Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of restricting access to the limited work capability component of Universal Credit for those under the age of 22 on (a) armed forces early service leavers and (b) people who have been medically discharged from the armed forces.

In our recent Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, we announced a broad package of reforms to the health and disability benefit and support system. Importantly, no changes are proposed to Armed Forces Independence Payments (AFIP), which continue to provide support to some of the most severely disabled veterans.

For those in receipt of PIP who may be affected by the proposed eligibility changes, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to ensure health and eligible care needs are met. We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment process, bringing together experts, stakeholders, and individuals with lived experience. We will provide further details as plans progress.

As we develop proposals further, we are carefully considering the potential impacts, including on veterans and their families, as part of our broader response to the Green Paper consultation. We would encourage organisations supporting and representing veterans, such as the Royal British Legion, the Soldiers', Sailors', and Airmen's Families Association (SSAFA), and many others, to contribute their views on how best to support wounded, injured, and sick veterans.

I have also asked my officials to work with their counterparts in the Office for Veterans' Affairs (OVA) to organise a dedicated consultation event for armed forces stakeholders, likely to take place in June. We are also providing detailed briefings on the proposals to Ministry of Defence (MoD) and OVA officials. Once we have completed the consultation we will be building up to a White Paper, where we will once again engage with MoD and the OVA in advance of collective agreement.

We are also welcoming views on raising the age at which someone can access the Universal Credit health element to 22 as part of our Green Paper consultation.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

• There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.
• The social security system will always be there for those who can’t work. As part of making changes to the payment rates in Universal Credit, we will ensure that the incomes of those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work have their incomes protected.
• Protecting those most in need is at the heart of our reforms. Our Green Paper outlines why we think removing the WCA and moving to using the PIP assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, is the correct decision for the reformed system.
• We understand that for some people, work is simply not possible. We will work through how, without a WCA, these people can be identified and put in place appropriate protections, such as considering award reviews. Engagement with employment support will be determined on a personal basis, according to needs.
• For new claimants on the UC health element after April 2026, we are proposing that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected.
• Those on UC, with the most severe, life-long conditions, which mean a person cannot and will never work, will not be called for review in future.