A two-month deadline has been issued over calls to scrap Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) cash payments in favour of benefits payment cards. An online petition backed by 1,500 people has called on the DWP and the Labour Party government to replace cash payouts with a system that restricts spending to essential items only.
Petition Demands
The petition states: "Introduce a benefits payment card that can be used for essentials only." It goes on: "To ensure that welfare money is being spent on essentials to help those in need, introduce a payment card that can only be used for things like food, clothes, school supplies etc. We are concerned that the tax-payer could be funding non-essential items for those who rely on the state for support." At the time of writing, the petition on the Parliamentary website has 1,523 signatures.
Next Steps
If this petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the government will respond to it. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament. This petition will remain open until 8 July 2026, giving supporters a two-month window to gather more backing.
Previous Proposals
A previous 2024 consultation on plans to replace Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with vouchers or a catalogue ended without any movement. The Conservative Party published a Green Paper on the future of PIP in April 2024, which included proposals to replace regular cash payments with a catalogue or shop scheme, a voucher scheme, a receipt-based system, or one-off grants. Labour failed to condemn these proposals in the run-up to the general election, and fears have persisted that they have continued to remain silent since gaining power, even though there is now no risk of losing votes by speaking out.
Labour's Position
The Labour manifesto stated: "Too many people are out of work or not earning enough. Long waits for treatment of health conditions, particularly mental health, are contributing to the rise in economic inactivity. Labour will reform employment support so it drives growth and opportunity. Our system will be underpinned by rights and responsibilities - people who can work, should work and there will be consequences for those who do not fulfil their obligations."
It added: "Labour will work with local areas to create plans to support more disabled people and those with health conditions into work. We will devolve funding so local areas can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer for local people. We will tackle the backlog of Access to Work claims and give disabled people the confidence to start working without the fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out. We believe the Work Capability Assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work."
