The Big Issue has reported extensively on the disability benefits system and the potential impact of cuts, which will put greater pressure on the NHS, councils, social care, housing and other support services. Poverty already costs the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds each year.
A further 700,000 households will be pushed into poverty without personal independence payment (PIP), according to analysis from charity Scope. The majority of people (69%) who use a food bank are disabled.
PIP is not an out of work benefit – instead it is intended to help people cover the extra costs of having an illness or disability, such as for medical equipment and keeping homes warm for health reasons. Scope research shows that on average, disabled households need an additional £1,010 a month compared with non-disabled households. The maximum amount people can get on PIP is £737.20 a month.
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, said: “Cutting disability benefits would be a grave mistake, which I’m worried could push hundreds of thousands of people into poverty. We live in a wealthy society – this is not the only choice the government could make. We should be taxing the super-rich, not re-running austerity.”
Tax Justice UK is calling for a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10m. This would affect only 20,000 people – rather than the hundreds of thousands of people disability benefit cuts will affect – and raise £24bn.
Experts have stressed that cutting people’s benefits will be unlikely to push them into work. Instead, it could push them away from employment by worsening their physical and mental health. It will also fail to rebuild trust in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), meaning people are less likely to engage with its employment support.
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A DWP spokesperson said “millions of people have been trapped out of work which is why we’re bringing forward reforms to health and disability benefits in the spring, so sick and disabled people are genuinely supported back into work, while being fairer on the taxpayer”.
The DWP has pledged to invest £240m on “the biggest employment reforms in a generation”, with proposals to empower mayors to tackle inactivity, an overhaul of Jobcentres so they focus on skills and careers, and a youth guarantee to ensure young people are either earning or learning.
However, evidence suggests that work on its own does not lift people out of poverty. The TUC found one in six workers are forced to skip meals, and Felix Project research shows that more than half of working families in London have used a food bank.
Lewis said: “For too many people, work is exploitative and doesn’t help makes ends meet. Our first priority should be to sort out the jobs market. The Employment Bill needs time to bed in, and then perhaps we can look to go further on workers’ rights. At the same time, we need to rebuild the social safety net, so people are healthy and feel secure – access to GPs, affordable childcare, affordable bills, these all play a role.”
John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn and had the Labour whip suspended after voting to scrap the two-child limit on benefits, said: “Let’s be clear, these proposals are not so-called ‘savings’, they are cuts in benefits to many of the poorest in our society. They will cause great hardship and suffering. This is not what any Labour government was elected to do. I will oppose and join with others campaigning against.”
McDonnell previously told the Big Issue he fears people will lose their lives if disability benefits are cut.
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Other Labour MPs have voiced their concerns on social media. Dianne Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, posted on X: “I would have liked to query Keir Starmer at last night’s meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party about the impact of his proposed cuts to welfare. Unfortunately I and other colleagues were told the meeting was full. Keen on dissent in other countries. Not so much here.”
She added that it was “dishonest for ministers to claim they are slashing disability benefits in order to do the disabled a favour”. “They just want to balance the governments books,” she said.
And Neil Duncan-Jordan, Labour MP for Poole, said: “Cutting benefits does not create jobs – it creates poverty. The Labour Party was built to stand with working class people, that has always included the unemployed and disabled. There is no need for a penny in cuts – it’s time for a wealth tax, not more austerity.”
Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, posted: “I recently spoke in parliament against the scapegoating of disabled people. Now there are rumours of more devastating cuts that will drive hundreds of thousands into poverty. Enough! It’s time to target the super-rich who benefit from our rigged economy, not the vulnerable.”
Meanwhile, Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South who also had the Labour whip removed for voting against the two-child benefit cap, said that the government will push hundreds of thousands of people into poverty with cuts to disability benefits.
Sultana added that the government is “spending on weapons of destruction – instead of helping the world’s poorest. “These political choices are cruel,” she said. “This isn’t the ‘change’ people voted for.”
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