Milburn Plan Would Replace Pip With Local Fund for Some Under-25s
Alan Milburn's youth unemployment review will recommend that some disabled people under 25 lose personal independence payments, known as Pip, and apply to a local fund instead, the Guardian reports. Critics say the change puts a thin safety net at risk.
Where the objections come from
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says the proposals could leave hundreds of thousands of young people with a disability or health condition less protected. It notes that many on universal credit would live on a basic rate of about £80 a week. Iain Porter, its senior policy adviser, said a cut in income makes it harder to stay in education or find work for people who are already short of money for food and travel.
Downing Street would not say on Thursday whether existing claimants could be affected.
Labour MPs are split. Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who joined last summer's welfare rebellion, said the cuts seem to land on young disabled people, many of them already in college or work. Meg Hillier, who chairs the Treasury committee and helped force the climbdown over last summer's welfare cuts, said she is "giving him a fair wind".
What would replace Pip
For under-25s, Pip and the health element of universal credit would end. A youth allowance at the standard universal credit rate would take their place. The Times reports a higher rate for those living independently, care leavers included.
Two further pieces are aimed at disability. One is an extra cost allowance for the most disabled, payable in or out of work. The other is a new higher insurance provision for people whose conditions mean they will never be able to work.
Everyone else would lose the ongoing payment. The most severely affected keep their entitlement.
The local fund and Milburn's case
Money from the fund would go on equipment and short-term costs, such as travel to a training course or job interview. Local advisers would run it, and the aim is quick payouts.
Milburn will deliver the report next Tuesday. He told the Guardian it would open 440,000 job and education opportunities by 2036 and add more than £2bn to young people's net incomes. In his view, blunt benefit cuts will not stop the drift towards 1.25 million young people being out of work, education or training. "We need to tear up the old approach and start again for under-25s," he said.
Source: the Guardian