Any attempt to cut disability benefits could backfire by pushing even more young people out of work, former PIP assessors have warned.
The Government is set to overhaul personal independence payments (PIP), arguing that the benefit claimed by 4.1 million people was “not fit for purpose”.
Ministers are particularly keen to reform welfare to encourage more young people into work – though changes won’t be set out until after the Budget.
Channel 4 to bring its shows to Disney+ – what we know
Channel 4 and the Walt Disney Company have struck a deal that will bring the British broadcaster’s shows to Disney+ in the UK and Ireland next year.
What you need to know
The agreement includes multiple Channel 4 shows being made available on-demand each year on Disney+, at the same time as their release on the station.
These include drama starring Bella Ramsey, comedy featuring Denise Welch, and reality show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins – along with Channel 4’s main TV channel and additional on-demand content.
How will it work?
When can you watch?
From 2027, Disney+ customers will be able to watch Channel 4’s linear HD channel, plus scripted and unscripted content at no extra cost.
What will be featured?
Channel 4 shows available “day and date” on Disney+, and access to new Channel 4 shows each year.
Where can you find it?
There will be a dedicated Channel 4-branded section intergrated into Disney +.
Why Putin will welcome Trump’s post-midterms mayhem
Even while Vladimir Putin does what he can to help Donald Trump salvage something from this month’s midterm elections, the Russian President is working on the assumption that the Republicans will lose badly.
The Kremlin’s goal
The Kremlin’s goal is to see the West paralysed by internal division and dispute, and it sees a humiliated Trump as a disruptive one.
Mired in a badly conceived and legally questionable war in the Gulf, with petrol and other prices rising and his erratic personal style increasingly counting against him, Trump has looked to Moscow for help.
Putin’s token efforts to aid Trump
- 1Trump’s deal to buy Russian diesel gave Putin the opportunity to pit Kyiv against the White House.
- 2Last week, Putin also freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old US citizen who had been given seven years in prison on charges of being a mercenary fighting for Ukraine.
- 3The Kremlin has also made much of the fact that a ceasefire it has agreed with Kyiv to allow residents of the beleaguered town of Oleshky to receive aid or simply flee the fighting, was driven by the First Lady, Melania.
Why Russia doesn’t care about Trump’s losses
Russians themselves have long regarded Trump as periodically useful, but never reliable.
“We’ve always known that [Trump] was self-indulgent and self-destructive,” a Russian political commentator told The i Paper. “The only question was when he was going to sink his own ship.”
- Moscow has had to see its Venezuelan client toppled and seen European countries ramp up their defence spending at Trump’s behest.
- Trump may press for a peace process as a last chance to secure his legacy and the Nobel Peace Prize.
All the supermarket staples having import tariffs removed
The Chancellor will soon cut tariffs among other cuts to give families “breathing space”.
Budget announcements
Making higher tax-free mileage rates permanent and removing import taxes on some food items are among the measures being announced ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.
The announcements are part of Chancellor John Healey’s pledge to give families what he is calling “breathing space” with the cost of living.
Which foods will have their tariffs cut?
Citrus jams, marmalades and pastes (20% + £19 per 100kg)
Cough drops, boiled sweets, toffees and caramels (8%)
Baked beans (16%)
Other measures announced
- A 55p per mile tax-free mileage rate for those driving up to 10,000 miles for work, with the rate rising from 25p per mile
- Allowing carers to earn more than an existing earnings limit without losing their entire allowance
- Giving two weeks of paternity pay to self-employed fathers
- Rolling out hundreds of additional Post Office drop boxes to make sending parcels easier
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A minimum wage rise
Healey will also announce the new National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds on Wednesday as well as the National Living Wage for those aged 21 and over.
has reported that the National Minimum Wage is likely to rise by 3.9% from £10.85 an hour to around £11.27.
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Why Jimmy Carr thinks comedy should be taught in school
Stand up comedian Jimmy Carr has said comedy should be taught in schools.
Here is everything we know.
Comedy is a ‘teachable skill’
54-year-old Carr is known for hosting 8 Out Of 10 Cats and as well as performing his own stand-up comedy shows.
Carr said he thinks no one is born funny and that comedy is a “teachable skill” that can help young people find their “authentic voice”.
Comedy is a ‘valuable skill’
Speaking on the podcast, he said: “I think comedy should be taught in schools, well drama more generally, but comedy specifically.
“It is a teachable skill. Is it an innate ability? Are you born funny? I don’t think so.
He added: “You will write down and order your thoughts. You’ll learn to communicate them and you will speak in your own authentic voice.
“It’s a valuable skill to learn.”
Everything you need to know about Israel’s election
Today, Israel is due to hold its first elections since the 7 October Hamas attacks in 2023.
What you need to know
Many Israelis have described the upcoming election as the most important one in their country’s history.
Polls show current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trailing in the race behind his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
However, it may take weeks or months before it’s clear who will be designated the winner.
More about the key players
Netanyahu has led Israel for 19 of the last 30 years at the head of a far-right coalition. He is currently on trial for corruption, so losing power could risk jail time for him.
Gadi Eisenkot is the former head of the Israeli military. He’s positioned himself as the opposite of Netanyahu, naming his party Yashar, or “Honesty”.
What are the polls saying?
Netanyahu in decline
Most polls show Netanyahu’s Likud and his current coalition parters losing their majority.
Anti-Netanyahu majority
Polls also show a clear anti-Netanyahu majority, but opposition seats are divided.
Palestine parties
Palestinian politicians have indicated they might support a minority government to unseat Netanyahu.
Voters disenfranchised
In the occupied West Bank, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers can vote.
In occupied East Jerusalem more than 230,000 Israelis with voting rights live among 350,000 Palestinians who cannot vote.
Two million Palestinians in Gaza, who live under Israeli military occupation, according to the international court of justice, also have no vote.
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What the result could mean
Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future. Their most significant differences concern democratic institutions, the West Bank and Israel’s relationship with the rest of the world.
- Netanyahu has governed with ultra-Orthodox parties that support settlement expansion in the West Bank. Eisenkot presents himself as a more pragmatic alternative. He has also taken a tougher position against violence by Israeli settlers.
The key detail Spotify is asking family plan users to prove
Spotify has outlined a new verification process for family plan users to prove they live in the same household.
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The process
What has changed?
Spotify will now ask family plan users to verify their address using a QR code.
How will it work?
The plan manager opens the QR code which needs to be scanned. All users on the plan need to be in the same place to scan.
What if you don’t?
If verification isn’t completed in seven days, the member can’t join a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quality and value of Premium we implement measures to ensure appropriate use of Spotify accounts. This includes reviewing Household Plans to ensure they are used only by primary account holders and those living at the same address, as stated in our terms and conditions.
a spotify spokesperson told sky news
Alan Miliburn, who is leading a Government review into 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (Neets), wants benefit cuts to “redistribute money” to employment support.
However, the Government must be very careful not to push disabled PIP claimants who already have a job out of work, former PIP assessors have told The i Paper.
‘Cuts would remove independence to work’
Currently, PIP is not tied to work, and is aimed at meeting the extra costs of daily life and mobility faced by disabled people.
Worth up to £800 a month, the money helps some disabled people stay in work by supporting their transport, equipment, care and other costs, say experts.
Around one in five PIP claimants are in work, according to a 2025 survey by Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. Of this group in work, nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) said they would need to reduce or give up employment if they lost PIP.
Former PIP assessor James Merrell, who worked for one of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) contract companies from 2023 to 2024, said the Government’s rhetoric had failed to recognise how much PIP supports people in work.
“Remove that support and you risk removing their independence alongside it,” said Merrell, a registered nurse and disability advocate.
Merrell is worried that reforms could see PIP money taken away if someone is able to work. “My concern is that ministers could mistake the success of support [disabled people working] for evidence that it should be withdrawn.”
‘Disability does not have an age threshold’
Labour ministers are said to be considering removing the health element from universal credit for under-25s who are disabled or ill. New claimants already saw the health element cut from £429 to £217 a month in April 2026 in a bid to encourage more to seek work.
Changes could also be made to PIP affecting this same under-25 age group, according to reports – though those with the most severe disabilities are not expected to lose any money.
It would be unfair to target young people claiming PIP for any cuts or requirement to look for work, said Merrell. “Disability does not have an age threshold.”
Nicola*, a trained mental health nurse who worked on PIP assessments between 2022 and 2023, said any push to get more young PIP claimants into work would be based on a “a big misconception that people on PIP don’t work – some do already”.
“I don’t understand why being young matters. I think that should be based on how disabled they are and how much it affects their everyday life – not age,” she added.
The former PIP assessors also dismissed ideas by Reform and the Conservatives to stop PIP for “mild” conditions such as anxiety and ADHD. Mental health conditions can be “as debilitating as physical health”, said Nicola.
Shabaaz Mohammed, a campaigner with Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAG) Manchester, said it would be “illogical to target young people” for any restrictions on claiming PIP.
“It would not get more young people into work because it would make it harder for them to search for work or training,” Mohammed added.
PIP must do ‘better job’ of helping people into work
PIP claimants have previously told The i Paper they couldn’t get the Motability car leases, therapies and treatments they need to keep working without the benefit – warning that cuts would push them out of jobs.
However, Stephen Timms, the disability minister leading a review of PIP, has said his planned reforms could “enable PIP to do a better job to support people into employment”. Changes are expected to be set out later in the autumn.
Andy Burnham has said Britain’s youth employment crisis was a “moral failure”, saying it was time to invest in training rather than “pay for failure through the benefits system”.
The PIP bill is currently forecast to rise from £32.1bn this year to £44.7bn by 2030-31. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has said the Timms’ review could see spending on the benefit reduced.
A recent report by the Resolution Foundation think tank warned that PIP was “actually discouraging” people from seeking job training or volunteering.
The Resolution Foundation proposed a new “participation” element to PIP that could be made alongside the PIP award.
It would task the DWP with helping PIP claimants seek therapies, volunteering opportunities, training or employment support. There would be a “light touch” expectation for claimants to participate, rather than a strict expectation.
This participation element could be particularly helpful to young people, said the think tank.
But the report also found that more than four-in-ten (42 per cent) of current 16 to 24-year-olds claiming PIP are already either in work (24 per cent) or education (18 per cent).
The Resolution Foundation said there would be no justification for creating a separate PIP system for young people since they are “not especially distinct from other age groups”.
Disability Rights UK urged Labour to focus on boosting employment support – including more funding for the Access to Work scheme. Disabled people have previously told The i Paper about cuts to their grants for transport, equipment and support workers.
The Government has been approached for comment.
*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.