with Derek Sinclair, senior helpline adviser, Contact
PIP Petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/721547
You may be aware of the government’s abhorrent plans to remove the health element of Universal Credit for young disabled people aged 16-21 who are unable to work or do work-related activity. These are some of our most disabled young people who have to go through an assessment with a medical professional to be approved for this level of support. It’s clear the purpose of this is not to help them into work, but to save the government money, punching down on undoubtedly vulnerable people. It’s less clear how Kier Starmer and co sleep at night.
There is currently a rather complex public consultation open until 30 June 2025. In today’s article, Derek Sinclair, senior helpline adviser at charity Contact, sets out their position on the proposal to remove access to the health (LCWRA) element of Universal Credit for most young adults aged 16 – 21.
Act to stop Question 11 of Pathways to Work Disability Reform Green Paper by Derek Sinclair, Contact
Unlike some of the proposals in the Green Paper, the government is consulting on a proposal to remove access to the health (LCWRA) element of Universal Credit for most young adults aged 16–21 once they claim Universal Credit in their own right.
This proposal would mean a huge drop in income of almost £100 per week for nearly 110,000 disabled young adults.
It will have a devastating financial impact not only on disabled young adults who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), but also on many who are in education or low-paid employment. It will push disabled young people further from employment and further into poverty. It is not a policy that should be implemented. It is not a proposal that Contact could support in any way.
In a speech on Wednesday 21 May, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, said for the first time:
“Those with the most severe, life-long conditions that will never improve and who can never work will have their Universal Credit protected – including young people aged under 22.”
Liz Kendall DWP Secretary
However, the extremely high threshold for new severe conditions criteria offers very little protection for disabled young adults, most will no longer get the health element if the proposal goes ahead. We must stop this from happening.
Email your MP to oppose the change
Please email your local MP about the devastating impact this will have on disabled young people. We are asking MPs to write to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, to scrap this proposal.
Contact has set up an email to your MP, making it quick and easy for you.
Also read: Act now! Sign and Share the Parliamentary Petition to PROTECT SEND RIGHTS!
Cutting support risks disabled young people being left behind
The Get Britain Working White Paper, which works in conjunction with the Pathways to Work green paper, aims, “to break down barriers to opportunity for all young people … Too many young people are at risk of being left behind.” Its plan for young people is “delivering a Youth Guarantee so that all 18 to 21-year-olds in England have access to education, training or help to find a job or an apprenticeship.”
While these aims will increase the levels of support available for young people, they don’t fully take into account the complex barriers they face. What’s more, the two strategies together will leave significant numbers of young people with neither suitable support nor a decent level of income. Young people whose needs are too high to allow them to access either training or employment, but who may be capable of carrying out some tasks, will be left with a greatly reduced Universal Credit figure that does not meet their needs.
While the Get Britain Working white paper aims to provide a guaranteed place in education and training for all 16 and 17-year-olds, there will always be some young people for whom this isn’t possible, particularly with the lack of funding, specialist places and problems with transport. Provision needs to be made for young people in this situation. Retaining entitlement to the health element in Universal Credit is an effective way of achieving this.
Little impact on NEET figures
The Green Paper attempts to justify restricting access to the health element as a necessary measure to reduce the number of young people who are NEET. Contact does not accept this argument. Restricting access to the health element will have no impact on the 73% of 16-24 year olds who are NEET for reasons other than illness or disability. Instead, it will impact exclusively on one group of NEET young people—those who face the greatest barriers to education and employment as a result of their disabilities.
Impact on under-22s in employment
Some young disabled people who have been able to move into work will also be negatively impacted by this policy. Many disabled people in low-paid or part-time work rely on Universal Credit to top up their earnings. Under this proposal, a disabled worker who is aged under 22 could receive up to £97 per week less Universal Credit as a result of no access to a health element.
However, the losses they face could be even higher as a result of this proposal. To qualify for a work allowance (i.e. an earnings disregard), a Universal Credit claimant must either be responsible for children or have established a limited capability for work. With the work capability assessment being scrapped and no access to a replacement health element, Contact is deeply concerned that disabled young people under-22s who are in employment will not only lose access to the health element but also be denied any work allowance.
Impact on young people in non-advanced education
The proposed policy will not just impact young disabled people who are NEET, but also many young disabled people who are in education.
Despite barriers to students claiming Universal Credit, it is often possible for those in non-advanced education who have passed the August after their 19th birthday to successfully claim Universal Credit as an adult. This is one of the top issues Contact provides advice on so please do get in touch.
Under the current system, low-income families with a disabled 19-year-old already have to contend with a drop in income of at least £29.25 per week when their child stops being treated as a dependant and starts claiming Universal Credit in their own right. However, under the government’s proposal, young disabled people aged under 22 would only receive £73 rather than £170 per week, meaning a much greater drop in household income.
This would have a devastating impact on the families involved. The young person’s needs would not have changed, nor would there be any reduction in the disability related costs faced by that family. However, solely as a result of their child reaching the September after their 19th birthday, they would face a crippling drop in financial support of more than £125 per week. This proposed change would have a devastating financial effect on some of the most vulnerable families in the country, throwing families that are already in poverty into the most severe financial hardship.
Responding to the consultation
Contact has drafted a detailed response to this proposal, we are happy to share it to help others formulate their own response to the Green Paper consultation. Please email una.summerson@contact.org.uk for a copy.
Seek advice!
This proposal will cause yet more worry and stress for families. We encourage concerned families to access advice from Contact’s helpline. Find out more about claiming Universal credit for young people receiving education on Contact’ website
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Also read:
- Researching flexi-schooling: How beneficial is it for children with SEND?
- Oops, we did it again… The Government must now listen to more than 100,000 people who do not want to lose SEND rights
- Experts at Hand: When is an occupational therapist also a SEND expert?
- Could using AI to filter Government consultation responses lead to “algorithmic silencing” of neurodivergent voices?
- A council’s “improvement journey”? How determined SEND parents catalogued the trail of their LA’s unlawful behaviour
- Research: Social networks in special schools. Friendships, bullying and play
- CrowdJustice SEND accountability: When the law says “must”, local authorities cannot treat it as “maybe”
- DfE must give its SEND reform Child Rights Impact Assessment a do-over; this time, without marking its own homework
- Research: SEND case officers are LAs’ “human shield” gatekeepers. But parents shouldn’t have to be their own key workers
- Research finds the Government’s SEND National Conversation “performative”, lacking pathways for young people’s inclusion
- EOTAS: Why the Government must listen to those with lived experience
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
What kind of government is “bold” enough to scrap statutory EHCPs from vulnerable children?May 16, 2025
The SEND reforms in the Schools White Paper reveal rights given, and rights stripped awayFebruary 24, 2026
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- Researching flexi-schooling: How beneficial is it for children with SEND? - October 5, 2026
- Experts at Hand: When is an occupational therapist also a SEND expert? - September 30, 2026
- A council’s “improvement journey”? How determined SEND parents catalogued the trail of their LA’s unlawful behaviour - September 29, 2026
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