Rishi Sunak and his Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride have been told to end their ‘reckless assault’ on disabled people with their shake-up of the way benefits work
Rishi Sunak has been told to end his “reckless assault” on disabled people as the Tories threaten to remove sickness benefits from people suffering from anxiety or depression.
It comes as the Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride prepares to announce a major shake-up of the way disability benefits work in a statement to the Commons today.
A consultation will propose stopping regular cash support for a range of mental health problems. Mr Stride said a “whole plethora of things”, such as talking therapies, social care packages and respite care, could be used as alternatives to benefit payments.
Over 2.6million adults now receive Personal Independence Payments to help with the extra cost of living with a health condition or disability. People can receive between £29 and £184 per week. The consultation will explore changes to the eligibility criteria, assessment process and types of support that can be offered.
Mr Stride said: “We’re making the biggest welfare reforms in a generation – protecting those most in need while supporting thousands into work as we modernise our benefit system to reflect the changing health landscape.”
But James Taylor of disability equality charity Scope called for an end to the “reckless assault” on disabled people. He said: “It’s hard to have any faith that this consultation is about anything other than cutting the benefits bill, no matter the impact. Many of the current issues the Prime Minister speaks about are due to our crumbling public services, poor quality jobs and increasing rates of poverty. Not because of a so-called ‘mental health culture’ that’s gone too far.”
Iain Porter of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said: “This is clearly an opportunity for the government to sound tough, but it is on the backs of people who are already facing huge challenges financially as well as with their health. The reality is that most people in receipt of PIP are unable to work, with more than a third of PIP recipients in workless households unable to keep their home warm and over 40% experienced food insecurity, worse levels than other workless households, in a benefits system this government designed.”
Labour’s Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said if re-elected on Thursday he would “start negotations with Whitehall for more devolved control of benefits, including disability benefits”. He added: “We need to stop desperate politicians playing divisive politics with people’s lives.”