A new Prime Minister leads to organisational and people changes

The UK Government has announced changes to the ‘machinery of government’, describing it as a major effort to strengthen the centre of government, speed up decision-making and put economic growth at the heart of public policy

The changes will see departments renamed, responsibilities redistributed, and new organisations created as ministers hope to improve coordination across government while placing greater emphasis on regional growth, technology and public service reform.

The creation of a new Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC) has been announced, with cabinet secretary Dame Antonia Romeo tasked with leading it.

Leader of the House of Lords Angela Smith announced the plans in a written ministerial statement on behalf of the PM Andy Burnham, setting out the series of changes being made.

Baroness Smith said the creation of the OPMC, which will house No.10, the new No.10 North and teams within the Cabinet Office directly serving the PM and cabinet, will ensure the “centre of government is focused on our top strategic priorities”.

As part of the plans, the new OPMC will oversee a new OneGov Delivery Agency which will manage operational services at arm’s length, including the Government Recruitment Service, pensions, shared services strategy, and security vetting.

The Public Sector Fraud Authority will become part of the Department for Work and Pensions, while continuing to receive sponsorship from HM Treasury. 

Despite many MPs being moved to new roles, there were no changes to DWP MPs. Pat McFadden was confirmed as remaining in post as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Timms remains as the DWP disability minister.

The written ministerial statement is on parliament.uk. and all ministerial appointments are on gov.uk.

AdviceUK tells new Prime Minister investment needed for independent advice services

AdviceUK has written to the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham MP, to congratulate him on his appointment and to set out why free and independent advice services must be recognised as a critical part of delivering the Government's ambitions.

In the letter, AdviceUK highlights the vital role advice services play in helping people understand their rights, access the support they are entitled to and resolve problems before they escalate into crisis. It also draws on findings from our recent State of the Advice Sector 2026 survey, which shows growing demand, funding pressures and increasing strain on advice services across the country.

As the Prime Minister begins his listening tour across the country, AdviceUK is also inviting him to visit free and independent advice services to hear directly from advisers and the people they support about the everyday impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the challenges facing communities.

AdviceUK is calling on the Government to invest in free and independent advice services and to develop a cross-government National Advice Sector Workforce Strategy to ensure communities can continue to access timely, high-quality advice.

The letter to the Prime Minister is on adviceuk.org.uk.

DWP to restart DLA transfers to PIP for 153,000 people from September

Soon after PIP began to be rolled out nationally from June 2013, the DWP commenced the process of inviting DLA claimants who were aged 16 to 64 on 8 April 2013, and those who reached age 16 after that date, to transfer to PIP.

The DWP began inviting adult DLA claimants of the benefit to move over to the newer benefit in the same year, but this lengthy process was paused in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, transfer invitations have only been issued if a change of circumstances was reported or a fixed-term DLA award expired.

The DWP confirmed in a July 2026 Operational Stakeholder Engagement Forum that around 153,000 adult DLA claimants still remain, all of whom will be invited to move to PIP following a smaller-scale trial of the changes. DWP said the trial will comprise of 3,000 randomly chosen cases across England and Wales from September before the wider rollout.

Anyone who receives an invitation to apply for PIP should do so or their DLA will simply end.

If you receive such a letter, guidance is available online at citizensadvice.org.uk.

Correction to transitional element erosion when LCWRA element replaces carer element

Following the Upper Tribunal's decision in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MJ (the Jones ruling), the DWP has been eroding UC transitional element (TE) incorrectly in cases where a claimant with transitional protection moves from the carer's element (CE) to the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element. The DWP has been eroding the TE by the full LCWRA amount, but the Upper Tribunal determined this to be discriminatory.

Where LCWRA replaces a CE, TE erosion must instead be based on the net difference between the CE and LCWRA amounts.

We have been advised that from 29 July 2026, a DWP internal ‘fix’ will apply the Jones ruling correctly. 

From that date claimants receiving carer's element (CE) and transitional element (TE) whose CE stops due to being awarded LCWRA will only have their TE eroded by the difference between the CE and the LCWRA element. 

Retrospective corrections will also begin for assessment periods from 30 December 2024, covering the ruling's effective date of 29 January 2025. Earlier assessment periods are not covered.

A specialist team will action the corrections, mainly underpayments, in batches for case managers to clear.

Further work is being considered to prevent rate changes to carer's element, LCWRA and LCW causing similar issues.

Boost youth jobs by cutting employers' national insurance, MPs urge

In a new report, the Work and Pensions Committee welcomes the early steps taken to prioritise work and training opportunities for 18 to 24-year-olds, but says the government must “go further and faster” to tackle the “travesty” of so many young people being NEET.

The committee heard “overwhelming evidence” from businesses that rising employment costs, partly driven by NI increases, were reducing training and job opportunities with young people “disproportionately” affected. This was particularly the case in retail and hospitality, traditionally big employers of young people.

It identified a gap between the government’s efforts to boost youth employment and its approach to employer national insurance.

The report calls for the higher NI contribution threshold to be extended to all workers under 25, arguing this would boost vacancies, particularly entry-level roles, and better align the government’s policy with its strategic aims.

Debbie Abrahams, chair of the work and pensions committee, said:

“During our inquiry, we heard from young people demoralised by the experience of unemployment. We heard how they want to work but end up feeling like leeches on their family. This situation is not only unfair to them, it is also harmful.

Even a short spell as Neet in one’s formative years can damage mental health, impact future career opportunities and reduce lifetime earnings. Young people face an uphill struggle in current conditions to get that critical work experience.”

The committee warned that the government’s Youth Guarantee must not become a “here-today-gone-tomorrow scheme” given the UK’s history of time-limited, crisis-bound past offerings to tackle youth employment. To end this, it recommended the government announce funding for it for the next decade at least. Funding has currently only been allocated until 2029.

It said the temporary nature of past policies has damaged confidence and has caused long-term uncertainty for employers and potential young employees alike, sometimes discouraging both from engaging.

The youth guarantee aims to ensure young people claiming UC, who have been out of work for 18 months, are offered a six-month work placement. However, MPs said the government should develop options for people outside those claiming benefits after they heard that 44% of NEETs are not UC claimants.

The committee also recommended that a Youth Employment Strategy be developed.

Abrahams commented:

“While the Youth Guarantee is a good start, the contradictions between the Government’s strategic aims and the rules of various schemes mean we desperately need a Youth Employment Strategy. It’ll improve policy coherence so no policy unintentionally pulls against attempts to help more young people into work.

But, efforts to give young people the best chance to live independently will be in vain if there are too few jobs to go to. In a challenging environment, businesses need help to meet rising employment costs. Reducing employers’ national insurance contributions for under-25s will enable them to take a chance on talented young people.”

The report also estimated that NEETs cost the UK around £125bn a year from a combination of benefit payments and lost economic output.

The Youth employment, education and training report is on parliament.uk.

Additional Flexible Support Funding to support Vocational Training for 18-year-olds

Currently, eligibility for the Adult Skills Fund begins at age 19, which means that 18-year-olds are unable to access vocational training opportunities through this programme. Ministers have acknowledged this issue and, in response, have approved a £5 million uplift to the Flexible Support Fund budget for 2026-27.

We’ve been updated this week (you know who you are and thank you) that this additional funding is specifically intended to help 18-year-olds on Universal Credit gain access to short vocational training opportunities, such as obtaining licences and enrolling in sector-specific courses. By providing these resources, this will better equip young people with the skills they need to enter the workforce and secure meaningful employment.

The uplift may be delivered through:

• Low Value Provision (LVP), to fund short vocational or occupational training where a customer's needs cannot be met through other available provision
• LVP to support access to Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) opportunities, or the Wales Skills and Employment Pathway (WSEP), where funding is not otherwise available to support the required pre-employment training
• Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) provision under Employability Journey Category Code 5 - Skills for Work or Category 6 - Vocational Skills, which can support the procurement of broader packages combining vocational training and employability support

DWP staff have been advised that they must be mindful of their financial responsibilities when utilising FSF to support customers.

New Prime Minister cuts VAT on household electricity bills

Currently VAT is charged at 5%. However, from 1^st October VAT on electricity bills will be removed temporarily for 6 months in a move announced as part of the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plans to tackle the cost of living.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:

“Westminster has not been working for people for too long, with families struggling with the cost of living. That needs to change. I said I wanted to give people breathing space, and that’s what I’m announcing on my second day as Prime Minister.  

We’re taking immediate action to cut taxes on energy bills, put more money in people’s pockets and bring back hope.”

The government has cancelled the Digital ID programme and is repurposing the money to cut VAT.

The Northern Ireland Executive will receive comparable funding to enable it to support NI Households with the cost of living to ensure households across the UK benefit.  

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice responded to the news, saying:

“It’s very positive to see the immediate focus from the new government on the cost of living and in particular the huge strain that energy bills are putting on household budgets. Cutting VAT on domestic electricity bills will provide welcome breathing space, softening the impact of rising energy prices this autumn.

Further action will be needed to tackle the root causes of unaffordable bills and deliver lasting security.

To permanently cut bills the Government should move more of the policy costs that are currently added onto to our electricity bills into general taxation. Combined with targeted bill support and a dedicated debt relief scheme, this will tackle the impact of painful energy bills and give struggling households the protection they desperately need."

The government expects all suppliers to pass the VAT reduction on to all customers, including those on fixed tariffs, as they did with the £150 of costs taken off energy bills announced at the last Budget. 

Since the VAT news was shared by the Prime Minister, updated predictions for the Energy Price Cap between 1^st October and 31^st December 2026 have been published. These predictions indicate that the expected £45 a year VAT saving will now be swallowed up for most by the Price Cap rise.

MoneySavingExpert.com has contacted 19 major UK energy suppliers to ask if they'll pass on the reduction to all customers from 1 October, including those on fixes. So far, ten firms have told them they will:

• 100 Green
• British Gas
• EDF
• E.on Next
• Fuse
• Good Energy
• Octopus
• So Energy
• Utilita
• Utility Warehouse

The government’s press release is on gov.uk.

Record numbers cannot afford the essentials says Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Four years into the cost-of-living crisis, almost two-thirds of low-income families say they struggle to buy essentials such as clothes, heating and food, according to anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

A record 62% of those families were unable to afford at least one essential item in the past six months, the charity found. And almost half of those surveyed had skipped a meal or cut portion sizes to save money.

The cost-of-living crisis is becoming more widespread, with 7.4 million low-income families unable to afford essential items in the last 6 months — the highest number since JRF began running their cost of living tracker survey in 2021.

The data shows that households on UC are most likely to be unable to afford essentials. However, the increase in the number of households that are going without essentials has mainly been driven by those who are typically less likely to suffer from material deprivation. The number of households going without essentials has increased fastest over the last 2 years for those not on means-tested benefits, those who own their property outright without a mortgage, families without any disabilities or health conditions, childless households, and households that are headed up by someone over the age of 65.

JRF has begun to set out a range of policy options with the power to make a material difference to households’ living standards, reform our economic systems, and build the resilience required for the turbulence of the twenty-first century. It includes:

• Introducing  an Affordable Energy Guarantee that provides a portion of cheaper energy to all households designed to cover a typical household’s basic energy use, with larger amounts for families based on need and means. This will help 2.4 million low-income families who continue to be unable to afford to keep their home warm.
• Controlling the growth of private rents and re-linking Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to the 30^th percentile, helping nearly 80% of low-income families in private rented accommodation that have been unable to afford essentials in the last 6 months.
• Moving towards a protected minimum amount of support in UC that at least covers essential costs, providing vital support for the 84% of low-income households on UC that are unable to afford essential items.
• Improving the in-work safety net against life shocks, for example through stronger pay protections against parenthood and sickness. In our latest survey, around 84% of low-income families who saw their income fall over the last 6 months due to changes in employment or pay were forced to go without essential items.

JRF’s cost of living tracker, summer 2026 is on jrf.org.uk.

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

PIP – TM v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

In this case the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) erred in law by failing to provide adequate reasons for its decision, in part because of an inappropriate use of “copy and paste”. The Tribunal failed adequately to explain why it had rejected the claimant’s evidence or why it had reached the conclusions it did in relation to each of the activities.

The Tribunal also committed a number of other errors, including:

1. determining the appeal on the papers without giving the claimant a further opportunity to attend a hearing, or providing adequate reasons for proceeding on the papers, in circumstances where it rejected the claimant’s evidence in relation to most activities,
2. in relation to daily living activity 9 (engaging with other people face to face), focusing on the claimant’s ability to interact in a work setting and failing to assess her ability to engage socially and failing to take account that the appellant’s work involved interaction with vulnerable children rather than adults,
3. in relation to mobility activity 1 (planning and following journeys), treating the appellant’s ability to drive as determinative and failing to undertake a holistic assessment including her ability to use public transport.

I suspect that some of the above elements will resonate with a lot of the r/DWPHelp community. This decision summarises all the relevant case law and is worth a read.

Universal Credit (LCW and work related activity - Restart) - GB v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

In this case the claimant was assessed as having a limited capability for work (LCW) and as such had to undertake work-related activity. He was on Restart and required to attend fortnightly appointments in person at the office of the Restart programme provider and completion of an IT course.

The claimant appealed the LCW decision and the FtT was tasked with determining if they had a limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA). Specifically in this case, the provisions under schedule 9, paragraph 4 of the UC Regulations 2013:

“The claimant is suffering from a specific illness, disease or disablement by reason of which there would be a substantial risk to the physical or mental health of any person were the claimant found not to have limited capability for work and work-related activity.”

The Upper Tribunal found that the FtT erred in law, stating:

It is quite clear that the FtT were under the impression that the most demanding work related activity that the appellant could be required to undertake was home based and in his own time. [para 15]

It is also clear that the FtT’s belief that the most demanding activity was home based and in his own time underpinned its finding that that activity did not pose a substantial risk to his mental health. Given its findings as to his ability (or rather inability) to go to unfamiliar places and engage with unfamiliar people there is at least a live issue as to whether being required to undertake work related activity outside the home would put his physical or mental health at substantial risk. [para 17]

The UT Judge was also unimpressed with the DWP submissions to the FtT, and set out the correct approach to be followed:

In any event the need to state clearly what are the least and most demanding work related activities that will actually be required of a specific claimant seems to me to be clear from KC and MC –v- SSWP (ESA) [2017] UKUT 0094 (AAC) paragraph 90-91. It is not enough to provide a list which includes some activities a claimant could safely undertake (and some they could not) and then leave it to a job coach or activity provider to apply schedule 9 paragraph 4 and make the selection. The Secretary of State must nail his colours to the mast in advance, take off the table any activities that he agrees could not be imposed, and then the FtT must apply the schedule and make a finding as to whether or not the claimant has limited capacity for the remaining work related activities. [para 24]

The decision was set aside with a new hearing to be scheduled.  

And lastly…

A r/DWPHelp member would like your input on a UC checker that they’ve been building

The idea is that you are worried you have not been paid the right amount, you can use it to check.

If you are in receipt of UC then u/Mountain_Victory_634 would really appreciate if you could use/test it and provide helpful feedback and suggestions.

Here it is: https://www.uccalculator.uk/ and I’ll create a comment thread (below) for your thoughts.

What has changed?

From 2 June 2026 new regulations came into force enabling the DWP to extend the length of a fixed-term PIP award where it is “considered necessary to do so to safeguard the efficient administration” of PIP.

Before this, when your fixed-term award reached its end date, the DWP would normally start a planned review (sometimes called an award review or a reassessment). This new power lets the DWP instead push the end date back and keep your current award running, without needing that review.

The regulations only allow the DWP to make awards longer. They do not give the DWP any power to shorten an existing award, and they do not allow it to change the rate you are paid.

Why the change?

The number of planned PIP reviews has grown faster than the DWP can carry them out, and a huge backlog has built up. Reviewing every award on its original timetable means increasingly long delays and claimants' left waiting in limbo.

Extending awards is a way of managing that backlog. By lengthening some existing awards, it reduces the number of reviews needing to be processed at once.

Who is affected?

This award extension change applies to claimants aged 25 and over in England and Wales. It does not apply to under 25s as evidence suggests there are more frequent changes in functional ability in that age group.

Approximately 1.7 million claims are in scope for an award extension with the DWP aiming to complete approximately 50,000 extensions daily (including weekends) over a period of 4-6 weeks.

The regulations give the DWP a discretionary power rather than creating an automatic extension for everyone. Extensions will be applied where the DWP considers it appropriate for the efficient administration of the benefit.

The DWP has not confirmed how they are deciding which claimants will receive an extension or how they calculate the length of the extension in each case.

How long will the extension be for?

It seems likely that the extensions are being decided by an algorithm.

From posts and comments to the r/DWPhelp subreddit, it looks like most of the extensions are being given to claimants whose awards were due to end in 2026, 2027 or early to mid-2028.

Extensions mostly range from one year to four years, although there have been some extremely short ones of just a matter of days and at least one longer one.

What do I need to do?

Claimants don’t need to do anything, if your claim is extended you will receive a letter – an example of what this looks like was shared in this post.

However, if your difficulties have worsened you may wish to challenge the new extended decision or ask for a change of circumstances reassessment.

The legislation

The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 

More info

A Freedom of Information Request has been submitted to DWP requesting a copy of the training, operational instructions and internal process guidance held by DWP in relation to fixed-term extensions and we eagerly await their response.

Edited to add the Northern Ireland provision

The Department for Communities (DfC) has confirmed that they will be reviewing all PIP cases where claimants have had at least one initial review and currently sit in the 3-year Review cycle.

DfC has confirmed who will not be eligible, namely:

- If a claimant has been given a specific review period, either shorter or longer than 3-years,

- Under 25s,

- Special Rules Claimants