In a special episode of the Mirror’s Back from the Brink podcast, a disability and inclusion specialist revealed how members of the disabled community are worried for their lives after the cuts
A disabled inclusion and accessibility specialist has labelled the Labour government’s new plans to cut disability benefits as “barbaric” and said many disabled people are now scared for their lives.
Plans announced in March by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, detailed how the Labour government want to slash the welfare budget by £5billion. Specifically, they have proposed an overhaul of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – a benefit payed to working aged disabled people between 16 and 64 to help them with extra costs of living. Shani Dhanda joined two other two other people with disabilities in a special episode of the Mirror’s podcast Back from the Brink to share how the shock announcement has them, amongst thousands across the country, feeling fearful for the future.
READ MORE: HMRC send letters to UK households who had children between 1978 and 2000
Central to the changes is a reform of the way people are assessed when applying for PIP which will make it much harder for people to qualify for support. The move has ignited fierce public and political backlash as well as fear among disabled communities. Many rely on PIP as a financial lifeline, covering cruicial needs such as mobility aids, specialist transport, and support services.
Shani Dhanda, a broadcaster and expert in Inclusion and Accessibility argues that this simply isn’t a viable reason and calls the cuts “worrying”. She said: “What’s quite puzzling is the government are trying to get more disabled people into work, but cutting a benefit that has nothing to do with employment isn’t going to really help that. That’s why I think is is really barbaric, this approach that the government are proposing. The reason it’s so detrimental is because whether or not you are in work, you still face these unavoidable extra costs.”
The disability charity Scope estimates that disabled people face an average of £1,010 in extra costs every month compared to non-disabled people. PIP is non-means-tested, meaning income, savings and employment status do not affect eligibility. Instead, assessments focus on how a person’s condition impacts their ability to perform everyday tasks and move around.
Currently, claimants must score 8 points to qualify for the standard rate and 12 for the enhanced rate across two categories: daily living, activities such as preparing food or managing money, and Mobility, related to travel and movement. However, under Labour’s proposed reforms, the assessment criteria will change dramatically. Individuals will be required to score at least 4 points in a single daily living activity to qualify for that component — even if they achieve the required 8 points across multiple areas. As a result, many who currently qualify could lose support.
If these prosed changes are to go ahead, the government’s own impact assessment predicts that over 370,000 disabled people will lose the daily living component of their PIP. The health component of Universal Credit for those unable to work will also be frozen. The overhaul comes, the government claims, as part of their efforts to promote more people into work.
She added: “Disabled people are already living in high rates of poverty and destitution. This is only going to push hundreds and thousands of more people into poverty. And then when you think about how you get out of poverty, it’s your ability to earn more money. But that’s already difficult as a disabled person.”
In fact, the government’s own impact statement, published by the Department of Work and Pensions, predicts that the move will push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,00 children. Some analyses estimate this figure could be as high as 400,000. In total, around 800,000 people will be affected by these PIP changed with average loss of £4,500 per year.
Dhanda, who predicts that these cuts could severely reduce the quality of life for many, continued: “What they’re doing is just making eligibility much much harder but there are so many people that that need this just in order to go about daily life, daily things that most of us take for granted like eating, heating our homes, having adequate shelter, having the aids and the tools that we need to live our lives with health conditions.”
She said: “A lot of people are feeling very worried, very hopeless for their future and are really shocked that it’s coming from a Labour government. I’m receiving messages from people who are talking about wanting to end their lives. They cannot see a way out because they’re already either in crippling debt or just not able to meet their costs every month.”
For some, the impact of losing PIP is already a lived reality. Kerrie Kent, 42, survived a life-threatening heart infection in 2021 that left her with long-term health issues. Yet, in January this year, her PIP was stopped despite no improvement in her condition. She said:” I just felt like the rug had been pulled from underneath me.”
Kerrie, who has has multiple open heart surgeries, survived multi-organ failure and now has a paralysed foot, continued: “I had to buy a wheelchair, I had to buy walking sticks. Things like osteo-treatments, I have to have them in order to free up the movement in my foot and try and relieve some of the pain. The scar tissue damage that I have on my chest because it’s been open seven times now, causes extreme back pain.”
She continued: “There’s extra therapies that I have to pay for. I can’t clean the house. I would like to do things like that but I can even carry the bucket up the stairs because I’m not allowed to carry any kind of weight. So all of these things that ultimately contribute to me just trying to be normal, it helped greatly [receiving PIP].”
The mum of one has been told in no uncertain terms by her doctor that she is unable to work for more than a few hours a week or risk worsening her health. She explained: “You know, that support that is really, a very small amount, [it] actually just helped me so, so much. It’s horrible that it’s been taken away. And I now will have to foot the bill for all of those other medical things that I need to purchase on a monthly basis. And I don’t really have anywhere else to turn with that.
“They’re just targeting the most vulnerable in our society. No one I know wants to be on PIP, I didn’t want to be on PIP. No-one wants to be at the point where they are claiming that. For me it was complete desperation and I’m lucky that I can work for the 23 hours a week that I do, but I know so many other people that don’t have the privilege to be able to do that. They want to support themselves, but they can’t.”
Noah Rees, a former aspiring rugby player, suffered catastrophic injuries after falling several feet headfirst onto concrete at age 19. Breaking his skull, spine and ribs and puncturing both lungs, the now 24 year-old says he spends every spare moment he has in rehabilitation. He is worried that losing his PIP could completely disrupt his recovery and everything he has worked so hard for. He explained on the Back from the Brink special: “I’ve been improving a lot recently as well. My physicians and and physiotherapists, they said there will come a time when you plateau and, and this was about five years ago.”
Now working towards competing in the Paralympics in the decathlon, the fall from a walk way in his home town of Brighton on a day out with friends resulted in him losing all movement on the left side of his body. He has worked painstakingly to learn to walk and talk again and improve his mobility over the years. The change to the rules could see him lose access to vital therapy and support that have helped him come this far.
He explained: “When I got [PIP] it was not enough to live independently and do physio. It’s like, I still live at home I’m 24, ideally I wouldn’t but for me it was either live independently or improve [my condition] and I chose to improve so hence why I’m here.
“I think when you live with a disability, it obviously takes away your freedom and your independence and having a little bit of money to use as you like it, as you’re allowed, it’s very freeing and it gives you that little bit of independence as opposed to when you don’t have it, you’re stuck in a wheelchair in a room, unable to do what most people can do.”
Earlier this month, 42 Labour MPs warned Prime Minister Kier Starmer in a letter that the proposed cuts are “impossible to support”. A vote on the proposal is expected in June. With widespread uproar and members of his party uniting against the cuts, many are urging Starmer to make a U-turn before a crisis occurs.
The government said in a statement to the Mirror: “We’re determined to create a welfare system that supports people into work and out of poverty. Our Plan for Change will change people’s lives for the better. That’s why we’re creating a sustainable welfare system that genuinely supports sick and disabled people into work while always protecting people who need it most.”
Listen the the full special episode, Back from the Brink- Disability Cuts: A Crisis in the Making, now wherever you get your podcasts.
