Disabled children 'plunged into poverty by damaging UK cuts'

The Herald Scotland

29-04-2025

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced stricter tests for Personal Independent Payment (PIP), making it harder to qualify for the daily living component, which starts at £72.65 per week.
Incapacity benefits issued under Universal Credit will be halved to £50 for new claimants, while the existing rate will be frozen in cash terms at £97 per week.
While the Scottish Government is currently in the process of replacing PIP with Adult Disability Payment, UK welfare cuts would mean Scotland receives a smaller amount from the UK Government in Barnett consequentials.
Under 22's will also be blocked from claiming the incapacity benefit top up to Universal Credit once the reforms are introduced.
Fiona Collie, head of public affairs at Carers Scotland, said carers with a disabled child were significantly more likely to be in poverty.
A third (33%) were struggling to make ends meet - five percentage points higher than all of carer groups, while 24% were in debt and 9% were in housing arrears.
Ms Collie told The Herald: 'The impact to changes to disability benefits, changes to Universal Credit and the carer element in particular is likely to have a disproportionate impact on families with a child.
'No child should be hungry. It's time for action to eradicate child poverty'
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'The impacts on households with children are going to be very significant.
'We're deeply worried about these cuts. It's the group that can least afford it, households with a disability and particularly those households with children.
'From our perspective, unpaid carers provide £15.9 billion of care every year in Scotland and actually any move to remove support from these households is deeply damaging.'
In Scotland, an estimated 90,000 children under the age of 18 were identified as disabled in 2023, while 17% of children had a long-term condition or illness.
Official UK government analysis suggests that families impacted by the welfare reforms will lose an average of £1,720 each year.
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Scotland's social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville described the cuts as "irresponsible and damaging," amid estimations a further 50,000 children could be plunged into poverty.
One parent, who has been supported by Action for Children in Scotland, was forced to give up her job in a dental practice to care for her ill daughter.
She said: "We went from a decent wage to Universal Credit which is basically £1,600 for the month.
"A third of that you're paying on rent and council tax and the rest of it you're buying shopping for four people and electricity so you can't do anything else.
'We'd try to go to shops where you can go to self-scan or using your phone. You're putting the prices in the calculator, so you know the cost at the checkout - you know your budget and don't go above that.'
Carers Scotland also warned there is dismay at unpaid carers being labelled "economically inactive" despite estimations they save the social care sector around £15.9bn per year.
Ms Collie said: "Unpaid carers contribute to our society and the idea that paid work is the only way that you can contribute to society, that it's the thing that places value on you, it actually is a challenge for people to hear some of the narrative that they're almost undeserving of support".
A UK Government spokesperson said: 'We have set out a sweeping package of reforms to health and disability benefits that genuinely supports people back into work, while putting the welfare system on a more sustainable footing so that the safety net is always there to protect those who need it most.
'We're boosting the main rate of Universal Credit permanently above inflation, while our £1bn employment support package will unlock work and help move people out of poverty as part of our Plan for Change, alongside increasing the Living Wage, and introducing a Fair Repayment Rate to help more than a million low-income households on Universal Credit.'