DES Members Views on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Disabled People’s Personal Independence is not a “concession”

DES Members are very angry and concerned about what the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill will mean for the personal independence and life chances of disabled people. The first vote on the bill is on Tuesday 1 July.

The Bill puts into place the UK Government’s plans to:

• Change who is eligible to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and;
• Cut the Health Element of Universal Credit by 50% for new claimants and freeze the amount of money for existing claimants.

The UK Government say that these plans are designed to support people to get into work, but to do this completely misses the reason why PIP exists. PIP is a social security payment paid to disabled people to help them to pay for the additional costs of their impairments. In Scotland, disabled people receive Adult Disability Payment (ADP) instead of PIP – but if the UK Government spends less on PIP, it means there is less money for the Scottish Parliament to spend on ADP under the Barnett Formula.

What makes disabled people angry is that the UK Government never asked them about the plans included in the Bill and what they thought the impact would be. The UK Government did concede that their changes to PIP will push 250,000 disabled people into poverty after considering the household living costs by 2030. This included 50,000 children. The total impact of the whole package will impact 3.2 million people across the UK and disabled people could lose up to £4,500 a year.

Unlike the UK Government, DES wanted to know what disabled people thought. We conducted a member’s survey to find out and disabled people told us:

• Over 1 in 2 members who answered said the idea to require someone to score at least 4 points on at least one daily living activity to qualify for PIP was a very bad idea. 1 in 4 members said it was a bad idea.
• 2 out of 3 members told us the idea to cut the amount of money in half for the health part of Universal Credit for new people claiming was a very bad idea
• 2 out of 3 people think that these changes will mean disabled people will be a lot less independent than they are now.

What these changes would mean for disabled people are devastating. Some 67% of people who responded to our survey said these changes will leave disabled people a lot less independent as a result. Quotes from members included:

“Not only will disabled people be a lot less independent and have their quality of living reduced, it also could lead to them being potentially trapped in abusive situations or being forced to remain at home unable to live a more independent life.”

“It will mean much more difficulty accessing much-needed if not vital financial support. This will have a knock on effect of limiting what disabled people can do and impact seriously their living standards.”

“For people who have chronic pain conditions or conditions that vary from day-to-day, this will mean that if they don’t qualify for PIP they will have to aggravate their conditions to financially survive.”

Changes to PIP will also impact those who receive Carer’s Allowance.

As well as disabled people being furiously opposed to these cuts to their personal independence, Member’s of Parliament (MP) across the political spectrum were just as angry. Over 130 MPs signed an amendment to the Bill, which would if agreed to by Parliament, stop these cuts in their tracks and cause the Bill to fail.

A rebellion on this scale by MP’s would mean that the UK Government were set to lose badly and the Prime Minister has offered “concessions.” These so-called concessions will actually mean a more unfair system than what was originally put forward. The Government say that they will change the Bill to do the following:

• Make sure that people who get PIP just now will not lose their entitlement, but new claimants will need to score at least 4 points on one daily living activity to get PIP;
• The freeze in the health element of Universal Credit for current claimants will be replaced by an inflationary increase. For new claimants who have severe impairments, they will not face a cut in the amount of Universal Credit they get but for other disabled people who don’t have their impairments the health element will be cut by 50%.
• The Government will consult on their changes to PIP.

To simplify what this means, is that there would be a two-tier system depending on when someone claims rather than their impairments. DES believes that a terrible set of cuts has now been made even more discriminatory. Why should someone with the same impairment(s) get less money or lose their benefit(s) completely because they developed their impairments later in life, or submitted their claim later. This is simply unfair.

Our view is clear and so are our members. Disabled people’s personal independence isn’t something to be negotiated as part of a concession to win a Parliamentary vote. We remain completely opposed to the Bill and we urge MPs of all parties to vote for amendments which will mean that this Bill does not become law.

Disabled lives matter and any MP who votes for these changes is voting to plunge disabled people into poverty, deny their rights and agreeing that some disabled people are more equal than others – or as one member told us:

“If people qualify, why should they get less, they qualify because of their needs so they are no less entitled to those already on it.”

On Tuesday we urge MP’s vote to ensure that we are all equal regardless of what our impairment(s) may be. MPs should vote to scrap this Bill in its entirety.

DES Members say to the Prime Minister;

Our personal independence is not something you take away as a “concession” through a two-tier system but is a right enshrined under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Do the right thing. Withdraw your horrendous personal independence denying Bill and work with us to create a social security system which protects our rights and our independence.