Recipients of the personal independence payment (PIP) are fearing for their future in the wake of Reform UK’s announcement that it would scrap the benefit for working-age adults in an attempt to save £50bn a year.
Hannah Moreton, 42, from Hinckley, Leicestershire, works for disability charity Sense three days a week as a resident visual artist, but says she would have to give it up if she lost her PIP.
Moreton has myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and is hearing-impaired and neurodivergent. She has two children aged seven and 12, and uses PIP to pay for a housekeeper to help with daily tasks of running a busy family home.
She said: “If I ever lose my PIP, it would probably result in me having to give up my work. ME is a chronic, fatiguing illness and, without the support I buy with my PIP, I wouldn’t have the energy to keep working.”
The best and worst supermarkets for shelf life – ranked
New secret shopper market research by consumer champion Which? found “a striking difference” in how each shop delivery performed.
The official ranking
Each supermarket home delivery was tested by 12 different shoppers across 29 standard items.
Here is every supermarket delivery ranked according to average perishable shelf life from best to worst:
- – 10.4 days
- – 10.4 days
- – 10.2 days
- – 8.8 days
- – 7.7 days
How do they compare?
Asda performed the best, with an average 11-day period to use up perishables. This was more than three days better than the worst average time.
Which? noted Ocado, which came in joint second, also delivered on longevity, with two packs of honey roast ham arriving with more than 20 days left on the packet.
How did Waitrose respond?
Waitrose had the shortest average shelf life across all six supermarkets tested. Some of the shoppers even had packs of meat arrive with just one day before the use-by date.
The shop said this was partly due to removing preservatives from certain items “in response to increasing customer demand”. Its pickers are “trained to choose the longest dated products they can”.
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How top album releases are linked to rise in fatal crashes
A Harvard study has found new releases by the most popular artists are linked to a notable rise in car crash deaths in the US, thought to be linked to distracted driving.
What did the study find?
- Researchers looked at the release of 10 of the most streamed new albums between 2017 and 2022.
- They found new release days had a 15 per cent higher number of fatal crashes compared to the days either side of it.
- This is equivalent to 182 excess deaths in the US between those 10 albums.
- Albums included Taylor Swift’s Drake’s and Harry Styles’ .
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What does this mean?
Vishal Patel, lead author of the study, said searching for the new music likely distracts drivers. “You unlock the phone, open the app, find the release, read down a tracklist, tap the right song. That’s several seconds of looking at a screen,” he said.
Researchers also found the rise in deaths was more prominent among younger drivers, male drivers and those driving alone.
Areas in England have been ranked by friendliness, according to government data from the community life survey.
The survey takes into account sense of loneliness, local pride, participation in the local community and friendliness with neighbours.
The friendliest places
- 1The Isles of Scilly, a tiny archipelago off the coast of Cornwall.
- 2, Devon. On the coast just south of Dartmoor National Park.
- 3. Bordering South Hams to the north, encompassing much of wild Dartmoor.
- 4, including Bakewell, Ashbourne and parts of the Peak District.
- 5Richmond upon Thames in southwest London.
The bottom of the pile
Barking and Dagenham in east London placed as the least friendly part of England. The other lowest-ranking areas were Stoke-on-Trent, Ashfield, Mansfield and Ipswich.
The index was collated by National Conversation, a commission to better understand British cohesion and tackle division. It has launched its own survey people can take to give their view on their own area.
British couple on honeymoon killed in helicopter crash in Greece
Greek police believe a mechanical fault may have caused a helicopter to crash before it was due to land on the island of Sifnos.
The crash on Monday evening killed a British couple on honeymoon and the pilot.
What we know so far
- London-based couple Marie Ebert, 30, and Alexander Cromie, 31, died in the incident. They were celebrating their honeymoon.
- The pilot, Giorgos Raikos, 53, was a former air force officer and was “extremely experienced”. He also died in the crash.
- “The focus of the inquiry is now on the helicopter and possible engine failure. What has happened is nothing short of a tragedy,” a source told The Guardian.
How the crash unfolded
The private helicopter crashed just metres from a landing pad. CCTV footage showed the aircraft spinning out of control before plummeting to the ground and igniting a fireball. A thick plume of dark smoke was seen billowing into the sky from the site of the crash.
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A closer look at what may have gone wrong
People in the area have testified hearing the helicopter making a noise, a strange noise, probably a mechanical fault in the air and because the propeller was doing something strange.
Manolis Fountolakis, deputy mayor of Sifnos
Tribute paid to couple
- Asset management firm Blackstone, where Cromie worked, said it was “shocked” by the couple’s death.
- “We are shocked by the tragic passing of three people including our colleague Alex Cromie and his wife Marie Ebert, who were celebrating their honeymoon,” the firm said.
- “Alex was beloved by everyone who knew and worked with him at Blackstone, and our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.”
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Meta goes on federal trial for social media addiction
Dozens of states are seeking damages worth as much as $1.4trn in the federal trial kicking off in the US.
It is the biggest case of its kind to reach the courts.
What do we know so far
- Meta is accused of designing features which it knew would make children addicted to its social media platforms.
- The lawsuit alleges the tech giant illegally collects data on child users under 13 without parental consent.
- The trial will take place in front of a jury in Oakland, California
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify in the unprecedented trial.
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What does each side say?
Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general said: “Meta designed a dangerous product for young users, knew it to be dangerous, and then lied to children, families and the community about how dangerous it was.”
Meta denies any wrongdoing. It said it was “proud of our record in protecting teens on our platforms and the amount of effort that we’ve put into developing protections over the years”.
Russia and Ukraine trade more deadly strikes – the latest
Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said Ukraine sent 620 drones towards the city overnight, with 180 downed by Russian defence systems.
Ukraine faces drone attacks
Ukraine was also hit as the warring countries traded blows overnight. The state emergency service said a 59-year-old woman was injured in the Russian attacks.
Pictures posted on Telegram show firefighters battling blazes in two outbuildings hit by a drone in the northern Chernihiv Oblast.
Major e-commerce giant hit
- Yet another Wildberries warehouse was struck near Moscow.
- It is the latest in Kyiv’s campaign to take out Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, which it accuses of supplying Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
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go deeper on this topic
Putin’s fury at the UK could escalate his sabotage campaign
The news that Ukraine is using British-made drones in its deep strike campaign has prompted scornful words from Russia and talk of potential retaliation.
Less than half know how to stop someone from choking
St John Ambulance has warned too many people are choking to death because bystanders “do not have the knowledge or confidence to intervene”.
What the survey tells us
- Around 300 people die in England every year due to choking.
- A poll has revealed only 42 per cent know how to stop someone choking, by giving back blows and abdominal thrusts.
- 32 per cent did not know choking can become life-threatening in minutes without first aid.
- Jordan Davison from St John Ambulance said: “Choking is often dismissed as a minor incident.”
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‘Everyone should have first aid training’
Marine engineer Calum Glen was enjoying dinner when he noticed a woman at a neighbouring table choking. Following first aid training at work, he gave the woman five back blows before moving on to abdominal thrusts, when her airway was cleared.
“I hope I never have to use those skills again, but you never know when someone’s life could depend on you knowing what to do,” Calum said.
What to do if someone is choking
- 1Cough it out. Encourage them to cough and remove any obvious obstruction from their mouth.
- 2Hit it out. If coughing fails, you need to give five sharp back blows between their shoulder blades.
- 3Squeeze it out. If back blows fail, give five abdominal thrusts. Stand behind them with your hands just above their waist.
- 4If the blockage has not cleared, for emergency help straight away. Repeat steps until help arrives.
The flaws in Reform’s plan to scrap PIP and slash £50bn from benefits bill
Reform Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said it would stop some claimants “taking everyone else for mugs” by slashing personal independence payments, banning foreign nationals from receiving benefits and forcing long-term claimants to do community work.
What is in the plan?
- Under the plans, foreign nationals would be excluded from most benefits – including EU nationals with settled status in the UK.
- It would also shake up disability benefits through a new system of “Return to Work Cover”.
- Lastly, people on universal credit for more than 12 months who are fit to work would be required to provide 20 hours a week of community work.
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Renegotiating with the EU
Reform’s ban on foreign nationals receiving benefits would require a renegotiation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
However, it is not clear that Brussels would want to rewrite the agreement, and the bloc would probably respond with countermeasures such as stripping British expats of benefits.
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Making employers pay
Making employers liable for sick employees for two years could have unintended consequences. It is not clear whether Jenrick’s promise that cutting 0.2 per cent to employer national insurance contributions would be enough to make up for the extra costs employers would be incurring.
It could also create a perverse incentive for employers to not hire people with disabilities or previous experiences of ill-health.
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Voter backlash
- The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the new disability needs assessment plans are vague and savings could fall significantly short of expectations.
- This policy may not be very popular in many of Reform’s top target seats which have large PIP caseloads. It could also open up a vulnerable new flank for Andy Burnham’s resurgent Labour Party.
Performing household chores would require all of the energy Moreton currently puts into her job, she said. “I couldn’t do both of them,” she said.
According to Sense, two in five disabled PIP recipients with complex needs are able to work because of the extra money.
Reform has proposed that, if in power, it would abolish PIP and the health element of universal credit for working-age adults.
Nigel Farage‘s party said that both would be replaced with a new “health security allowance” – a single, regularly reviewed payment that provides support for the “gravely ill and severely challenged”.
Under the proposal, only claimants with “severe, enduring and high-risk” conditions would qualify for cash benefits – while others receiving disability-related payments would lose their cash entitlement altogether. Reform also said it would bar foreign nationals from claiming benefits.
‘I may never vote for Reform again’
Robert, 40, has spina bifida and receives PIP. He previously voted for Reform, but says he may never vote for the party again over its proposal to scrap the benefit. Like another person interviewed for this story, Robert spoke on the condition that his surname not be used.
Robert, who lives in Leeds, is unable to work because of his health issues. He leases a car specifically adapted to him through the Motability scheme, which lets disabled people exchange part of their allowance for a car.
Robert, whose partner is his carer, said: “The plans worry me because I’m scared of losing the small amount I have and my car which is the only way I can leave the house.”
“PIP literally lets me live,” he said. “It’s not a huge amount [but] I’m extremely grateful.”
Disability equality charity Scope found that disabled households need an extra £1,095 a month on average to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.
‘Don’t lump disability with unemployment benefits’
Georgina Colman, 49, who has multiple sclerosis and ADHD, uses PIP to cover her energy bills, a powered wheelchair and physiotherapy. She worries she wouldn’t be able to look after her health without the monthly payments.
“The thing people don’t really understand is the use for essential daily living as opposed to just kind of those big expenses, like the mobility aids,” said Colman, who runs the disability discount scheme Purpl.
“My body is so sensitive to any heat change. Being really cold or being really hot means my body just stops working,” she said. “We have a higher cost; I can’t just have the heating down… and wear an extra jumper.”
Colman also thinks disabled people receiving support for their health should not be “grouped together with out-of-work benefits”, as their situations are “very different”.
‘Losing PIP could be make my health worse’
Sophia, 55, from Cheshire, has autism, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia and arthritis. She used to be a management consultant but is now unable to work.
The mother of one is unable to walk any significant distance and needs assistance with everyday tasks like getting in and out of the shower.
“What frightens me most is that losing PIP could actually make my health worse,” Sophia said.
If the benefit is taken away from her, she said, it would leave her with “less independence, less security and potentially more dependence on other people and public services”.
Sophia said her “biggest concern” about Reform’s plans is the proposal that only those considered to have the most severe disabilities should receive cash support. “Disability isn’t always straightforward or visible,” she said.
Moreton also worries about Reform’s plan to replace cash entitlements with “verifiable additional costs” linked to people’s disability, as these can vary and she wouldn’t always have the cash to pay upfront.
Dr Shani Dhanda, disability activist and broadcaster, echoed this view.
“Scrapping PIP and replacing it with support for ‘verifiable additional costs’ completely misunderstands the reality of disabled people’s lives,” she said.
“Disability doesn’t come with neat, predictable costs that you can prove on demand. Needs fluctuate. Costs change. And the support you need to live an ordinary life isn’t always something you can put on a receipt.”