Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
Minister confirms protection for vulnerable groups under new UC health system.
Conclusion
The regulations underpinning the WCA include important safeguards for those with high-risk pregnancies, the terminally ill, those receiving cancer treatment and those who would be at substantial risk if they were not awarded UC health. Given the serious impact the loss of these protections would have, we welcome the Minister’s confirmation that it will protect these groups in the future. (Conclusion, Paragraph 119)
Government Response Summary
The government detailed the Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC), in use since 2017 with stakeholder engagement, explaining how it protects those with the most severe lifelong conditions by considering them for automatic eligibility.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) has been in use since September 2017 to reduce unnecessary disruption to customers with the most severe, lifelong conditions, for whom reassessment is unlikely to provide further new information or lead to a change in the outcome of their benefit application. A range of stakeholders were engaged in 2017 and involved in the development of the criteria. Conversations about the eligibility criteria in relation to the protected rate of UC health were held with representatives from Scope, Parkinson’s UK, Disability Benefits Consortium and Inclusion Barnet, Mencap, Multiple Sclerosis Society, Carers UK, Citizen’s Advice and Disability Rights UK on the 2nd and 3rd July 2025 after the UC Bill passed second and third reading in the House of Commons. Any customer who has functional LCWRA advised during a WCA will automatically be considered for SCC, irrespective of their diagnosis or medical condition. If they have a lifelong health condition, they have undergone clinical investigation and formal medical diagnosis by an appropriately qualified healthcare professional in the course of the provision of NHS services and there is no realistic prospect of recovery of function, then SCC would be advised.