A cross-party group of senior MPs has tabled what is called ‘a reasoned amendment’ to the Government’s Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. Thirteen Labour select committee chairs—among them Meg Hillier (Treasury), Diana Johnson (Home Affairs) and Sarah Champion (International Development)—have asked the House of Commons to refuse the Bill a Second Reading. Their text highlights the complete absence of consultation with disabled people, the lack of crucial economic evidence, and the Government’s own admission that the reforms would deepen poverty.
Grounds set out in the amendment
| Grounds | Evidence |
| No formal consultation with disabled people or carers. | The Impact Assessment lists no stakeholder consultation and carries the Regulatory Policy Committee stamp “Opinion: Not Applicable”, meaning it bypassed the normal quality-check route. |
| OBR employment analysis not yet available. | GOV. UK’s Spring-Statement “Summary of Impacts” states that the Office for Budget Responsibility will assess labour-supply effects “in their autumn forecast”; therefore MPs are asked to legislate before that work is done. |
| Employment-support funding delayed to late decade. | The Guardian reports that “most of the additional employment support funding will not be in place until the end of the decade”, quoting the text of the amendment itself. Independent sector analysis confirms the ramp-up from £275 million in 2024-25 to £1 billion in 2029-30. |
| 250,000 people—including 50,000 children—pushed into poverty. | These figures are taken from the Bill’s own Impact Assessment and reproduced in multiple parliamentary briefings; the Guardian sets them out verbatim from the amendment. |
| No health or care-demand appraisal. | The Impact Assessment’s cost tables monetise only benefit savings; no NHS or local-authority costs appear. Worse still, the document only contains placeholder text. |
| Key reviews still outstanding. | Personal Independence Payment assessment review: launched 12 May 2025 by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Employment of disabled people review: Sir Charlie Mayfield’s “Keep Britain Working” discovery phase published 20 March 2025 and still in progress. |
Wider significance
- Legislative risk. A reasoned amendment, if selected by the Speaker and carried, prevents a Bill receiving its Second Reading and so kills the Bill outright.
- Policy-making standards. Proceeding without an OBR employment estimate breaches Treasury Green-Book norms that material economic effects must be quantified before decisions are taken.
- Social impact. Independent modelling by Scope and allied charities estimates that between 300,000 and 400,000 disabled people could enter poverty if the cuts proceed.
- Fiscal context. The Department expects direct PIP savings of £3.5 billion and a further £0.5 billion from linked carers’ benefits by 2029-30. These figures exclude offsetting costs identified above.
Consequences if the amendment passes
- Immediate halt to the Bill’s progress, forcing ministers either to withdraw or to redraft.
- Mandatory consultation with disabled people and representative bodies before any revised proposals.
- Completion and publication of the OBR employment assessment, the PIP assessment review and the Mayfield employment review as pre-conditions for new legislation.
- Full cost–benefit and equality analysis, including impacts on NHS and social-care demand.
The record confirms every criticism levelled by the amendment: there has been no consultation, no external quality assurance, no health-impact modelling and no final employment analysis. Parliament therefore has sound procedural and evidential grounds to refuse the Bill a Second Reading until those deficiencies are rectified.
Principal sources consulted
- House of Commons Impact Assessment, June 2025 – file hcb267_ia_no22025.pdf.
- Universal Credit & PIP Bill reasoned-amendment coverage, Guardian, 23 June 2025.
- Spring-Statement “Health and Disability Benefit Reforms – Impacts”, GOV. UK, March 2025.
- OBR box on welfare reforms not yet incorporated in the forecast, March 2025.
- Disability Rights UK news release on the PIP Assessment Review, 12 May 2025.
- “Keep Britain Working” independent review discovery report, Sir Charlie Mayfield, 20 March 2025.
- Community Care analysis of employment-support funding profile, 19 June 2025.
- Scope briefing on the Bill’s poverty impacts, 24 June 2025.
