600,000 disabled people at risk of Labour's next round of benefit cuts

Campaigners have warned that nearly 600,000 disabled people could be at risk from the next round of the government’s welfare reforms.

This spring the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) outlined plans to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA), which decides whether people qualify for “out of work” disability benefits.

Under the proposals, due to be published in detail in a “white paper” this autumn, in future people would only qualify for these benefits – the employment support allowance (ESA) and the universal credit health payment (UC health) – if they passed the test to receive the daily living element of the separate personal independence payment (PIP) benefit.

These plans are separate to the PIP and UC cuts that parliament voted on this summer following a huge backb