The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is under mounting fire as it faces widespread condemnation for its treatment of older women and disabled people. Amid two deeply controversial issues – the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) pensions scandal and proposed £6.7 billion cuts to disability benefits like DWP PIP – critics warn the government is enacting a cruel and dangerous agenda, one that disproportionately targets society’s most vulnerable.
The DWP is “picking on the most vulnerable” via WASPI pensions and PIP cuts
Maria Fuccio, a 68-year-old from Gosport, Hampshire, embodies the real-world consequences of DWP policy. A former social worker, Fuccio is not only a WASPI woman – part of the cohort born in the 1950s who were blindsided by a sudden rise in the state pension age – but also a recipient of DWP Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a benefit she says is vital to her survival.
“I have good days, bad days and bloody awful days,” she told the iPaper, describing life with joint hypermobility syndrome, chronic fatigue, and hereditary liver disease.
Fuccio uses her DWP PIP to cover the basics of independent living: a walking aid, taxis to medical appointments, home adaptations, and a cleaner. “PIP is helping keep people like me at home,” she said:
It would cost a lot more to put me in a care home – thousands of pounds a month.
Her warning is stark: without DWP PIP, thousands of older disabled people could be pushed into residential care – not due to medical need, but because they can’t afford to live independently.
“They’re picking on the most vulnerable in society,” she said. “The mindset seems to be about saving money. But it’s short-term thinking.”
£6bn-odd in cuts and catastrophic consequences
The government’s proposed changes to DWP PIP are part of sweeping welfare reforms expected to cut billions. Critics argue the costs will be passed on to local councils and the NHS in the form of increased demand for care services.
According to Ayla Ozmen, director of policy at anti-poverty charity Z2K, “short-sighted” DWP PIP cuts will ripple across the entire system:
There will be people in their sixties, and younger adults of working age, who will find themselves unable to pay for things to live independently if they lose PIP awards.
David Sinclair of the International Longevity Centre echoed this, saying the reforms would strip away the last safety net for many:
A squeeze on ill-health benefits could mean increased numbers of people in their sixties are left with no access to a safety net – just when they need it most.
Despite these warnings, the DWP insists its reforms are designed to “unlock work for sick and disabled people” and claims those past state pension age will be unaffected. But these statements ring hollow for campaigners, especially in light of the department’s own data, which shows adults aged 60–70 stand to lose an average of £2,020 from these changes – the highest of any age group.
The ongoing injustice of the WASPI scandal
The anger surrounding DWP PIP reforms is compounded by unresolved grievances over the WASPI scandal. Millions of women born in the 1950s were not properly informed that their state pension age would rise – some only discovering the change when they applied to retire at 60, as they had always expected. Many, like Fuccio, were forced to work longer while struggling with poor health, or fell into poverty.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has found that the DWP failed in its duty to adequately communicate these changes, and yet no compensation has been paid. For Fuccio and other WASPI women, this amounts to state betrayal.
“It’s abominable what women of our generation have suffered,” Fuccio said. “We have to keep fighting. If the government think they can bully older women, they’re mistaken.”
Adding insult to injury, Labour – despite benefiting electorally from WASPI support – has so far declined to commit to compensation or reverse other cuts such as the removal of universal winter fuel payments. Fuccio is “furious” at the party for turning its back on older women. Currently, the WASPI campaign is taking legal action against the government.
DWP PIP broken, WASPI shameful
The cumulative effect of these policies – delayed pensions, axed winter fuel payments, and now slashed disability benefits like DWP PIP – signals a broader breakdown of the social contract for older citizens.
The government claims these moves are about “supporting people to live with dignity and independence.” Yet the reality described by Maria Fuccio and echoed by policy experts is far bleaker: a system in which independence is contingent on ability to fight through bureaucratic hurdles, where dignity is undermined by endless reassessments, and where those who cannot keep up are left behind.
The DWP’s pattern of decisions suggests a department more focused on cost-cutting than care. Its treatment of older, disabled, and disadvantaged people reveals an institution that has not just lost public trust – but abandoned its moral compass altogether.
As Fuccio said:
It would be so difficult to get by without DWP PIP. I’m finding it difficult to pay the bills as it is.
Her words serve as a chilling warning of the future many could face if current policies continue unchecked.
Featured image via the Canary
