Latest news with #LizKendal
The Independent
19-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
I'm a single mother with MS on benefits – Labour's welfare cuts will ruin us
We've heard much about disabled people in the news these past weeks as we waited for the government to announce their heavily trailed benefit cuts. I'm one of those who come up in the figures of disabled people in receipt of social security support. I have multiple sclerosis and am unable to work because of my poor health. I am also a single mum to two teenagers, both of whom have additional needs. My daughter, 18, is autistic, and my son, 18, is autistic and has ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia. That is my every day; coping with my own health problems while trying to look after my children, and advocate for their additional needs to be better met. The news that the work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is cutting disability benefits payments has stunned me. The process of claiming disability benefits is already such a humiliating and unpleasant experience. Claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which the government says will now have its eligibility tightened, is dehumanising. It is anything but an easy benefit to claim. Liz Kendal has said she will not only be cutting payments but also making more frequent assessments of people's ability to work. Can we really be reassessed more than we already are? I have been unable to work for the last seven years. During that time, I have had an assessment nearly every year. Kendall also announced cuts to the health element of Universal Credit; often called the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity Group. I get these payments, which will now be cut in real terms and reduced for new claimants. All this makes me feel hopeless. I already put every penny I have into the children and their needs and I can't tighten my belt any further. There will be so many families that will be pushed further into poverty because of these decisions. I would urge the government to think again. Last week, I and others who take part in the Changing Realities low-income study, met with the education secretary to talk about the need to provide more support to families struggling with the dual challenges of life on a low income while bringing up children with special educational needs. Families like mine need more support and compassion; not these cuts to the support on which we rely. There is so much that they could do to make things better and what was announced today will only make things worse. Take the assessments to determine eligibility for disability benefits support. These are currently not carried out by medically trained staff. My last assessment was over Zoom and lasted 3.5 hours. I was grilled mercilessly and brought to tears several times. The experience was humiliating and traumatic. I had to go into great detail about my illness, my chemotherapy and my domestic violence trauma. To make this assessment process – which needs to be radically overhauled – more frequent seems horrific. Where is the empathy? No one wants to be this poorly, with constant hospital appointments. People with disabilities deserve to be treated as members of society, not as scroungers, whose handouts are to be cut back again, and again and again. A simple solution to assessment would be to judge eligibility by talking to the doctors and consultants who have intimate knowledge of the claimant's disabilities. Let's make the assessment more personal by getting information from people who genuinely know and assist us, rather than making us try and score points to get an ever smaller sum of money. We must also ask why the government's efforts to balance its books are focused on people in poverty and those people with disabilities. This scrabbling to save money from people already struggling will only plunge them further into poverty as a result. Perhaps the government might look to bigger fish for savings. The big companies who don't pay tax. Or the MPs who claim such high expenses. I don't have the answers – but I do know that I feel criminalised. This extra stress will massively impact my mental health. I will be unable to support myself and my children. Will I be forced into work? When I am in such massive pain and have days I can't leave my bed? I am demoralised and dehumanised. This simply cannot go on. Gabriel Kennedy is an alias. Gabriel is a participant in Changing Realities, a collaboration between almost 200 parents and carers on low income, researchers at the Univesity of York and Child Poverty Action Group.
Sky News
18-03-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Government unveils benefit crackdown designed to save £5bn
The eligibility criteria for some disability benefits will be narrowed in a bid to slash £5bn from the welfare bill, Liz Kendal has announced. Speaking in the Commons, the work and pensions secretary said the number of new people claiming personal independence payment (PIP) is "not sustainable". She said the government will not freeze PIP - as reports had previously suggested - but instead make it harder to qualify for the daily living allowance component from November 2026. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is money for people who have extra care needs or mobility needs as a result of a disability. People who claim it are awarded points depending on their ability to do certain activities, like washing and preparing food, and this influences how much they will receive. Ms Kendall said that from November 2026, people will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of PIP. Currently, the standard rate is given if people score between eight and 11 points overall, while the enhanced rate applies from 12 points. The changes will not affect the mobility component, Ms Kendall said. It's not clear how many people will be impacted as a result. The Office for Budget Responsibility will set out their final assessment of the costings at the spring statement next week. Charities and unions reacted angrily to the announcement, with the Disability Benefits Consortium calling the changes "immoral and devastating". What other measures have been announced? Ms Kendall also announced a review of the PIP assessment, which she said will be done "in close consultation with disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other experts". 1:44 There will also be a consultation on delaying access to the health top up on Universal Credit until someone is aged 22, with the savings to be reinvested into work support and training opportunities. The government will also: Merge jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance Scrap the work capability assessment (WCA) for universal credit in 2028 Raise the standard universal credit allowance by £775 in 2029/30 Introduce a "right to try" initiative so people who want to attempt to get back into work won't lose their benefits while they do "This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion by 2029", Ms Kendall said. The announcement comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves struggles to balance the books due to a poor economy and geopolitical events, with further spending cuts expected in her spring statement next week. The cost of long-term sickness and disability benefits for working-age people has risen by £20bn since the pandemic and is forecast to hit £70bn over the next five years. Ministers have said there is also a moral case for change, with one in eight young people not in education, training or employment - prompting fears of a "wasted generation". Ms Kendall said that while more people are now living with a disability, the increase in those seeking disability benefits is disproportionate. Claims amongst young people are up 150%, while claims for mental health conditions are up 190% and claims for learning difficulties are up over 400%, she said. Tories 'held our country back' Ms Kendall blamed the Tories for creating a system that is "holding our country back". She acknowledged that some people can never work, but said many sick and disabled people want to "with the right help and support" and they should "have the same chances and choices as everyone else". Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
