Labour’s plan to reduce disability benefits

This feels totally out of touch, like something the previous government would have done.

They obviously haven’t done enough research on it, or are hoping the general public won’t be aware of the truth. For a start, Personal Independence Payment is NOT easy to claim like they have made out. It’s highly unlikely somebody would be awarded it solely for a common mental health issue, as the government seem to be suggesting. I think they need to take a serious look at the complaints about the cruel assessment process for the benefit, which already makes it near impossible for those with the highest support needs, and the amount of appeals that are overturned once an actual doctor gets involved in the process. PIP is also completely unrelated to your ability to work. It’s more about trying to balance out the cost of being disabled, to help level the playing field for people living with a disability.

Secondly, many people in receipt of this support ARE already working, as PIP itself is not enough to live on. The benefit exists to help create equity for the costs associated with being disabled, e.g., therapeutic treatments for pain, electricity to run machines, adapted vehicles to allow you to travel to work, to pay for taxis when walking isn’t possible, food deliveries when you are unable to prepare a meal, to pay somebody to support you with day-to-day tasks. Essentially, it’s not fair that an able-bodied person earning e.g., £1,000 per month is free to spend that money how they choose, but a disabled person earning the same amount may first have to spend £800 per month on the services that actually allow them to get to work in the first place, and then find they aren’t actually earning enough to cover their bills. Reducing this benefit will mean disabled people find they are working solely to pay for their disability, rather than working to pay bills and live a meaningful life.

Thirdly, if someone in receipt of PIP isn’t working, it’s either because they aren’t well enough to be contributing to society, working would negatively impact their disability, or there simply aren’t jobs available that support their additional needs. How many employers do you know who would hire someone knowing they will have to make many accommodations for them? Give them extended breaks? Allow them time off regularly for sickness or appointments? The support just isn’t there, and I think the government needs to be ensuring there are schemes in place to support this first, rather than just trapping vulnerable people who have no other option. Whilst I don’t disagree that if a person living with a disability is able to work without negatively impacting their disability then they should, I think it’s better to support them with that, rather than threaten and punish them.

It feels cruel to target some of the most vulnerable people in society, knowing that they can’t defend themselves. I doubt it will make any difference to balancing the books. It seems ignorant to suggest that disabled people are scamming the system by daring to give themselves some kind of quality of life. I also think something needs to be done about the amount of support services that are locked behind PIP: you can’t access them if you aren’t claiming benefits, regardless of whether you need them. Not everyone applying for PIP is out to game the system for as much as they can get; some people are encouraged to do it in order to access the support they need to improve their health.

Regarding the Health Secretary’s comments about mental health conditions… I am in slight agreement that they can be over-diagnosed or unnecessarily medicalised; for example, a young person feeling worried about an upcoming exam doesn’t need to be given a medical diagnosis of anxiety, because that’s a perfectly normal and human emotion, and learning to overcome these feelings are an important part of development. BUT I think we also have to consider that the world is a much darker place now, with a lot less hope for the future. It was inevitable that more people would start to struggle mentally as a result of this, when the past 20 years has been spent taking away peoples’ futures.

It’s sad to see this government leaning so far to the right when we expected a bit more compassion than the last lot.