“SIR – Your recent article, ‘Anxious young Britons ‘risk becoming lost generation on benefits’ of Friday 23 January caught my attention. 

We are worried by the emerging narrative coming from Sir Alan Milburn, who has been tasked with leading such a crucial review into the state of youth unemployment in Britain today.  

His suggestion that child disability benefits are a gateway to a lifetime of unemployment, is deeply concerning. DLA child exists to support families with the unavoidable additional costs of having a disabled child. These are costs that do not go away as they grow up – according to disability charity Scope, disabled households need an extra £1,095 per month on average to meet their disability related costs, which is why many go on to receive PIP.  PIP is not an out-of work benefit, nor is there evidence that receiving it leads to long-term unemployment. In fact, for many disabled adults, PIP enables them to work.  

By conflating PIP and other benefits, Milburn not only misrepresents what PIP is for, but also risks further alarming and alienating disabled people after the government’s attempts last year to cut £5bn from the PIP budget, which led to the current review being undertaken by DWP Minister Sir Stephen Timms.”  

Hannah Nicholls–Harrison   

Co-chair Disability Benefits Consortium 

East One, 20-22 Commercial Street, London E1 6LP