Map reveals biggest benefit towns hardest hit by Rachel Reeves’ brutal raid on Universal Credit & PIP

BRITAIN'S benefit hotspots – set to be hit hardest by Labour's welfare raid – can be revealed today.

The Government's plan to curb handouts was laid out by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Spring Statement on Wednesday.

Amid a dire economic forecast, the measures are expected to save more than £5billion-a-year in 2029/30 by swinging the axe at the UK's bloated welfare bill.

Ms Reeves confirmed that at least 10,000 civil service pen-pushers will have their jobs abolished, with desperately needed cash redirected to front-line services such as policing.

Changes also include scrapping the work capability assessment for Universal Credit (UC) in 2028 – replacing it with a single assessment under Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The Government will also consult on delaying access to the health element of UC until a person is 22.

Key announcements in the Spring Statement:

No new tax rises: The Chancellor ruled out further tax hikes and pledged to crack down on tax avoidance, aiming to raise an extra £1bn.
Growth downgraded for 2025: The OBR halved its GDP growth forecast for next year from 2% to just 1%.
Growth boost from planning reforms: New housing policies expected to raise GDP by 0.6 per cent over the next decade.
House building surge: 1.3 million homes expected over five years, with construction hitting a 40-year high.
£2.2bn extra for defence: Additional funding confirmed to help meet the 2.5 per cent of GDP defence target.
£400m Defence Innovation Fund: Backing new tech like drones and AI for the front line.
Welfare shake-up: Targeted employment support and welfare reform to reduce benefit spending.
Civil service cuts: New voluntary exit schemes and AI tools to shrink Government.

Elsewhere the proposals comprise an above-inflation rise in the standard allowance for UC but a cut to the rate paid out for the health element for new claimants.

There are currently 7.5 million people on UC and more than three million recipients have no requirement to find work.

Our map reveals in some areas almost two-thirds of households are now having to rely on the state.

Four out of the five areas with the highest household claimant counts are in Birmingham, according to data from the House of Commons Library.

The figures show the highest rate of household claims is in the Perry Bar constituency of the city with 64.2 per cent.

That is more than twice the UK average of 25.2 per cent.

The top ten was made up of constituencies in the Midlands city, London or Bradford.

More than half were getting UC in the eight constituencies with the most household claimants.

A raft of benefit changes were confirmed in today's Spring Statement by the Chancellor.

The government laid out how it needs to cut welfare spending in order to balance the nation's finances and help more Brits back to work.

The changes outlined last week when the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released its Pathways to Work green paper, but today were confirmed by the government in the Spring Statement.

The measures are expected to save more than £5billion a year, with changes to eligibility for PIP expected to account for the largest proportion of savings.

Key changes include:

• Merging jobseeker's allowance and employment support allowance, with a system that awards higher payments to those who have a work history compared to those who have not.
• Abolishing the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) by 2028, with all health-related payments to be transitioned to PIP in the future.
• Banning under-22s from claiming incapacity benefits under Universal Credit entirely.
• Introducing an above-inflation rise to Universal Credit's standard allowance, while reducing the highest incapacity payment.
• Raising the eligibility threshold for PIP, aimed at achieving £5billion in annual savings.
• Launching a “Right to Work Guarantee”, allowing unemployed individuals to attempt returning to work without losing benefits if they find it unsustainable.

The government has confirmed that it will bring forward primary legislation this session to enable delivery of the PIP additional eligibility requirement and UC rebalancing reforms from April 2026.

It added that the Right to Work Guarantee will be delivered through separate primary legislation which will be introduced in due course.

Here we explain exactly what the changes mean for you.

Tougher PIP assessments

The DWP will tighten the criteria for claiming PIP, a non-means-tested benefit designed to support individuals with health conditions.

Currently, PIP is worth up to £108 per week.

Under the proposed changes, applicants will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one specific daily living activity to qualify for the benefit.

This marks a shift from the current system, which allows individuals to qualify with a lower overall score spread across multiple activities.

As a result, some existing PIP recipients, as well as new applicants, may no longer meet the eligibility requirements and could lose access to the benefit.

There will also be a review of the PIP assessment process.

People with severe conditions will be exempt from undergoing further reassessments.

Currently, disability living allowance (DLA) is provided to children under the age of 16, after which they transition to PIP.

The review will also explore the possibility of raising the transition age from 16 to 18.

Universal Credit health assessments scrapped

The Work Capability Assessment, which determines whether someone is deemed fit for work or has limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA), will be scrapped by 2028.

Instead the DWP will use the PIP assessment to assess entitlement for any Universal Credit health supplements.

While current LCWRA claimants will retain their current health element (£416.19 per month) and benefit from a standard allowance rise, new claimants will receive a lower health element, offset by a new higher standard allowance.

A new premium is proposed for those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who cannot work.

Claimants under the age of 22 will no longer be eligible for the health element of Universal Credit.

Claimants under the age of 22 will no longer be eligible for the health element of Universal Credit.

The government is also introducing legislation to remove barriers to employment for benefit claimants by ensuring that attempting work will no longer automatically trigger a reassessment or review of their award.

The intention is to give people the confidence to try work without fear of immediately losing their benefits if it doesn't work out.

Universal Credit standard allowance boost

Millions of households on Universal Claimants will see their benefits rise by more than inflation over the coming years.

The government has confirmed that the standard allowance for Universal Credit will receive a permanent increase exceeding the rate of inflation, starting next year.

For a single person aged 25 and over, this will result in a £7 weekly rise from April 2026 – an increase from the current £91 per week to £98 per week.

By 2029, the DWP estimates that above-inflation increases will boost the average claimant's standard allowance by £775 in cash terms compared to inflation-only rises.

Similar percentage increases will be applied to the standard allowance for those under 25 and couples.

Benefit payments typically increase each Spring to keep pace with the rising costs of essentials such as food, fuel, and household bills.

The Government said that the four-year benefit freeze from 2015 to 2019, which affected the standard allowance but not incapacity benefits, has left millions of payments trailing behind inflation.

Despite this, payments are still set to rise in line with inflation this year, ahead of the above-inflation increases to the standard allowance from April 2026.

All Universal Credit elements, including the standard allowance, will increase by 1.7% from next April 2025.

For a single person aged 25 and over, the standard allowance will rise from £393.45 to £400.14.

Meanwhile, for joint claimants where one or both are 25 or over, the standard allowance will rise from £617.60 to £628.09.

Merging jobseeker benefits

The government has also put forward plans to merge new style jobseeker's allowance (JSA) and new style employment and support allowance (ESA) into a single benefit called “Unemployment Insurance.”

This new benefit would provide payments at the same rate as ESA, set at £138 per week, and would be time-limited.

Eligibility would not be determined solely by whether an individual has previously worked, but instead by their National Insurance contributions.

Those with a recent work history and sufficient contributions would qualify.

Individuals claiming the new Unemployment Insurance benefit would be required to actively seek work, although reasonable adjustments would be made for those with health conditions that limit their ability to work.

However, the introduction of this benefit would bring an end to the current indefinite entitlement to new style ESA for those assessed as having LCWRA.

Once the time-limited period ends, claimants who remain unemployed would need to apply for Universal Credit, subject to their personal circumstances.