Labour’s Benefit Cuts: Disability in the Spring Budget

This piece was originally written by a ParaPride volunteer for Metro Newspaper and contributed towards the Metro article by Senior News Reporter Josh Milton.

In March 2025, Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced the new Spring Budget which proposes cuts of £4.8 billion in welfare for disabled people and persons living with long-term health conditions. This is partly due to nearly halving the rate for universal credit health element for new claimants and requiring Personal Independence Payment (PIP) applicants to score higher in certain categories to qualify.

These cuts have been estimated to push 250,000 more people, including 50,000 children, into relative poverty by 2029-30.  With a disability pay gap which sees disabled workers paid an average of 1/5 less than their non-disabled counterparts and equivalent to them working 54 days a year for nothing, losing any further financial resources will widen this socio-economic gap. Cutting PIP might affect the ability of the 16% of claimants who are in work to continue to do so, by removing accessible transport options or funds for medications and mobility equipment. This is especially relevant when considering the estimated disability price tag of an extra £1,067 per month.

For marginalised people with multiple intersectionalities, these effects could be compounded. For example, over 1 in 8 LGBTQ+ people have faced issues accessing healthcare due to discrimination. The issues are further compounded for LGBTQ+ disabled people, as they often face a lack of family support. Disabled people often must rely on those closest to them for practical support but LGBTQ+ people are often still sadly rejected from their communities because of this identity. This adds an additional layer of hardship when navigating the welfare system, making it even harder for these individuals to access necessary resources.

Rachel Reeves announced in her speech that ‘1 in 8 young people are not in employment, education or training’ with a notable lack of acknowledgement as to why this might be and to the effects Covid-19 pandemic has had and continues to have on the general population, with the World Health Organisation estimating that for every 100 people who have had Covid-19, 6 will go on to develop Long Covid. Reeves also assures that the welfare system will protect ‘the most vulnerable’, this is an idea that ParaPride rejects as we seek to ‘correct the misrepresentation of LGBTQ+ disabled people only portrayed as a vulnerable community in need of special care’ as we are ‘only disabled by the barriers presented by society’, (or in this case by the Government itself).

Disabled people are often scapegoated in times of economic hardship, blamed for the state of the welfare system, even though it’s the systemic barriers that prevent them from thriving. These cuts will unfairly target those who are already struggling the most.

As the cost of living crisis is already making it harder for individual people and families to get by, these proposed changes could hardly have come at a worse time.  Whether or not improvements will be implemented in time to avoid negatively affecting over 3 million people and cause families to lose an average of £1,720 a year, only time will tell.