Dawn Parker, who is housebound in Leeds, has spoken out over the Labour Party government’s announcement.
A woman with multiple sclerosis is terrified she’ll lose her £700 a month disability benefits in the wake of the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ). Dawn Parker, who is housebound in Leeds, has spoken out over the Labour Party government’s announcement.
Dawn, 58, said: “A couple of years ago Rachel took me by both hands and told me, ‘when we get in power you won’t realise how well off you’re going to be’. I am terrified, despite yesterday’s assurances, that people like me will be turned down for PIP in future.
“When I initially applied for PIP somebody had to come to my house to assess me. The guy said I qualified. I believe tests should be thorough enough to protect payments for those of us who really need it.”
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Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, laid out her long-awaited changes to the benefits system on Tuesday, announcing a set of measures aimed at getting more people into work and saving £5bn by reducing disability payments.
Debbie Abrahams, the Labour chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, warned against “balancing the books on the backs of sick and disabled people”.
Tanni Grey-Thompson, a Paralympic champion and cross-bench peer, said she had been contacted by disabled people saying they had been shouted at in the street by passersby telling them they were “going to get their benefits cut”.
“There’s some really horrible rhetoric around at the moment,” she said. “It’s not a great time for disabled people. And the worry is that this doesn’t do the right things to get people into work. It’s whether it could push people who are currently just about surviving into greater poverty or more need.”
Sophie Morgan, a TV presenter and disability advocate, who is paraplegic, said she saw no justification for the cuts and said the “scapegoating of disabled people is not only toxic, it could be really fatal.
“If history has taught us anything, these cuts will have the opposite effect of what the government seems to think they will have. It will push people out of work, it will cause more poverty,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s a single disabled person in the UK who won’t be affected by this. But I think everyone should be worried – if the government can treat people with the highest needs in our community this way, what else could they possibly do? It’s a very worrying question.”
She added: “There is this terrible misconception that disabled people just take, but actually by taking from us, you prevent us from being able to give – we want to be able to participate in life equally the same as anyone else, and that includes going to work.”