A group has explained the recipients of Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) most likely to keep their money amid a big change planned by the government. Work and Secretary Liz Kendall this week announced a massive change to the PIP system which could cut £5 billion off the budget.
However, MPs and charities have claimed that many disabled people who need money to live normal lives will unfairly lose out on vital assistance. The Green Paper has been described as a serious attempt by the Government to tackle two major concerns: the growing spend on disability benefits, and the large number of people who are not working through ill-health.
The cuts announced earlier this week are expected to save more than £5 billion a year by 2030, but experts believe about a million people in England and Wales will lose their disability benefits as part of the overhaul. Cuts to welfare that aim to save some £5 billion in 2029/30 were unveiled this week.
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The Resolution Foundation is an independent British think tank established in 2005. Its stated aim is to improve the standard of living of low- to middle-income families. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a benefit for people who are under State Pension age and need help with daily activities or getting around because of a long-term illness or disability.
The Resolution Foundation claims that the PIP change will hit the living standards of hundreds of thousands of disabled people. It said if this change alone saves £5 billion, ‘then it means between 800,000 and 1.2 million people losing support of either £4,200 (if receiving the standard rate Daily Living element) or £6,300 (if on the enhanced rate Daily Living element) a year by 2029-30’.
The people most likely to be hit by the changes are: “Those losing out will be the people who would currently qualify for the Daily Living element of PIP, but score under four points in each of the 10 headings. For example, this will include people who have lower-level needs across a range of activities (like needing aids or appliances to cook, take nutrition, wash and bathe, and dress and undress) but who are not deemed to be completely unable to complete any of these activities. Meanwhile, people who experience large difficulties across one or more of the PIP activities will be unaffected.”
The who was most likely to keep their money - and it’s people with three conditions: “The has not released any evidence on the impact of these changes, but what we can say (based on previously-released data) is that people with conditions including learning difficulties, cerebral palsy and autism are least likely to be affected, since people receiving PIP and with these conditions are most likely to score 21 points or more in the Daily Living part of the PIP assessment, meaning they are very unlikely to have passed the assessment without scoring four or more points in one of the headings.”
The plan has come under criticism within Labour with Prime Minister Sir directly challenged by Labour veteran over the Government’s cuts to welfare, with the Mother of the House telling him there was “nothing moral” about the plan.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir insisted that the current system was “morally and economically indefensible”. But Ms Abbott, the longest-serving female MP, said: “There is nothing moral about cutting benefits for what may be up to a million people.
“This is not about morality, this is about the Treasury’s wish to balance the country’s books on the back of the most vulnerable and poor people in this society.” Sir Keir told her it was a “moral issue” that one in eight young people were not in employment, education or training.
He said: “I’m not going to turn away from that, I am genuinely shocked that a million people, young people, are in that position, and I’m not prepared to shrug my shoulders and walk past it.”