\u201cI feel incredibly distressed at the prospect of losing additional money that goes towards therapy,\u201d one participant said. \u201cThe amount I get is not covering all the additional costs that come with mental health difficulties as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly all respondents (97%) said the changes would significantly harm their mental health. Some reported experiencing panic attacks or suicidal thoughts due to fear of losing their benefits.<\/p>\n
Helen Undy, chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, urged the government to rethink its plans.<\/p>\n
Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting PIP can be the difference between being able to afford the treatment, support and everyday essentials you need, or facing worsening mental health and financial hardship,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSome of the people we\u2019ve spoken to say they will struggle to survive day-to-day if they lose this payment and that even the prospect of it has contributed to them having suicidal thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has framed the proposals as part of a \u201cback to work<\/a>\u201d drive. Work and pensions secretary\u00a0Liz Kendall<\/a>\u00a0has staunchly defended the reforms, telling parliament that \u201cmillions who could work are trapped on benefits \u2013 denied the income, hope, dignity and respect that we know good work brings\u201d.<\/p>\n However, the new findings suggest the reforms may actually backfire in this respect and hinder employment.<\/p>\n Roughly 20% of survey respondents receiving PIP are currently employed. Of that group, 63% said they would have to reduce their hours or quit altogether if they lost the benefit. Some said their mental health would deteriorate without financial support; others said they could no longer afford transport to work.<\/p>\n \u201cPIP pays for the private therapy\u2026 which keeps my mental health at a functioning level most of the time,\u201d one respondent said. \u201cWithout these I doubt I could even manage the permitted work hours (14 hours per week) that I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n A parliamentary vote on the proposals is anticipated later in June. The government should rethink, Undy urged.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government says its welfare reforms will help more people move into work. But you don\u2019t do that by depriving people of a critical financial lifeline that helps them stay well,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe urge the government to ditch these plans. Balancing the books should not come at the price of causing misery and hardship for some of the most vulnerable people in society.\u201d<\/p>\n Promises are easy to break. Sign <\/strong>Big Issue\u2019s petition for a Poverty Zero law<\/strong><\/a> and help us make tackling poverty a legal requirement, not just a policy priority.<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.\u00a0To support our work buy a copy of the magazine<\/a>\u00a0or get the app from the\u00a0App Store<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Google Play<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The financial implications are significant. Among those likely to lose out, around a third currently receive the \u2018enhanced\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[12674,2781,347,67591,1267,105,218,18266,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-160183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-benefit","9":"tag-department-for-work-and-pensions","10":"tag-disability","11":"tag-disability-benefit","12":"tag-dwp","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-poverty","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114630733646130552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1664-Subs_Media_Ads_800x250.jpg\")
<\/p>\n