red Tory

Labour’s disability benefit cuts will force nearly half a million people to turn to food banks

Spread the love

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefit-cuts-food-banks-trussell/

A volunteer at a food bank packaging supplies. Credit: IFAN Mary Turner The Welcome Centre

Food banks are already overwhelmed by demand for help. Disability benefit cuts will make it worse, the government has been warned

Hundreds of thousands of people living in disabled households will be at risk of needing to use a food bank if the government goes ahead with its plans for benefit cuts, new research has found.

Experts at Trussell and WPI economics have estimated that 440,000 people who are disabled or living with a disabled person would have to use a food bank by the end of the decade.
he decade.

As MPs prepare to vote on legislation to introduce the cuts, charities and disability campaigners are urging the government to rethink its plans.

Read more:

Labour’s proposals include tightening the eligibility criteria for the personal independence payment (PIP), with the government estimating that around 800,000 people would see their support reduced by 2028/2029.

It also plans to freeze the health element of universal credit for current claimants, slash it in half for new claimants and cut it entirely for people under the age of 22.

Helen Barnard, director of policy at Trussell, said: “This UK government was elected on a promise of change, and with a commitment to end the need for food banks. If the government goes ahead with these ill-considered and cruel cuts to social security, this promise will not be kept – and instead, they will risk leaving behind a legacy of rising poverty and hunger.

“Tackling fiscal challenges should not be done at the expense of people already facing hunger and hardship. These cuts will force 440,000 people in disabled households into severe hardship and leave them at risk of needing a food bank. We urge the government not to continue down this damaging path.”

…

Article continues at https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefit-cuts-food-banks-trussell/

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.
Continue ReadingLabour’s disability benefit cuts will force nearly half a million people to turn to food banks

Keir Starmer to unveil drastic disability benefit cuts despite opposition

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/17/keir-starmer-to-unveil-drastic-disability-benefit-cuts-despite-opposition

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said there was a clear case ‘for fixing our broken social security system that’s holding our people back, and our country back’. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/Reuters

Changes could deny benefits to people who need help to wash or to remember to go to the toilet

Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.

In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.

The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.

However, Downing Street has denied the plans to cut between £5bn and £6bn from the welfare bill were purely the result of the UK’s difficult fiscal situation, arguing there is a “moral and economic case” for reforming benefits.

…

Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/17/keir-starmer-to-unveil-drastic-disability-benefit-cuts-despite-opposition

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 says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue ReadingKeir Starmer to unveil drastic disability benefit cuts despite opposition

Disabled Brits suffering ‘unacceptably poor’ treatment at hands of the DWP, damning report finds

Spread the love

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefits-claimants-unacceptable-service-dwp/

Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, speaking in parliament. Image: Flickr/ House of Commons

Disability benefits claimants are experiencing “unacceptably poor service” from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), according to a damning report from the Public Accounts Committee.

It said that it is “concerning that DWP is not providing a decent service to all its customers, who include some of the most vulnerable in society and some of those with the most complex needs”.

In particular, it said claimants of disability benefits including personal independence payment (PIP) and employment and support allowance (ESA) are receiving an “unacceptably poor service”.

This has the potential to be “detrimental” for people who are already facing “real pressures in their daily lives”, the report found.

It is released as the government continues to pledge to slash the welfare bill, with a particular focus on the growing numbers of people claiming disability benefits.
…

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefits-claimants-unacceptable-service-dwp/

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.

Continue ReadingDisabled Brits suffering ‘unacceptably poor’ treatment at hands of the DWP, damning report finds

DWP wants to reform benefits to cut costs, not help disabled people into work, court hears

Spread the love

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-benefit-reforms-disabled-people-judicial-review/

Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall speaking in parliament. Image: House of Commons/ Flickr

The High Court has heard a legal challenge against a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plan to reform disability benefits under the guise of helping people into employment

“We are determined to have a welfare system that encourages and supports people into work, while providing a vital safety net for those who need it most.”

So began the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) consultation into changing disability benefit assessment rules – changes that are predicted to cut the financial support given to around 450,000 disabled people by 2029, but which the consultation presented entirely as helping them. 

But contrary to this rose tinting, internal DWP documents revealed at a High Court hearing last week suggest the proposals were at least as much about the Tories’ determination to cut benefits spending as they were about helping disabled people into work.

In fact, DWP officials warned that evidence was needed to justify their line that the measures were about supporting disabled people rather than saving money, while the government rushed the consultation through in time for the savings to be counted in last year’s Autumn Statement.

DWP officials were also aware of the potential mental health impact of cutting benefits to some claimants who would be affected by the measures.

And while an official impact assessment into the plans has still not been published, the court disclosures suggest up to 100,000 disabled people could be pushed into absolute poverty by the changes – although the exact basis of this figure is uncertain. 

The revelations came as a result of a judicial review into the legality of the consultation that was heard last week. The case has been brought by disability campaigner Ellen Clifford, a member of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC). 

And while the consultation took place under the last government, the current Labour government has not dropped the planned cuts – and has fought the judicial review at every step. 

…

Read the rest of a detailed report at https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-benefit-reforms-disabled-people-judicial-review/

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.

Continue ReadingDWP wants to reform benefits to cut costs, not help disabled people into work, court hears

Disabled activist in court to challenge benefit assessment reforms

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/disabled-activists-court-challenge-benefit-assessment-reforms

Department for Work & Pensions in Westminster, London

DISABLED activist Ellen Clifford began her legal challenge against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today over the government’s “disingenuous” consultation on tightening the Work Capability Assessment.

Ms Clifford, represented by lawyers from Public Law Project, appeared at the High Court in London for the first of a two-day hearing to argue that the consultation was unlawful as it did not properly explain the conditions of the proposed changes.

The challenge also argues that the primary motive behind the consultation, which ran for eight weeks in 2023, was to reduce spending on disability benefits rather than to get more people into work.

Disability rights campaigners affected by the proposed changes also held a vigil outside the Royal Courts of Justice today.

Ahead of the hearing, Ms Clifford said: “More than 400,000 people will be worse off by £416 a month if the changes proposed in this consultation go ahead.

“And then there is the risk that people will lose even more money if they are sanctioned for not being able to comply with conditions they will now need to fulfil in order to receive their benefits.

“To be blunt, this would be cataclysmic for deaf and disabled people in the UK and would push many into destitution.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/disabled-activists-court-challenge-benefit-assessment-reforms

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.

Continue ReadingDisabled activist in court to challenge benefit assessment reforms