THE Government should listen to the concerns of people who are set to be affected by changes to the benefits system, the Archbishop of York has said.
“I urge the Government to listen carefully to people most affected by these proposed changes and ensure that the consequences of difficult choices are not borne by those least able to bear them,” Archbishop Cottrell said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The stated aim of the Government’s plans, announced on Tuesday, is to get more people into work. They include proposals to change the way in which some disability benefits are assessed.
“We are all worse off when anyone is unable to fulfil their potential, which is one reason why we must address the underlying causes of ill health and worklessness. Yet we see through our churches, schools and community projects that millions of people, many of whom are in work, already struggle to heat their homes and are dependent on food banks to feed their families,” the Archbishop said.
The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, said on Wednesday that he was “deeply concerned about the hardship and anxiety” that proposed changes to disability benefit might cause for those unable to work.
“I understand the deep concern felt by millions whose vital income may be at risk under these proposals. In tough economic times, the Government faces difficult choices as it seeks to chart a fair and equitable course, but the burden must not fall on those already struggling, both to make ends meet and to access the support they need,” Bishop Snow, who is the lead bishop for poverty, said.
The Government’s proposed overhaul of the benefits system includes positive steps, but risks pushing disabled people into poverty, several charities say.
The director of policy at Trussell, Helen Barnard, said on Tuesday: “We’re deeply concerned by the cuts announced to disability payments today. People at foodbanks have told us they are terrified of how they might survive.
“We welcome the positive proposals from the Department for Work and Pensions to boost the basic rate to Universal Credit and invest in employment support. However, we fear these steps will be undermined by a Treasury drive to make short-term savings,” she said.
Changes to how disability benefits are assessed were a particular source of concern, Ms Barnard suggested. “Disabled people are already three times more likely to face hunger, and three-quarters of people at foodbanks are disabled or live with someone who is. Our social-security system should be rooted in justice and compassion, able to be there for us all, especially when we need it most,” she said.
The chief executive officer of Christians Against Poverty, Stewart McCulloch, also criticised the changes to the way “daily-living” support would be assessed.
Many people relied on the support, he said, and “the prospect of potentially losing this vital source of income will create high levels of anxiety for some of the UK’s most vulnerable households.”
Mr McCulloch welcomed, however, the Government’s commitment to above-inflation increases in Universal Credit, and an additional £1 billion in funding for support for people trying to get off employment benefits and into work.
He also welcomed plans to remove reassessment of people with lifelong conditions, but said that tightening eligibility for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) “may put some of the most vulnerable at risk of falling into unmanageable debt”.
A member of the C of E’s Disability Task Group, Canon Alice Kemp, spoke of her own experience, and said that if proposed restrictions to daily-living support were introduced, it might make her less able to work.
“Carrying out basic domestic tasks – cleaning, washing, and cooking — would use up all of my energy, leaving me nothing for work. These proposed restrictions to PIP would potentially take me out of work rather than into it,” she said on Wednesday.
“Restricting PIP is a cruel blow for people who already experience severe disadvantages in the workplace, in the jobs market and in society more generally. As Christians we must always stand up for those who are disadvantaged and pushed to the margins.”
The Disability Benefits Consortium, a coalition of more than 100 organisations, described the Government’s proposals, announced on Tuesday, as “immoral”.
The co-chair of the group, Charles Gillies, said that the reforms, unveiled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, would “push more disabled people into poverty and worsen people’s health”.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, told MPs that, by 2030, the reforms would cut spending on benefits for working-age adults by £5 billion a year.
The Office of Budget Responsibility has previously projected that benefits spending on working-age adults would rise to £75.7 billion in 2029-30, up from £48.5 billion in 2023-24, BBC News reported. After making her speech, Ms Kendall acknowledged that overall spending would increase in spite of the reforms. Precise costings of the proposals were due to be included in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, she said.
The current system was “failing the very people it is supposed to help, and holding our country back”, she said, blaming previous Conservative Governments for the “broken” system. She cited the statistic that one in ten people of working age was claiming benefits, and said that the changes would create a “more proactive, pro-work system for those who can work, and so we protect it for those who cannot work”.
One of the objectives of the proposals, she said, was to “restore trust and fairness in the benefits system . . . by fixing the broken assessment process and tackling the perverse incentives that drive people into welfare dependency”.
Under the plans, people with lifelong disabilities that mean that they cannot work will not routinely face reassessment of their entitlement to benefits.
The Work Capability Assessment, which decides whether someone is able to work or not, would also be scrapped, Ms Kendall said. Financial aid for disabled people who were not in work would instead be covered by PIP.
PIP would rise with inflation this year, but the eligibility criteria would be narrowed from November 2026, and a review of the PIP assessment would run alongside these changes.
Earlier plans to freeze PIP were scrapped after opposition from charities and some Labour MPs, BBC News reported.
In response to Ms Kendall’s speech, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, Siân Berry, said: “It’s clear that these plans were plotted without the input of those whose lives will be most impacted. Disabled people must be listened to before any changes are made, and I hope that Labour backbenchers will join me in being their fiercest defenders and fight off the worst of these plans.”
A public consultation on the plans will now take place. People living with disabilities are particularly encouraged to participate.
Poll. Perceptions of the Government’s performance in cutting poverty, and its overall responsibility for supporting people with disabilities, vary widely depending on which political party one supports, a new poll suggests.
The poll, commissioned by the anti-poverty charity Trussell, suggests that, overall, 59 per cent of voters say that the Government is “doing badly” on reducing the number of people in poverty. The results differ widely when broken down by party, however. Only 28 per cent of Labour voters agreed that the Government was doing badly on poverty, compared with 61 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters, 69 per cent of Conservative voters, and 82 per cent of Reform voters.
Responses to another question, whether the Government should be responsible for meeting the essential needs of disabled and sick people, also differed by party, though by smaller margins.
Ninety-one per cent of Liberal Democrat voters agreed that the Government was responsible, followed by 88 per cent of Labour voters, 81 per cent of Conservative voters, and 72 per cent of Reform voters. Overall, 81 per cent of the UK voters polled said that the Government was responsible for supporting people with disabilities.
