Latest news with #DisabledPeopleAgainstCuts
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘This isn't a U-turn': disabled people react to passing of watered-down welfare bill
When Tim Boxall went to the protest outside Westminster on the eve of the welfare reform vote, he knew the 32 degree heat would exacerbate his multiple sclerosis. But he felt he had to be there. 'The hour train here and the heat will cause me spasms, pain, fatigue, and set off motor and vocal tics,' he says. 'It'll take days bedbound to recover, but if we don't fight our own corner, who will?' Boxall, 50, has received the personal independence payment (Pip) for a decade and calls it a 'lifeline', particularly since he had to give up work as a credit controller for a high street bank. The benefit bought the wheelchair he's using today. 'It pays for care but also things that give me a life, not just an existence.' When news of the government's win off the back of a major climbdown on Pip reached him, Boxall felt 'disappointed' but 'not disheartened'. 'The patchwork of desperate, last-minute face-saving concessions, legislating on the fly is an absolute embarrassment,' he says. 'This isn't a U-turn. It's more smoke and mirrors,' according to Ellen Clifford from the campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts. 'They might have bought votes with promises of co-producing the Pip review but how can we trust a government like this?' 'Let's not forget that the huge universal credit cut for new claimants remained in the bill unchanged,' she added. 'It makes a mockery of any claims to be protecting vulnerable people.' Sarah Finnegan, housebound with severe ME, has been watching the chaos leading up to the vote at home after 'months of intense fears' over losing her benefits. The 44-year-old, who asked to use a pseudonym out of worry people might not believe her illness, relies on Pip to pay carers who cook, clean and shop for her alongside her elderly parents. She's a single mother to her five-year-old daughter and is 'desperate' to be well enough to go back to work as a counsellor. 'Without [Pip], I genuinely don't know how I'd survive – how I'd keep my child warm and fed,' she says. 'I'm housebound and can't physically access a food bank.' With the Pip changes now delayed and contingent on a major review in autumn 2026, Finnegan is suspicious of the claim disabled people's input will be genuinely taken on board. Charlotte Hughes says: 'If the main aim of the government is to cut costs to 'put disability benefits on a more sustainable footing' then what are the chances of disabled people being really listened to when the Pip criteria are rewritten? The cruelty [of this legislation] is unlike any I've seen in recent history.' The 52-year-old, who is unable to work due to fluid on the brain as well as anxiety and depression, has to get by on the health component of universal credit. 'As a disabled person, it's already difficult to survive. We've already cut back on everything that we can and we can't cut back any more.' Despite the government's last-minute changes, Hughes says 'it's a dark day' for the disabled community. 'We expected it from the Tory party. But Labour were elected because of their promises to make positive changes. I didn't vote Labour for cruelty and the continuation of Tory party policy. It's unforgivable.' As he heads home, Boxall is 'drained' and 'resentful' of the months of stress he and other disabled and sick people have faced. 'As a community, we've been put through a mental and physical wringer,' he says. 'My health is at the worst I've known them. But we carry on fighting because it's our lifeline at stake. Now, I start days of recuperation.'
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Jodey Whiting's mum joins London anti-welfare cuts rally
The mother of a woman who took her own life after her benefits were wrongly stopped has spoken out against planned welfare cuts at a protest rally in this month, a coroner ruled 42-year-old Jodey Whiting from Stockton-on-Tees died after she feared she would not be able to pay her bills or afford the ruling was only made after Ms Whiting's mother, Joy Dove, fought a long legal campaign, which reached the Court of Appeal, to secure a second inquest.A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said a review of how Personal Independence Payments (PIP) were assessed was being carried out and disabled people were being consulted. In January 2017, Ms Whiting had her benefits stopped after missing a medical assessment, although she had been in hospital with pneumonia at the time and was later diagnosed with a cyst on the her daughter's story at a rally in Parliament Square organised by the group Disabled People Against Cuts on Monday, Ms Dove said she "spoke from the heart"."When the cuts were announced I had people on the Justice for Jodey site saying they'd considered taking their own lives," she said. "But then they'd seen her case and realised there is a way to carry on." Disabled People Against Cuts said it hoped the rally would influence politicians ahead of the vote over the Welfare Bill on group said the proposed cuts targeted some of the "most vulnerable people in society" and it would make a list of the MPs who vote in favour of the bill to "make sure they lose their seats at the next General Election".Ms Dove said after years of campaigning and against all the odds, she had managed to get justice for Jodey. She now wants to help other people in a similar position. "I've brought Jodey's picture and I think she's supporting me every step of the way," she said. A DWP spokesperson said: "We continue to offer our sincerest condolences to Jodey Whiting's family and will consider the coroner's full findings, using them to further improve our protection and support for vulnerable claimants."We're delivering one of the biggest and most ambitious packages of welfare reforms in a generation to put the system on a sustainable footing and ensure the safety net will always be there for those who need it."We are putting disabled people at the heart of a ministerial review of the PIP assessment to make sure it is fit for the future, and we will work with them and key organisations representing them to consider how best to do this."The DWP said it had made changes to its assessment processes, which included taking into account a person's vulnerability before suspending payments and allowing assessors to use more information to make their decision. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
ITV News
07-05-2025
- Business
- ITV News
Police were called after disability campaigners were refused entry to consultation on benefit reform
ITV Granada's Elaine Willcox reports on protests in Manchester over government plans to reform PIP benefits. Protests have taken place at a meeting in Manchester to discuss government proposals on benefits reform. Protestors gathered at Angel Meadow Park in the city centre this morning at the invite-only consultation on the DWP Green paper on Pathways to Work. The organisation Disabled People Against Cuts organised the protest at the meeting over fears that benefits for disabled people will be cut back, at a time when the cost of living is on the rise. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced the cuts earlier this year, mostly from a reduction in support for those on incapacity or disability benefits. Three million people are expected to be impacted by the savings. Musician Dennis Queen relies on Personal Independence Payments and says, "The question is 'Can any of you afford to lose a third of your income?' The answer to which is 'no'." "They don't need to come round the country, holding meetings, asking anyone 'Can you afford to lose a big chunk of your income'." Protestors were unable to get into the meeting and police were called. It's understood that just 20 tickets were issued to the meeting and dozens of disabled people were turned away, which Amnesty International, who attended the protest, labelled a violation of people's rights. Amnesty's Jen Clark says, "Look at what's happening today, they're asking to be let in and have a say, and they're being refused entry." "You know this isn't OK." "We've written to the Secretary of State alongside them saying exactly that." But the government say they need to save £5 billion, pledging support but saying that the system as it is, can't continue. "When it relates to sickness benefit for Universal Credit and PIP, where almost one in ten people are receiving it, we've got to make sure that it's going to the people who really need it and deserve it more," says Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds. He adds, "So it is difficult, but we've got to look at how that system is working because it's not sustainable at the minute."
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Disability benefit cuts to hit 700,000 families already in poverty, DWP forecasts show
The government's planned disability benefit cuts will hit 700,000 families who are already in poverty, according to internal Department for Work and Pensions forecasts obtained by the Guardian. The figures, sourced under the Freedom of Information Act, are in addition to the projected 250,000 people who will be newly driven below the poverty line by the cuts, as set out by the government's impact assessment in March. Disability rights campaigners called the new disclosure 'truly shocking' and said the changes would push people even further away from having the means to find work. The DWP estimates that 3.2 million families across Great Britain will lose out under the plans in 2029/2030, about three years after the cuts are due to take effect. Of those, 700,000 will be families already categorised as being in relative poverty, when taking housing costs into account. Disquiet is growing among Labour MPs before the vote on changes to personal independence payments (Pip), which are paid to disabled people regardless of whether they are in work, and which will have strict new criteria. In total, around 3 million people are expected to see their benefits affected. Mark Harrison of campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts said it was 'unthinkable to push disabled people already in poverty deeper into the mire and further away from the jobs market'. He said: 'You can't [overestimate] the fear that these proposed cuts are generating. Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall are responsible for demonising disabled people in the same way David Cameron and George Osborne did over a decade ago. This is bad politics and bad policymaking. They should be ashamed of themselves.' He said the government must scrap the planned cuts. 'If they don't, this will become Starmer's poll tax and will ultimately be his downfall.' The figures do not take into account the DWP's planned £1bn investment in disability employment support schemes, because the DWP has not published any estimate of how many disabled people will find work through these schemes, and the Office for Budget Responsibility won't publish its own independent forecast until MPs have voted on the cuts. Key to the planned changes is the tightening of the criteria for Pip, meaning applicants who do not score four points or above in at least one criteria in the 'daily living' category will not receive the Pip daily living payment. That included people who cannot wash themselves below the waist. It will not immediately affect those who already claim, but will affect those reapplying or being reassessed after the new rules come into force, as well as new applicants. For those who cannot not work because of their disability and who are receiving the health-related top-up of universal credit, these payments will be frozen below inflation. The top-up for new claimants will be cut by almost half. 'Being disabled already puts you at a higher risk of living in poverty,' said Katie Schmuecker, principal policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 'These cuts are likely to mean many more disabled people needing to regularly use food banks because they can't afford basic essentials like food … The government must stop these planned cuts if it's committed to ending the moral scar of food bank use.' MPs will vote on the cuts next month so that they can take effect next year. The proposed Pip 'four-point rule' alone is forecast to hit 250,000 families already in poverty by 2030, including 50,000 with children, according to DWP responses to written parliamentary questions. The families will lose out on £4,500 a year on average. The 700,000 figure does not include people who will lose carer's allowance if the person they cared for no longer qualified for Pip. Alongside the cuts, there will be a rise in the standard rate of universal credit, which the DWP expects 2.4 million families in poverty to benefit from, though it will be mostly non-disabled families who gain about £400 a year above inflation. Svetlana Kotova, director of campaigns and justice at Inclusion London, a deaf and disabled people's organisation, said: 'These statistics are further evidence of how much misery the government is willing to inflict on disabled people who are already living in poverty. 'Poverty costs money and displaces costs on to other services like the NHS, meaning that the cuts to social security may achieve only 2% of their planned savings.' A government spokesperson said: 'Our reforms to the broken welfare system we inherited means more than 2 million families in relative poverty will be better off. 'As part of our plan for change, we're creating a sustainable welfare system that genuinely supports people into work and out of poverty – backed by £1bn additional employment support funding to guarantee tailored help. 'Alongside this, we've increased the 'national living wage', uprated benefits, and are helping over 1 million households by introducing a fair repayment rate on universal credit deductions.'
