This is a time honored way of engaging with your MP, even if they have not replied to you.

• Go through the Cromwell Green entrance to parliament and pass through security (This takes up to 20 minutes.)
• Queue up at the information desk in the central lobby and you will need to collect and fill in a “green card.” This includes providing your name and address and the reason for your visit (to oppose the green paper and welfare reforms).
• Hand the completed green card back to the information desk. The information desk will be able to let you know quite quickly if your MP is not at the House of Commons.
• If your MP is unavailable the fact that you have handed in a green card will mean that your MP will know you have requested a meeting and your MP will have to write to you and it’s an opportunity for you to let them know your views. Sometimes your MP might send a staff member to meet you.

If the information desk does manage to contact your MP be prepared to wait for a while.

For more information, go to https://well-adapt.com/mass-lobby/

Featured image via the Canary