Reform UK has unveiled plans for a major overhaul of Britain’s welfare system that would see Personal Independence Payment scrapped for working age adults as the party seeks to cut around £50 billion from the benefits bill.
Under the proposals, PIP and the additional health related element of Universal Credit would both be abolished and replaced with a new system that would restrict cash payments to people with the most severe disabilities.
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s treasury spokesperson, described the proposals as the most comprehensive overhaul of the welfare system in a generation, with almost three million people potentially affected.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Jenrick attacked the existing welfare system as “suicidal empathy” and “a strange perversion of compassion”, arguing that the current approach is failing both taxpayers and people who could be supported back into employment.
According to extracts from Reform’s policy document, around 2.89 million people could see their existing disability payments removed or changed under the plans.
PIP for working age adults would be abolished entirely, alongside the additional health related payments currently available through Universal Credit.
Both would instead be replaced by a new Health Security Allowance.
However, cash payments under the new system would only be available to what Reform describes as the most “severe, enduring and high-risk cases”.
Other disabled people would instead receive support through programmes administered by local councils. Reform says these would cover “verifiable additional costs” associated with a person’s disability rather than providing them with regular cash payments.
The party is also proposing major changes to the way long term sickness is handled by employers.
Companies would become responsible for the cost of employees who are off sick for up to two years. Businesses employing more than five people would be required to take out insurance to cover those costs.
Reform says the policy is based on the system used in the Netherlands and argues it would give employers a greater financial incentive to make workplace adjustments and help employees return to work.
The party says employer National Insurance contributions would be reduced to compensate businesses for the additional responsibility, claiming the overall change would be cost neutral for employers.
Alongside the cuts, Reform is promising an additional £1.85 billion a year for programmes aimed at helping people return to employment.
This would include greater access to cognitive behavioural therapy, physiotherapy and employment support.
The party is also planning changes to benefits for children and young people.
For new claimants, Reform wants to bring the treatment of conditions including anxiety, depression and ADHD more closely in line with its proposed reforms to the adult disability benefits system.
The proposals would represent a dramatic change to Britain’s welfare system and come after the government faced significant resistance over its own attempts to reduce spending on disability benefits.
In March 2025, the government proposed tightening eligibility requirements under the PIP daily living assessment for existing and future claimants. Those plans were later watered down following significant opposition from Labour MPs.
Jenrick criticised the government’s approach, describing the original proposals as an attempt to make “modest savings” that was ultimately gutted by Labour backbenchers.
The future of PIP has remained under scrutiny, with Disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms leading a wider review of the benefit. An interim report published last month concluded that the existing system was “not fit for purpose” and required fundamental reform.
Labour has strongly criticised Reform’s proposals, accusing the party of attempting to make huge savings at the expense of disabled people.
A Labour spokesperson described Reform’s £50 billion target as “fantasy economics, built on stripping support from disabled people and shifting costs onto employers”.
Labour said it was already pursuing its own welfare reforms, including narrowing the difference between standard Universal Credit payments and health related rates, restoring face to face assessments and investing £3.5 billion in employment support.
The Conservatives have also attacked Reform’s announcement.
Shadow welfare secretary Helen Whately described the proposals as a “half-baked policy” and accused Reform of using the announcement to divert attention from questions surrounding a £5 million gift received by party leader Nigel Farage.
A parliamentary standards investigation has been examining the £5 million gift, which Farage received from a donor before becoming an MP. Farage has maintained that the money did not need to be registered.
The investigation was paused after Farage resigned as the MP for Clacton amid scrutiny over his financial backing, triggering a by-election which he subsequently won.
Reform’s proposals are expected to be published in full on Monday, providing further details about who would continue to qualify for cash disability support and how the new Health Security Allowance would operate.
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