Planned cuts to disability benefits will be devastating for people already struggling to pay their bills, with stroke survivors, amputees and people with serious mental health conditions among the groups targeted, says Samuel Thomas of anti-poverty charity Z2K.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves spring statement confirmed that the UK government wants to go ahead with sweeping cuts and changes to health and disability benefits. These plans threaten to plunge disabled people who are already struggling into even deeper poverty.
How restricting disability benefits will have a devastating impact
Last week, the government launched its plan for reforming the health and disability benefits system. The most significant measure is the shocking and dangerous proposal to cut the numbers of people who are eligible for support via personal independence payments (PIP). PIP is a disability benefit that supports working-age adults who need help with day-to-day “daily living” tasks such as preparing food and getting dressed, or help with mobility.
PIP is a lifeline for disabled households, many already living in poverty. The government is proposing to drastically restrict eligibility for this vital disability support by making it even harder to qualify for the “daily living” component of PIP.
| Key UK benefits for working-age disabled people PIP: payments to people who struggle with tasks such as dressing themselves, preparing meals and moving around. This is a non-means-tested benefit, meaning your income, savings or employment status do not affect eligibility or the amount paid, but many eligible are living in poverty. Universal credit health element: extra payment given to those deemed to be too ill to look for work, which is added to the basic means-tested universal credit benefit for people on low incomes. This is also known as the ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’ element. |
If brought forward, these plans will have a devastating impact on the incomes of families affected. Although PIP is not a means-tested benefit, the reality is that the vast majority of people receiving PIP also receive a means-tested benefit, meaning that they are on very low incomes. Our clients tell us that they use the support to pay for essentials such as food, bills and rent, and we know that seven in ten people who use food banks are disabled. Proceeding with these huge cuts to disability support will plunge families who are already struggling into even deeper hardship, and will inevitably increase child poverty, making a nonsense of the government’s commitments to tackle this.
Who will the plans hit?
These proposed cuts are also poorly targeted, as people who are severely disabled face huge cuts to their income. Data from Z2K’s advice services show that the measures will see support denied to people with serious physical health conditions including stroke survivors and amputees, and people with serious mental health conditions including psychosis, as set out below. The cuts will also hit those who currently receive the ‘enhanced’ rate of PIP, which is only paid to those deemed to be the most severely disabled. Here are three examples from our work:
- Carlos* is 60 years old and has recently had a stroke which has left him needing the support of a walking stick and unable to move his right arm, along with memory problems. He requires round-the-clock support from his family. The plans would see his income reduced by around one-third.
- Anatoli* has had his left foot and the toes on his right foot amputated. His wife has to help him with dressing, using the toilet and bathing. He stands to lose over £300/month under the government’s plans, which would leave him struggling to afford food and bills.
- Mohammed* has psychosis and experiences hallucinations and delusional thinking. He is under the care of a social worker and a psychologist. He faces a significant cut to his income under the government’s plans, which threatens to destabilise him and jeopardise his mental health treatment.
What about cuts to universal credit?
The green paper that sets out the plans also proposes significant changes to the rates of universal credit, the means-tested benefit for those on low incomes in the UK. The key impact is on the “health element” of universal credit, an extra payment given to people who are too ill to work. The health element will be cut by almost 50% for new claimants. Existing claimants will be protected from this cut, but their payments will be frozen for three years, meaning a real-terms cut. In the spring statement, the Chancellor doubled down on these cuts, adding in an additional three-year freeze to the health element for new claimants.
The cuts in the health element mark a huge cut in support for seriously ill and disabled people. Particularly when accompanied by big cuts to disability support via PIP, the plans will see many disabled people losing out hugely. This looks set to drive up destitution and lead to even more disabled people struggling to pay for essentials like food and bills.
Alongside this, the green paper proposes slowly increasing the standard allowance universal credit over time, with a series of slightly above-inflation increases until 2029-30.
Z2K has long called for an increase to the low basic rate of universal credit, which is one of the lowest among comparable countries and which drives destitution and food bank use. But the government’s proposed increase does not go far enough, at a time where reliance on food banks has become widespread. The government must go further and set out a clear plan for a serious increase to the basic rate of universal credit, so that we can truly begin to tackle poverty in this country.
More welcome was the news that the government is dropping discredited plans to restrict support for disabled people via restricting eligibility for the health element of universal credit, which Z2K has campaigned against. While we are pleased to see the back of these ill-considered plans, the proposed changes to PIP suggest that the government is simply moving the problem to a different area.
The “right to try” work and assessment changes
In other positive news, the government has announced a plan to ensure that people receiving health-related benefits will get what has been called the “right to try” out jobs without having benefits reassessed. That means they will be protected from having their support cut if they enter work. Alongside this, the government is proposing to reduce the number of assessments for people whose health will never improve, as well as exploring mandatory recording of health assessments, something Z2K has called for.
However, while these measures are welcome, they are undermined by proposals to increase the number of reassessments for most other claimants and force a return to mandatory face-to-face assessments. The government’s plan to support more disabled people into work relies on building trust between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and disabled people – but dialling up reassessments without doing enough to tackle the punitive culture of decision-making risks making this problem even worse. This fragile trust is only being further jeopardised by the government’s panicked rush for short-term savings by restricting PIP.
Longer term changes
The government also set out plans for longer term changes to how it decides who should be given additional financial support on the grounds of ill-health. The government plans to abolish the “work capability assessment”, which determines the level of support and conditions for people who have health problems that restrict their ability to work. Instead, extra financial support for health conditions will be assessed via a single assessment – the assessment for PIP. Alongside this, the government is planning to explore requiring seriously ill and disabled people to engage more frequently with jobcentre staff.
The scrapping of work capability assessments creates a potential risk. Under the current system, disabled people who cannot work because of a severe health condition have legal protection against being forced to seek work. Whatever arrangements we end up with, it is vital that the government ensures that disabled people continue to have clear legal protection from being forced to look for work or being made to comply with inappropriate conditions. This must include keeping the right to appeal to an independent tribunal against unfair decisions.
A major threat to disabled people
Overall, a few small positive changes cannot disguise the fact that the government’s plan represents a major threat to the livelihoods of disabled people and families who are already living in poverty. We are therefore calling on the government to rethink these deeply concerning proposals. Failing this, we will see some of the most severely disabled people in our society, including those who have no chance of entering work, being plunged into deep poverty.
Want to add your voice to the #SecurityNotSanctions campaign led by Z2K? Contact your MP here.
Author
*All names have been changed to preserve anonymity