Five major DWP benefit changes that could be announced in the Budget this week

Labour volition present its archetypal fund successful implicit 14 years this Wednesday, October 30, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves volition outline the government's plans for the country's finances going forward

There are acceptable to beryllium immoderate large payment announcements successful the upcoming Budget this week.

Labour volition present its archetypal fund successful implicit 14 years this Wednesday, October 30, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves volition outline the government's plans for the country's finances going forward. At the opening of September, Reeves cautioned that the fund could impact "difficult decisions" connected tax, spending, and benefits.

This is owed to the £22billion fiscal achromatic spread that Labour claims was near down by the erstwhile Tory government. Reports of imaginable changes to benefits person started to travel retired implicit the past fewer weeks and present we person collected respective of them which look acceptable to marque it into this week's budget.

Benefit increases

Millions of radical are acceptable to spot their benefits emergence adjacent April and this volition beryllium confirmed successful this week's budget. The bulk of benefits are usually uprated by the September level of inflation, which was confirmed to beryllium 1.7% earlier this month. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said successful 2023 that benefits would beryllium uprated by September's ostentation fig nether a Labour authorities arsenic it was "tradition".

There are 9 benefits for which the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is legally required to summation successful enactment with ostentation each April, portion different payments, including Universal Credit, are taxable to parliamentary approval. The benefits that are legally required to summation with ostentation are:

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Disability Living Allowance
• Attendance Allowance
• Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Benefit
• Carer's Allowance
• Additional State Pension
• Guardian's Allowance

Reforms to Work Capability Assessment

Labour looks acceptable to prosecute the Tory program to betterment Universal Credit's Work Capability Assessment (WCA). This month, the Financial Times reported that a Whitehall root said they had been "briefed connected the plans."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is looking to chopped £3billion disconnected of the government's benefits measure and the plans to bash this are expected to beryllium announced connected Wednesday. Under the existent benefits system, claimants who person wellness conditions oregon disabilities person to acquisition a enactment capableness appraisal (WCA) to determine whether they're susceptible of moving and if they're eligible for currency top-ups erstwhile they assertion Universal Credit.

Labour has antecedently said that it is successful favour of reforming the process but has remained tight-lipped astir what that would mean successful presumption of eligibility. According to its manifesto, the enactment said the existent strategy was “not working" and that it would "radically" shingle up benefits for radical whose wellness limits their quality to work.

If they scrap the assessment, it would efficaciously rise the barroom for those who tin beryllium signed disconnected enactment with sickness, removing incapacity benefits from thousands who would presently beryllium eligible. Government sources told the one that the absorption of the achromatic papers would not beryllium connected "benefit cuts and savings" but connected expanding the fig of those employed. However, 1 root told the work that determination are savings that indispensable beryllium recovered that “are not going to spell away”.

Crackdown connected payment fraud

A crackdown connected payment fraud could besides beryllium outlined astatine the upcoming Budget. The authorities has antecedently promised to crackdown connected payment fraudsters and get much radical into enactment arsenic portion of a shakeup to the benefits system. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans for its "Fraud, Error and Debt" measure successful a code astatine the Labour Party league successful September. In the speech, helium said: "If we privation to support enactment for the payment state, past we volition legislate to halt payment fraud."

In the merchandise explaining the caller powers, the Government said the benefits section would beryllium fixed caller powers to "better investigate" suspected fraud and caller powers of hunt and seizure. Alongside this, the DWP volition besides beryllium fixed powers to retrieve debts from individuals who tin wage wealth backmost but person "avoided doing so". This includes measures to marque it easier for the DWP to instrumentality wealth straight from slope accounts. The DWP volition besides beryllium capable to bid banks and fiscal institutions to stock slope relationship information with the department. Further details connected its plans could beryllium highlighted successful this week's budget.

Reform to disablement benefits

As mentioned earlier successful the reforms to the Work Capability Assessment, the Labour authorities has its sights acceptable connected drastically changing the UK's disablement benefits system. Currently, spending is owed to summation by astir £30billion successful the decennary from 2020.

The superior areas of absorption look to beryllium out-of-work sickness, incapacity benefits, and disablement support. Over 3 cardinal radical successful the UK assertion Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA). According to the latest DWP data, astir 30,000 caller PIP awards are granted each month. Spending connected these benefits could outgo the payer astir £28billion a twelvemonth by 2028-29 – a 110% emergence successful spending since 2019.

According to reports, ministers are expected to reappraisal the eligibility criteria for PIP to trim the excavation of radical eligible for the benefit. Although details connected this person not been revealed, and immoderate updates connected this program are expected to travel successful the outpouring of adjacent year. Chancellor Rachel Reeves, however, could bring up the plans successful the fund arsenic portion of her spending review.

Debt repayments for benefits

According to play reports, Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves volition little the headdress connected the maximum deductions that tin beryllium taken from a claimant's payment payments to repay debts successful this week's budget.

Currently, the DWP and different 3rd parties tin deduct wealth from Universal Credit payments to retrieve immoderate debts idiosyncratic whitethorn person - this tin beryllium up to 25% of the modular allowance payment. The headdress is reportedly acceptable to driblet to 15% and is expected to travel into unit from April 2025.

According to Whitehall sources, the measurement - called the Fair Repayment Rate - is intended chiefly to assistance the worst-off families and is simply a mode the authorities tin debar further disapproval for its determination to chopped the Winter Fuel Payment and support the two-child payment cap. The alteration is projected to payment 1.2 cardinal households, including 700,000 families with children, boosting their incomes by up to £420 a year.