Disabled people make up 20% of people of working age, but only 50% of that number are actually in work.
The issue
Disabled people are more likely to be unqualified and unemployed. If they are in work they tend to be paid less than non-disabled people, they experience lots of barriers to employment, incur more costs as a result of living with an impairment and live in low income families.
They also rely heavily on public services, so cuts are especially damaging to them.
And there are more cuts to come. These will result in a rise in the number of disabled people living in poverty.
Ministers say they want disabled people off benefits and into work but they have not recognised that it is just those benefits that enable disabled people to work and live independently.
I am a wheelchair-user, I have rheumatoid arthritis. They are cutting staff at the hospital where I’m monitored. Used to be an appointment every three months, now it’s an appointment every six months, which in reality means once a year
Julie Robinson UNISON member
What has happened
Changes to the Department for Work and Pensions Access to Work Scheme mean that a range of physical adjustments including some computer software, computer screens and office furniture are no longer provided.
Employers are now expected to pay for these as “only those adjustments above and beyond what is reasonable for an employer to fund” will attract government funding.
The abolition of the Disability Living Allowance Board, Mobility Allowance Board and the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee reduces the specialist knowledge available to support disabled people’s greater independence in society.
The Independent Living Fund is to be abolished in 2015 and the fund is already closed to new clients.
This means that disabled people who would have previously had a shortfall in their local authority social care packages made up by the fund will no longer get this help. It is still not clear what will happen to existing fund clients after 2015.
Reduced government funding means local authorities in England are cutting social care budgets by an average of 4.7%.
Many are increasing eligibility thresholds and introducing or increasing means-tested charging, both of which will affect disabled people’s access to care and income levels.
The part of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which covers mobility, is to be withdrawn from disabled children in state-funded residential schools and from adults living in state-funded residential care.
Government proposals do not intend to remove DLA from mobility recipients who pay for their own residential care.
Since 2012, entitlement to contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) runs for one year only.
There will be significant cuts for people on Incapacity Benefit as 1.5m disabled people will be reassessed on their fitness to work from now until 2014.
The intention to cut the rate at which benefits are increased each year by increasing them in line with the Consumer Price Index, rather than the typically higher Retail Price Index will affect Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.
The Supporting People initiative is under threat as local authorities in England are planning to cut an average of 17% from their supported housing schemes for disabled people, including people with mental health support needs and learning difficulties.
UNISON was created for times like this. We’re here to give a voice to the growing opposition to these vicious cuts
Chris Tansley UNISON president speaking at the union’s disabled members’ conference
More benefit cuts
An estimated two million disabled people live in private rented accommodation and inevitably some will be affected by changes to housing benefit including capping payments and cutting housing benefit levels by 10% for people who have been receiving Job Seekers’ Allowance for more than a year.
As disabled people are likely to find it difficult to find work, they will be especialy vulnerable to this time limiting.
Taken together, this is a perfect storm of cuts that will have a major impact on many disabled people. These cuts hurt.
Did you know?
- Disabled people have experienced a total drop in income of £500m since the Emergency Budget of 2010
- Three quarters of disabled people said that losing Disability Living Allowance means they would need more social care support from their local council.
Real story: Liz Webber, UNISON member
I have to go back to full-time work, which I am not fit enough to do, because I am in a lot of pain.
“Full time work is a threat, but so are benefits cuts.
“I spend my Disabled Living Allowance on mobility; if I lose my DLA for my car, I’ll be even less able to work, more likely to be on benefits and cost more in benefits claims.”
Real story: Anonymous UNISON member
I work in the park and I am learning disabled and have mental-health issues.
“I fear for my job because they’re talking redundancies because of the cuts and I fear they’ll want people like me to go, though it won’t ever be said like that.”
Real story: Angela Lynes, former UNISON president
My father had a serious brain injury, his injury has lessened his capacity to think, so when benefits letters come through, he panics that it’s a personal attack from the government on him.
“The cuts’ direct effects on me? I fear for my job, which they may privatise, but I fear for my family most.
“I was in hospital having a hip replacement the day the coalition cuts were announced; two days later my partner George came up to visit me and told me his job was being cut.
“I just thought: ‘Oh, I am just going to have to go back into work full time and I am not fit enough to do that’.”