Sick and disabled people are facing a “quadruple whammy” from the UK Government’s welfare reforms, an advice charity has said.
Disabled people in Scotland, and their families, could lose more than £1 billion in benefits, Citizens Advice Scotland said and it is calling on the UK Government to examine the cumulative impact of its welfare cuts on disabled people.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions insisted that, with about £50bn in spending, the Government is “absolutely committed” to supporting people with disabilities.
CAS chief executive Margaret Lynch highlighted the four changes the charity regards as the “most damaging” for sick and disabled people the move from sickness benefit to the employment and support allowance (ESA); the so-called ‘bedroom tax’; the replacement of disability living allowance with the personal independence payment (PIP); the introduction of the universal credit.
“This quadruple whammy is making life a misery for sick and disabled people,” she said. “Many are affected by more than one and, indeed, some will be victims of all four.”
Between 2011 and 2014, more than 170,000 people in Scotland who are claiming sickness benefit will be reassessed as part of the switch to ESA, with Citizens Advice estimating that 115,000 will lose money as a result.
It said 83,000 homes with a disabled person living in them will be affected by the cuts to housing benefit, dubbed the bedroom tax, losing on average £11 a week.
CAS further fears that up to 100,000 people who receive disability benefits will be worse off as a result of the change to PIP and that the move to universal credit will also have an impact.
Ms Lynch said the UK Government has not yet “made an official assessment of exactly how many people are being affected by these changes and, in particular, how many are being hit by more than one of them”.
Raising the issue before a Westminster debate today, she said it is “therefore not clear that the Government understands the true impact of its policies”.
The DWP, however, insists that vulnerable families are being protected.
“There’s a lot of alarmist stories about our welfare reforms but the truth is this Government is absolutely committed to supporting disabled people and we will continue to spend around £50bn on disabled people and their services,” the spokeswoman said.