LABOUR'S proposed benefit cuts are "immoral" and "counterproductive", according to a leading disability rights campaigner.
Ian Greaves – editor of a key text for disabled people and their carers on their rights in the UK – spoke out after the Government proposed £5 billion of cuts from welfare budgets.
Greaves, who recently published the 50th edition of the Disability Rights Handbook, told The National of his concerns over the plans.
“How are they going to pay for unsustainable tax cuts which were made by the previous government? Oh I know, let's go for the welfare state, and let's look at benefits, and hopefully the tabloids will be on our side.
“But so many of the cuts are absolutely counterproductive.”
Alongside the cuts come changes to eligibility procedures to payments like Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which will change the minimum “points” claimants must score in order to receive the benefit.
Labour faced backlash over the proposed reforms, particularly from disability groups who estimate that claimants with long-term physical and/or mental health conditions could be around £4500 worse off per year.
DisabilityLivingUK estimates these changes will see 800,000 less PIP recipients by 2029/30, something Greaves described as “bonkers” since the payment can ease claimants back into work without them automatically losing the benefit.
He added: “The Government gets money back from people coming off benefits in the long run and paying taxes. That’s how you get people into work – you do not stop the one benefit that actually helps people get into work – it’s bonkers.”
With carer’s allowance also being affected by the proposed PIP changes, Greaves stated the need for a “department of common sense” in response to carers facing court action and sanctions due to small, accidental overpayments or minor increases in wages, known as a “cliff edge”.
He said: “You get rid of that cliff edge, and in the end actually it saves money for the taxpayer as well because more carers are going to find that they can move into work.”
Greaves also called funding for Access to Work payments a “no-brainer” as the money given to workplaces to make necessary adaptations for disabled employees is earned back in reduced benefit claims and taxation from the worker.
He urged people to contact their MP regarding the bill consultations, saying: “The green paper cuts are completely immoral and counterproductive and so many other negative words, but we can do something about it.
“It’s important you speak to your MP, particularly about aspects of the paper that we can vote on, like the proposal to combine employment support and jobseeker's allowance into one, time-limited benefit.
“It would be wonderful if your osteoarthritis or your cancer magically disappeared in 12 months, but it won’t and your benefit will do.”
The Disability Rights Handbook was first established in response to the Thalidomide scandal and was initially a short pamphlet which provided vital information on the benefits and rights available to disabled people in the UK.
Now, the handbook is around 300 pages – a significant increase that reflects the growing complexities of the welfare system – and has a digital version which will see regular updates.
Disability Rights UK are lighting up London’s Tower 42 with their logo on April 30 to celebrate the launch of the handbook’s newest edition.
