North East disability campaigners slam Government over plan for £5bn benefits cut

A NORTH EAST disability charity has criticised the Government over proposals to cut £5bn in benefits.

The Government announced that they will seek to lower the welfare budget by tightening eligibility criteria for personal independence payments, raising the age that a person can claim the universal credit health component top up to 22 and cutting the health element from £97 to £50, among other proposals.

Ministers claim that these reforms will mean ‘fairness’ in the benefits system and helping the longterm sick into work.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall said: “Our social security system must be there for all of us when we need it, now and into the future. That means helping people who can work to do so, protecting those most in need, and delivering respect and dignity for all.

“That’s why we’re introducing the most far-reaching reforms in a generation, with £1 billion a year being invested in tailored support that can be adapted to meet their changing circumstances – including their changing health – while also scrapping the failed Work Capability Assessment.

“This will mean fairness for disabled people and those with long term health conditions, but also for the taxpayers who fund it as these measures bring down the benefits bill.”

Spark contacted North East MPs to ask their views on the proposals but is yet to receive a response.

Many charities are criticising the governments actions however, disputing that the cuts will lead to a ‘fairer’ benefits system.

A spokesperson for Difference North East, a charity that works with disabled people across the region, said the government should have looked elsewhere for savings.

They said: “The government has looked to make savings on the most vulnerable instead of the millionaires and billionaires, of whom we have the most in Europe living here.

“It is counter-productive and self-defeating to remove support for unemployed disabled people. Everyone is worried about the changes brought in by those that we thought would safeguard social security and civilised society.”

Mikey Erhardt, Policy Officer at Disability Rights UK, said: “Liz Kendall stood up today and made clear that, after months of rumours, media speculation and spin, these reforms are not about supporting disabled people into work, but making brutal and reckless cuts of £5 billion. That is up from £3 billion just a few weeks ago.

“The government intends to bar young disabled people from receiving the Universal Credit health component until they are 22. That is alongside their promise to significantly increase assessments at scale without making the assessment process safer for those going through the system right now. These measures mark dangerous cuts for all disabled people.

“Let’s be clear: there is nothing ambitious about cutting support from those who need it and that’s what today’s announcements were really about. Rising claims for personal independence payment reflect not a problem with Disabled people but rather reflect successive government’s failure to do even the bare minimum to create a more equitable society.”