John Walls

Before we get into the detail, it’s worth knowing it will be at least a year before any changes are brought in. Importantly, over the next three months we have the opportunity to tell the UK Government what will and won’t work for blind and partially sighted people. At the end of this page we explain how you can respond to the consultation which is now open on parts of these plans.

Below we have summarised the main proposals and what the implications might be. Please come back to this page, which we expect to expand with any further analysis in the weeks ahead.

The proposals will affect parts of the UK differently and only apply directly to the UK Government areas of responsibility. Here’s a breakdown of the proposals:

• England: Benefit and employment support are UK Government areas of responsibility.
• Wales: Benefits are UK Government areas of responsibility. Employment support is provided by both the UK Government and the Welsh Government.
• Northern Ireland: Health and disability benefits are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive, although the UK government and the Northern Ireland Executive work closely to maintain parity. Employment support is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.
• Scotland: In Scotland responsibility for certain disability benefits is devolved. Employment support is provided by both the UK Government and the Scottish Government.

The green paper says implications for benefit or employment support which are not solely UK Government responsibility will be fully considered before and changes are made.

RNIB has teams in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales and we will be working together to look at what the changes will means for different parts of the UK.

Tightened PIP criteria

From November 2026, the Government wants to tighten the criteria for qualifying for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

• PIP payments have two components, a daily living part and a mobility part.
• The Government wants to change the daily living criteria.
• The Government wants PIP recipients to score at least four points in at least one activity to get the daily living element.
• Any new rules will impact new claimants from November 2026 and existing claimants will only be impacted once reassessed.
• This change will not impact entitlement to the mobility element of PIP.

We’re concerned that this could make it harder for some blind and partially sighted people to qualify and we will be scrutinising the detail over the next few weeks to understand the impact that this change could have on people with sight loss.

PIP provides vital support for the extra costs that come with being blind or partially sighted. It helps people to access mobility aids, home adaptions, assistive tech and taxis when public transport isn’t accessible.

Although it is not dependent on whether you are working or not, PIP often enables people to stay in employment by covering costs such as transport and assistive tech.

No one living with sight loss should lose out on essential support to live independently. We will be doing all we can to challenge this. We think that the current PIP system, whereby claimants can either accumulate low points across activities or score highly in one or more activity, is the fairest way of assessing PIP entitlement, as everyone’s needs and lives are different. Sight loss is a spectrum and every eye condition affects everyone’s sight differently.

Any tightening of the PIP criteria will need to be voted on in Parliament in the months ahead, so we will be calling on MPs to speak out and we will welcome your support in this.

If the rules do change next year, and someone is at risk of losing PIP money, our legal rights team will be there to help challenge unfair decisions.

Note: In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment has replaced PIP and the implications of these proposals for benefits in Scotland will take time to be understood.

Government review of the PIP assessment

There will also be a Government review of the PIP assessment, to be led by Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Disabled People and Social Security.

We will make sure we are part of this and will share how the assessment process should be improved for blind and partially sighted people.

Universal Credit, including the health element

There are plans to change incapacity benefits under Universal Credit, which currently give some claimants an additional £416 a month. This could make it even harder for some blind and partially sighted people to meet essential bills. Here’s what the green paper says:

• There will be a boost to the basic rate of Universal Credit in 2026. This is much needed but arguably not enough. This would mean a single person over the age of 25 would receive £7 more a week in 2026 (from £91 a week to £98).
• However, the rate of the additional health element will face real terms cut and be frozen at £420 a month until 2029.
• The £420 rate will be maintained for those already in receipt of the health element.
• But, from 2026 the rate of the health element for new claimants will be halved, from £97 to £50 a week.
• The government will also consult on stopping people getting the health top up for Universal Credit until they are 22.

While we will be welcoming a boost to the basic rate of Universal Credit, we’ll be calling out plans that reduce or take away the financial support for people receiving the health top up.

Work Capability Assessment to be scrapped

In 2028, the Government plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

The WCA currently determines whether a person is fit for work for the purpose of their Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit. Those in the “limited capability for work-related activity” group receive a top up to their basic Universal Credit award (also known as the health element) at £416 a month.

The Government plans to move to a single assessment, the PIP assessment, for financial support related to health and disability benefits.

If PIP eligibility criteria are tightened and it becomes harder for some people with sight loss to claim, this could make it even harder for people to access essential financial support.

We also know there are considerable issues with decision making within the current benefit system. This urgently needs addressing, to make sure someone’s entitlement to support is not lost in one inaccurate assessment.

Trying work won’t lead to a benefit reassessment

We’re pleased to see plans to introduce the “right to try”, so claimants can try work without fear of losing their current benefits if it doesn’t work out. This is something we’ve long been calling for.

We know the fear of reapplying for benefits, which is often an extremely stressful and difficult process, and not being granted the same financial entitlement as before, currently prevents some people with sight loss from feeling able to try work or seek employment support.

In our 2021 survey, for example, half of blind and partially sighted respondents said they worried about their benefits being affected if they asked for employment support.

Reassessments

The Government wants to introduce more frequent reassessments for people claiming the health element of Universal Credit.

The green paper says they “will initially prioritise reassessments for people who are most likely to have had a change in their circumstances including those who have short-term prognoses, for which we can reasonably anticipate a change in health condition has occurred. Over time, we will then prioritise available reassessment capacity for other cohorts who are likely to change award.”

We know that benefit reassessments cause considerable anxiety for people with sight loss, when an individual’s sight is highly unlikely to improve. We will be recommending a more efficient benefit process, where people with evidence of sight loss do not have to undergo repeated unnecessary assessments, to help make the process less stressful and invasive for blind and partially sighted people and cut significant costs for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the judiciary.

More face-to-face appointments

We’re concerned to hear plans to increase face-to-face assessments for PIP and the health element of Universal Credit, unless there is much better understanding of sight loss among assessors. Additionally, blind and partially sighted claimants can face particular challenges in travelling to assessments in unfamiliar locations.

At present informal observations during face-to-face assessments for disability benefits often lead to poor quality decisions based on incorrect assumptions. For example, reports often contain statements such as the claimant “made good eye contact” during the assessment and then this ‘observation’ is used to form incorrect assumptions about the person’s abilities.

We’ll be calling for all assessment methods, including face-to-face, telephone and video, to be available and optional.

Employment support

The Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced a £1 billion package of tailored support to help disabled people into work. This is welcome and we’ll be looking for opportunities to shape this support so it works for blind and partially sighted job seekers.

Alongside this, we’ll also be pushing for UK Government action to tackle the very real barriers disabled people face when seeking employment. We know that there are 11,000 blind and partially sighted people wanting to work right now – with challenges from attitudinal to technological getting in the way. We want to see the UK Government work hand in hand with employers to overcome these and support people into work.

The green paper also consults on the future of Access to Work which will give us opportunities to call for the scheme to be fixed and make sure people receive timely support.