PIP

Disabled people on PIP ‘will not cope’ if support is cut, charity warns

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/disabled-people-on-pip-will-not-cope-if-support-cut-charity-warns

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting, March 11, 2025

ALMOST two-thirds of disabled people on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) “will not cope” without it, a charity has warned, amid reports that the government will reduce the benefit.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to unveil reforms aimed at reducing welfare costs that ministers have described as “unsustainable.”

Reports suggest that PIP, the main benefit for working-age adults both in and out of work, could be frozen rather than increased in line with inflation, delivering a real-terms cut for 3.6 million claimants.

A new analysis from Sense has found that 38 per cent of PIP recipients with complex needs are already behind on energy bills.
Almost half — 46 per cent — are struggling to afford essential costs such as council tax and water, while 41 per cent are living in debt due to benefits failing to cover the cost of essentials like food.

Fifty-eight per cent of those polled reported significant ongoing extra costs due to disability and 53 per cent said their PIP payments were insufficient to cover those expenses.

Sense chief executive James Watson-O’Neill said PIP “exists because living with a disability means facing higher costs, from increased energy bills to specialised equipment and specific diets.”

“These additional expenses won’t disappear if eligibility is tightened. It will only plunge more disabled people into poverty.

“Making it harder to access benefits won’t help disabled people find jobs either. It will only deepen the struggle.”

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/disabled-people-on-pip-will-not-cope-if-support-cut-charity-warns

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.

These cuts betray Labour’s basic principles

Continue ReadingDisabled people on PIP ‘will not cope’ if support is cut, charity warns

Cabinet arguments over PIP as Streeting says “We haven’t discussed welfare reforms at cabinet”.

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Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.

We have the Guardian reporting on “a tense cabinet meeting on Tuesday” with “… several serving members raised their concerns about how the Labour government would be viewed if it froze Pip and made it more difficult to receive payments.” while Wes Streeting claims “We haven’t discussed welfare reforms at cabinet”. It’s difficult to reconcile both claims, looks like someone is lying and that it’s not the Guardian.

Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Continue ReadingCabinet arguments over PIP as Streeting says “We haven’t discussed welfare reforms at cabinet”.

Momentum launches campaign to get Labour MPs to vote down government welfare cuts

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/momentum-launches-campaign-get-labour-mps-vote-down

LEFT-WING campaign group Momentum has begun lobbying Labour MPs to block cuts to welfare spending.

A Commons vote is expected after the government’s proposals to reduce spending on benefits sparked an angry backlash among Labour’s grassroots.

Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the benefits system as the “worst of all worlds,” was jeered at this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions as he insisted that Labour had a duty to reduce social security costs.

Labour MPs urged him to “provide compassion” to those who cannot work, stressing that disabled people have become “frightened” after hearing their party use the “language of tough choices.”

Ministers have already pledged to cut £3 billion from the welfare budget over three years and next week are expected to announce in a green paper that billions more will be axed from the main disability benefit, the personal independence payment (PIP) and funding to help those with long-term illness to return to work.

Cutting PIP could push 700,000 disabled people into poverty, disability charities have warned.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/momentum-launches-campaign-get-labour-mps-vote-down

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Continue ReadingMomentum launches campaign to get Labour MPs to vote down government welfare cuts

Labour declares war on disabled people

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Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.

https://www.owenjones.news/p/labour-declares-war-on-disabled-people

Is this really what Labour supporters voted for?

Owen Jones

… Keir Starmer’s Labour government has just declared war on some of the most vulnerable people who live in this country – that is, disabled people.

According to leaked proposals to ITV, there will be cuts of £6bn to the social security budget, and £5bn will come from an attack on Personal Independence Payments – that is, PIP. That’s the main disability benefit for adults of working age, providing support of between £1,500 and £9,610 a year.

The eligibility criteria for receiving it will change so that some people with disabilities and long-term illnesses will no longer receive these payments at all. 

…

There has been a longstanding widespread campaign of demonisation against people claiming benefits, portraying them as scroungers, as people who aren’t really eligible. Well, this government policy will cut the amount of support being given to disabled people who nobody disputes need support.

As ITV point out:

Even those with extreme disabilities in the unfit to work category are likely to lose money under new government plans.

PIP isn’t an out-of-work benefit – it goes to people who are disabled or have long-term illnesses who are in or out of work to help cover the extra costs imposed by disability or ill health so that they can live as independent and fulfilling lives as possible – for example, paying for care or mobility needs.

As it is, last year it was reported in the Observer that the government was rejected more than 40% of applications for PIP from people with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and arthritis, and one in four applications from amputees, along with other thousands of applicants from people with cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and emphysema. They even reject 30% of applicants with Huntingdon’s disease and Parkinson’s.

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https://www.owenjones.news/p/labour-declares-war-on-disabled-people

Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Continue ReadingLabour declares war on disabled people

DWP to hire ‘external agents’ in crackdown on benefit fraud that government’s own data shows doesn’t exist

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/dwp-to-hire-external-agents-in-crackdown-on-benefit-fraud-that-governments-own-data-shows-doesnt-exist/

‘If the government is concerned about fraud, it would be serious about the £15.2bn that multinational companies hide from the UK via tax havens.’

As the government continues to crack down on so-called benefit fraud and reform the welfare system with stricter measures, newly released statistics by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that there were almost no recorded cases of disability fraud in the financial year ending 2024.

Disability Living Allowance fraud was just 0.1 percent, rounded off to £0m. Personal independence payment (PIP) cheating was found to be 0 percent in the same period, the data showed.

PIP overpayments represented 0.4 percent, equating to around £90m lost in a year, marking a significant decrease from the previous year, when such overpayments stood 1.1 percent (£200m). The overpayments were said to be mainly due to errors made by the department when allocating award levels at the assessment stage.

In response to the DWP’s figures, Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK described PIP fraud as a ‘non-issue.’

“New data shows what we, as disabled people, have known for years – PIP fraud is a non-issue. PIP fraud is now the lowest on record – despite the government placing fraud front and centre of their latest public announcements,” said Erhardt.

…

…https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/dwp-to-hire-external-agents-in-crackdown-on-benefit-fraud-that-governments-own-data-shows-doesnt-exist/

Continue ReadingDWP to hire ‘external agents’ in crackdown on benefit fraud that government’s own data shows doesn’t exist