Spring Statement 2025: What the Benefits Changes Mean

Martin Lord, Consortium Director, Citizens Advice Essex

This year’s Spring Statement confirmed major reforms to sickness and disability benefits — and sharpened the direction of travel already signaled by the government. The aim is clear: reduce welfare spending by £5 billion annually by 2030. But this comes with real risks for many of the people we support.

What’s Changing?

From November 2026, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) eligibility will tighten. To qualify, people will need to score at least four points on a single activity — rather than across multiple ones. Around 800,000 people could lose their entitlement. There will also be more frequent reassessments, except for those with the most severe conditions.

Universal Credit (UC) changes include:

Ending the disability top-up for under-22s.
Reducing the top-up from £97 to £50/week by 2026–27 and freezing it until 2030.
Gradually increasing the base UC rate to £106/week by 2029–30.

Who Loses

According to government figures:

3.2 million families will lose an average of £1,720 a year.
370,000 will be hit by the stricter PIP rules.
2.25 million UC claimants will see real-terms cuts.
730,000 future claimants could be £3,000 worse off annually.

Who Gains?

Around 3.8 million families are set to benefit, mainly from the UC uplift — but they’ll gain just £420 a year on average.

Employment Support Package

The Chancellor also announced:

£1 billion for personalised employment help.
Ending the Work Capability Assessment by 2028.
A new “right to try” scheme allowing people to attempt work without risk.
A new, time-limited benefit to replace ESA and JSA.

Our Concerns

At Citizens Advice Essex, which is the name for the consortium of local Citizens Advice offices serving greater Essex, we welcome clarity - but remain seriously concerned on two fronts:

Support is being reduced. These changes will see many people lose out, not because their needs have changed but because the rules have changed. For those already on low incomes, this risks deepening poverty and hardship.

Unfair assessments are likely. Past changes to benefit processes have led to errors, delays, and unjust decisions. We expect the same again — and know demand for advice will rise sharply as a result.

Collectively, we help almost 75,000 people each year, but the demand keeps growing. These changes won’t just prompt more demand for benefits advice - they’ll lead to more debt, housing problems, and pressure on families.