Why have so many deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent public figures pulled together to launch the campaign #TakingThePIP?
Every area of life as a disabled person is difficult – employment, social situations, healthcare, education, transport and by far the most pervasive and arduous: other people’s attitudes. Everything is a fight, but this feels like a fight too far. If Labour goes ahead with its proposed benefits cuts to tighten the eligibility criteria for personal independence payment (Pip) and reduce or lose the health element of universal credit, many people in my community don’t know how they will survive. Make no bones about it: this could be a matter of life and death for some people.
I am in tears reading the stories of what might happen if these further cuts, after years of austerity, go ahead. People who are currently choosing between using their electricity for breathing equipment or charging their wheelchair will no longer be able to afford either. People who need encouragement to eat will be left alone; people with mental health illnesses will be severely impacted, losing so much of their support alongside those people who are unable to wash or dress their lower body. Overall, households could lose up to 58% of their income, and these are the households already in poverty.
Already in the last six years, homelessness among disabled families has risen by 75%. Three-quarters of food bank users have at least one disabled household member. What’s going to happen when people can’t use their Pip or the health component of their universal credit to top up their rent and bills? These disability benefits are crucial support that help towards the extra costs incurred with a disability or long-term health condition.
Today I learned about a young woman with cerebral palsy whose family had been evicted. The temporary accommodation provided to them was not accessible, forcing her to use the toilet at the local bus station as her bathroom. This is the reality before the proposed funding cuts. Accessible housing is already rare; accessible emergency housing is almost nonexistent. Disabled people are routinely left out of planning decisions. We’re not considered in everyday policies, let alone in times of crisis.
Did you know that the last round of cuts stripped people of their basic right to full care? Many lost vital support, including help simply to use the toilet. In some cases, individuals who are not incontinent have been forced to rely on incontinence pads because there is no longer enough staffing or time allocated to assist them properly. Care packages were reduced to as little as six 15-minute visits a day, barely enough time to support someone with eating, washing or using the bathroom, never mind living their life. Evening and morning care were cut so severely that many adults can no longer choose when they go to bed or get up. Essential support for tasks such as food shopping or cleaning was also removed entirely.
The government and the headlines keep focusing on getting disabled people “back to work”, yet the existing scheme to support disabled people in employment is broken. Access to Work already has nearly a year’s waiting list for new applicants, and, according to leaks, the support worker element may be cut next. Only last week, the wonderful Jess Thom, the co-artistic director of Touretteshero, had her support cut by 61% by Access To Work.
Those of us who can work want to work. Many people use Pip and universal credit to top up expenses that come alongside working. Some disabled people can only work part-time, and the benefits bridge this gap.
These proposed cuts won’t save money; they’ll lead to greater costs from the resulting damage, along with widespread distress and suffering. Did you know that the fraud level for Pip remains less than 1% and that 46% of applications are refused – with a shocking 70% of those refusals that go to appeal being overturned. It’s a gruelling system to navigate. There are 16 million disabled people in the UK – not even a quarter of those people currently receive Pip, and the ones who do are the most in need.
We as a society need to stand together on this and demand that the government stop taking the Pip.
Cherylee Houston MBE played Izzy Armstrong on Coronation Street and Tinsel Girl on BBC Radio 4. She is the founder of TripleC
