Disabled people tell Government at-risk DLA is a lifeline

• DLA replaced by PIP for new claims from Monday 10 June
• Government figures show 600,000 disabled people lose out on support by 2018
• This would mean a disabled person could lose between £20.55 a week and £131.50 a week
• Disabled people tell Scope why DLA is a lifeline

Disabled people have taken to social media to spell out why financial support for the extra costs of living with a disability is a real life-line – and to encourage the Government to re-think plans to take it away from half a million people.

On Monday 10 June 2013, the Government rolled out its plan to abolish Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and introducing the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which includes tighter eligibility criteria and a controversial new assessment.

Government figures show that over five years as many as 600,000 disabled people will lose out on £2.62 billion pounds of support as a result of the changes.

According to the disability charity Scope, the plans are fundamentally flawed.

Here are some of the comments collected by Scope over the past month in response to the question ‘what do you spend DLA on?’:

“DLA pays for phone, electricity, gas, water, loans…”

“…taxis to hospital once a month”

“I don't qualify for an NHS wheelchair so I have to spend money on that.”

“I use my DLA for chiropody and osteopathy amongst other things like extra fuel, my stair-lift and its maintenance.”

The reforms mean a disabled person could lose between £20.55 a week and £131.50 a week to support with the costs of living at home like preparing a cooked meal or the costs of getting out and about, such buying a wheelchair.


Scope warns there are two fundamental flaws.

Firstly the Government has argued that the reform is about making sure the payment goes to those who need it most.

But the fact that the Minister has announced the number of people that are expected to lose the benefit before assessments have even begun, has left disabled people worried that this is nothing but a cost-cutting measure with arbitrary targets to meet. Certainly the figures can have no link to the level of fraud for DLA, which was last measured at 0.5%.

At the same time serious concerns have also been raised over the new assessment. While Scope backs the principle of an assessment, it has published research in 2011 that revealed that the planned test is deeply flawed, and unlikely to accurately direct support to the people that needed it the most.

There are fears that when it comes to the assessment, due to be delivered by private companies Atos and Capita, the Government will repeat the same mistakes the it made with its fitness for work test, the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The WCA has been criticised for high levels of successful appeals and horror stories of people inappropriately found fit to work.

At the same time several Paralympians have voiced concerns about the impact on their lives if they were to lose their DLA.

Personal Independence Payment was piloted for new claimants in five areas including North East England, Merseyside, North West England, Cumbria and Cheshire in April. It is now being rolled out nationally for new claimants.

Existing DLA claimants won’t be automatically moved to PIP. They will instead be invited to re-apply for the new payment from October 2013 if their situation changes or in 2015 if their circumstances remain the same. Here is more on the DLA timetable.

The loss of £2.62 billion support for disabled people from just one benefit comes against a backdrop of flat-lining incomes and spiralling costs of living for disabled people.

In total Scope and Demos found that disabled people are due to be hit by up to £28.3 billion worth of cuts affecting 3.7 million disabled people. Scope is arguing that the Government has repeatedly failed to look at the bigger picture of what it’s like to be disabled in 2013, and how combinations of cuts impact on disabled people.

Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said:

“Disabled people are saying that PIP is a lifeline.

“Life costs more if you’re disabled, but this year with living costs spiralling and income flat-lining, disabled people are really struggling to make ends meet. Disabled people are getting into debt to pay for essentials.

“What’s the Government’s response? It is cutting the very financial life-line designed to help them meet the extra costs they face.

“DLA needed reforming and could be better targeted. But disabled people believe this reform is just an excuse to save money.

“It doesn’t help that the Minister is able to predict exactly how many disabled people will receive support before they have even been tested.

“For months now we have been saying the Government’s assessment for the new Personal Independence Payment is deeply flawed.

“It doesn’t take into account all the barriers that disabled people face in daily life. This means the support won’t be targeted to those that really need it. It looks set to repeat the mistakes of the Work Capability Assessment.

“We have to start looking the bigger picture. At the same time local support for disabled people is being rationed as councils face budget cuts. This is about the kind of country we want to live in. In 2013, at the very least disabled people should be able to pay the bills and live independently."