Open letter to Government on second chance to stop ESA cuts

17th November 2016

Ahead of today’s debate in the House of Commons on cuts to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit, over 70 members of the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) have signed an open letter (below) to the Government, warning of the devastating effects the cuts would have on people with a disability and urging MPs to take this debate as an opportunity to re-assess the cuts.

“Dear Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,

“With today’s debate MPs have been given a rare second chance to speak out against £30 a week being taken away from sick and disabled people. The £30-a-week cut to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit has caused deep unease amongst MPs from all parties. We believe this cut will undermine the Government’s welcome commitment to halve the disability employment gap set out in the Green Paper published just last month.

“The Government recently committed to protecting disabled people’s benefits from further cuts, but have decided to continue with this damaging cut to new claimants in the Work-Related Activity Group (WRAG) of ESA and within Universal Credit (UC). From April 2017 this cut will affect many people found currently ‘unfit for work’ but will also affect many disabled people in work and on low wages under UC.

“The Government promised further support would be given to disabled people in the WRAG to find work, however the recent Green Paper offers little detail as to where this would come from or how it will mitigate the effects of the cut.

“Almost 70% of sick and disabled people we surveyed say this cut would cause their health to suffer and just under half said they would probably not be able to return to work as quickly. We urge MPs from all parties to act – at a time when 1 in 3 households with a disabled member are living in poverty – and halt this cut immediately.”

Signed:

1. Action for Blind People
2. Action Duchenne
3. Action for M.E.
4. Action on Hearing Loss
5. Advice UK
6. Advocard
7. Age UK
8. Ambitious about Autism
9. Arthritis Care
10. Arthritis Research UK
11. Aspire
12. British Lung Foundation
13. Capability Scotland
14. Carers UK
15. Child Poverty Action Group
16. CLIC Sargent
17. Contact a Family
18. Council for Disabled Children
19. Crohn’s and Colitis UK
20. Cystic Fibrosis Trust
21. Deafblind UK
22. Dimensions UK
23. Disability Agenda Scotland
24. Disability Rights UK
25. Down’s Syndrome Association
26. ENABLE Scotland
27. Epilepsy Society
28. Epilepsy Action
29. Equalities National Council
30. Guide Dogs
31. Haemophilia Society
32. Hafal
33. Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE)
34. Inclusion London
35. LASA
36. Leonard Cheshire Disability
37. Livability
38. Mind
39. Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association
40. MS Society
41. Muscular Dystrophy UK
42. Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Trust
43. Myeloma UK
44. National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society
45. National AIDS Trust
46. National Autistic Society (NAS)
47. National Children’s Bureau
48. National Deaf Children’s Society
49. National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society
50. Niamh
51. Papworth Trust
52. Parkinson’s UK
53. Rethink Mental Illness
54. Royal British Legion
55. Royal College of Psychiatrists
56. Royal Mencap Society
57. Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
58. RSI Action
59. Scope
60. Scottish Association for Mental Health
61. Spina bifida Hydrocephalus Information Networking Equality (SHINE)
62. Sense
63. Sense Scotland
64. St Joseph’s Hospice
65. The Stroke Association
66. Sue Ryder
67. Terrence Higgins Trust
68. Thomas Pocklington Trust
69. Together For Short Lives
70. Transport for All
71. TUC
72. Vitalise
73. Zacchaeus 2000 Trust

About the letter

The cuts to the Work-Related Activity Group (WRAG) of ESA and the equivalent in Universal Credit will undermine the Government’s commitment to halving the disability employment gap, which was outlined in the recent Green Paper on Work and Health.

The Government has however suggested that people with disabilities and long-term health conditions who get this benefit are not being incentivised to find work because of the £30-a-week more they get compared to those on Job Seeker’s Allowance.

However, the DBC strongly disputes this claim and a survey of over 500 disabled people found this to be completely false:

• Almost 7 in 10 (69%) say cuts to ESA will cause their health to suffer
• More than a quarter (28%) say they sometimes can’t afford to eat on the current amount they receive from ESA
• Almost half (45%) of respondents say that the cut would probably mean they would return to work later
• Just 1% said the cut would motivate them to get a job sooner

Disabled campaigners were in Parliament on yesterday meeting their MPs to raise concerns. Pictures of this can be found on twitter under #esacuts as will commentary on today’s debate.