A renewed plea has been made for proposed Universal Credit cuts to be delayed. The Work and Pensions Committee has made a renewed plea regarding the planned cuts, voted through Parliament in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill.

The Committee has expressed particular concern about how people suffering from severe mental health conditions will be protected from the changes, and the number of disabled people potentially pushed into poverty as a result.

Their most recent report strongly encouraged the government to postpone the changes. It said: “We remain critical, however, of the Government’s failure to properly assess the impact of the cut to UC health on poverty, health and labour force participation.

“For this reason, we urge it to delay the measure until it has had time to make such an assessment.”

The changes are scheduled to take effect for all new claimants from April next year and involve cutting the health component in half from £423.27 to £217.26 monthly, excluding those meeting the severe conditions threshold. Additionally, the changes will render individuals under 22 completely ineligible for the health component.

The Committee voiced worries that people with serious mental health conditions might not qualify for the severe conditions category, along with those experiencing serious but variable conditions.

MPs also directly questioned the Secretary of State about why a safeguarding risk evaluation had not been carried out prior to the Green Paper’s publication.

The Universal Credit changes are designed to encourage people back into employment, but MPs on the Committee have expressed worries that the modifications will instead force disabled individuals into poverty, even following substantial concessions made to the Bill.

Committee chairperson Debbie Abrahams said: “We welcome the concessions that the Government made to the UC and PIP Bill (now the UC Bill), but there are still issues with these welfare reforms not least with the cut in financial support that newly sick and disabled people will receive.

“The Government’s own analysis published in March indicates that from next April approximately 50,000 people who develop a health condition or become disabled – and those who live with them – will enter poverty by 2030 as a result of the reduction in support of the UC health premium.

“We recommend delaying the cuts to the UC-health premium, especially given that other policies that such as additional NHS capacity, or employment support, or changes in the labour market to support people to stay in work, have yet to materialise.

“We agree in a reformed and sustainable welfare system, but we must ensure that the wellbeing of those who come into contact with it is protected.

“The lesson learned from last month should be that the impact of policy changes to health-related benefits must be assessed prior to policy changes being implemented to avoid potential risks to claimants.”

Abrahams was one of the MPs who backed the welfare Bill at its third reading, following the addition of significant concessions. One such concession was a total abandonment of the proposed alterations to the Personal Independence Payment.