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SIA welcomes UN warning on disability benefit changes
Spinal Injuries Association welcomes UN warning on disability benefit changes and calls for co-produced review of PIP
As the expert, leading voice for people with spinal cord injury, Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) welcomes the intervention from the United Nations, which reflects the serious concerns we raised about the Government’s proposed reforms to disability benefits.
We are grateful to the UN for listening to the experiences and evidence we provided, and for responding so clearly to the risks this legislation poses. Their letter to the UK Government reinforces what disabled people and representative organisations such as SIA have long warned: that these changes threaten to increase poverty, reduce independence, and place the UK in breach of its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
People with spinal cord injury already face significant and lifelong barriers in accessing equitable care, housing, employment, and support. Despite the many welcome changes, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, in its current form, continues to risk deepening those challenges by removing essential safeguards and reducing access to vital support from those who need it most to live with dignity and autonomy.
As Parliament enters the Committee stage and Third Reading of the Bill today, we urge MPs, to reflect on the lived experiences of the disabled community, listen to the warnings issued by the UN, and reject measures that would cause lasting harm. A compassionate and effective welfare system must be co-designed with disabled people, rooted in evidence, and grounded in respect for fundamental rights.
We also call for the Timms review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to be conducted as a genuine process of co-production with disabled people and their representative organisations, in full accordance with the UK’s commitments under the UN Convention. Furthermore, any implementation of recommendations must be subject to proper scrutiny and supported by primary legislation debated and approved by both Houses of Parliament.
Spinal Injuries Association remains committed to working constructively with the Government and Parliament to ensure that reforms to disability benefits are fair, evidence-based, and rooted in the lived experience of those they affect.
