View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Business
  2. Economics
30 March 2017updated 08 Sep 2021 7:44am

If the government can back down on self-employed taxes, why not disability benefit cuts?

A tax rise of £35 a year was called "grossly unfair". But some disabled people are set to lose that every week. 

By Katherine fidler

Cast your mind back, if you will, to 1971. If you can’t, jump on Google, provided the Daily Mail hasn’t turned you against it. Get Carter premiered, postal workers went on strike and then-Education secretary Margaret Thatcher was branded the “milk snatcher” for ending the provision of free milk to junior school pupils.

Thatcher justified this as a bid to save the Treasury £4m – less than £60m today. So why, when Theresa May is so often compared to Thatcher (primarily due to their shared gender of course), has the current Prime Minister not been the subject of similar outrage over plans to cut disability benefits vital to personal mobility by £3.7bn?

Set aside from how this reflects on British attitudes towards disability (more of which later). The methods employed by government throughout the process – from not only ignoring but directly opposing recommendations by two Upper Tribunals on the benefits in questions, to announcing their changes on a day when the media was immersed in two high-profile by-elections – have been described by shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams as undermining and subverting our democratic process, bypassing debate and scrutiny.

Personal independence payments, the benefits over which Chancellor Philip Hammond has swung the axe, provide support for those living with a long-term disability or illness. The points-based assessment is split into daily living and mobility components, with a maximum award of £139.75 per week. Changes to the eligibility rules now result in those who monitor their own condition or suffer psychological distress associated with taking journeys receiving reduced payments.

But to those of us who have never suffered greater inconvenience than a broken down car or delayed train during our travels, what does this really mean?

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

It means those who suffer psychological distress when undertaking any journey, whether or not they’re cognitive symptoms of a physical condition, may have the weekly benefits they receive to maintain their mobility reduced from £57 to £22.

That could mean someone who relies on their Motability car to get to work is now unable to make the journey – 750 of the vehicles a week are being returned due to the withdrawal of support, according to the SNP’s Patricia Gibson. It could mean someone who suffers from Parkinson’s might now have to run the risk of a freezing episode on a bus or a train rather than in the safety of a taxi. It means thousands more people will have to go through the traumatic appeals process – a process in which 60 per cent of appeals are successful, a proportion which underlines how unfit for the purpose the assessment mechanism is.

It could mean someone who cannot leave the house alone due to severe anxiety now cannot leave the house at all. A barrier to living a normal life, participating in the community and contributing to society, opportunities that all citizens of this country should be afforded, and one we have committed to as part of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Overall, the move highlights the fact the government has reneged on a specific commitment it made, when introducing Pip, to treat those suffering from mental health disorders would be treated equally to those with physical disabilities, and seems at odds with a recent green paper that stated: “A disability or health condition should not dictate the path a person is able to take in life – or in the workplace.”

It also comes just 12 months after a u-turn on previous proposals to cut Pip that would have saved the Treasury £4.4bn – cuts so severe they prompted then-Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to resign.

Yet in a Commons debate yesterday, Work and Pensions minister Penny Mordaunt said the amendments to legislation “were not intended to make new savings”, and that there was “no change to the budget”.

This seems hard to believe given they will indeed save billions, and while the government may argue there’s no change to the disability benefit budget, there’s no denying following the outrage and subsequent climbdown over an increase in national insurance contributions announced in the final Spring Budget, there is a rather large hole in the finances to be filled.

The Nics argument brings us back to attitude. Hammond’s increase to national insurance payments of around £35 a year was billed as “grossly unfair” to those self-employed workers who would be affected. What of those who will now be unable to work after losing the same amount a week?

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU