The Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) Forum says it is “deeply worried” about the direction of some of the benefits proposals for the upcoming Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Green Paper.
In an open letter to Stephen Timms, the Work and Pensions and Disabled People Minister, they flag serious concerns about the potential cuts to the disability benefits system that will disproportionately impact disabled people.
The DPO feel these cuts would undermine disabled people’s right to a decent quality of life but could also further entrench the barriers to access, employment, and social inclusion that many disabled people face.
The letter adds: “We are also concerned about the further distress and trauma which cuts to the benefits system will cause disabled people and the likely increase in deaths already being caused by the way the system operates.
“As an immediate course of action, we urge you to take cuts to disability benefits off the table and to co-produce improvements to the benefits system with disabled people.”
They are now calling on the Government to carry out and publish an assessment of the impact that the proposals will have on those claimants who could receive lower benefit payments, as well as on poverty and child poverty. They also want up-to-date Employment and Equality Impact Assessments.
They add that any potential PIP cashless voucher system would impact social care charges, and Local Authority Social Services would need extra funding to cover the amount disabled people currently contribute from their cash PIP payments or possibly lead to a funding gap.
In addition, although the Access to Work scheme effectively removes barriers and meets disabled people’s needs in employment, they say it needs to be adequately resourced, as any cuts or reductions in funding will undermine national objectives to remove barriers to disabled people’s employment.
