Facts, Statistics and Disabled Peoples Experience of Welfare Reform and Poverty

Facts, statistics and Disabled peoples’ experience of welfare reform and poverty

Introduction

Inclusion London

Inclusion London is a London-wide user-led organisation which promotes equality for London’s Deaf and Disabled people and provides capacity-building support for over 90 Deaf and Disabled people’s organisations in London and through these organisations our reach extends to over 70,000 Disabled Londoners.

Disabled people

In 2012/13 there were approximately 12.2 millionDisabled adults and children in the UK, a rise from 10.8 million in 2002/03. The estimated percentage of the population who were disabled remained relatively constant over time at around 19 per cent.[1]
There are approximately 1.2 million Disabled people living in London.[2]

Poverty

Poverty rates for Deaf and Disabled people are rising:

Households where at least one member was disabled who were in “absolute poverty” rose from 27% in 2012-13 to 30% in 2013-14.[3]
Disabled adults are twice as likely as non-Disabled adults to live in persistent poverty.[4]
Just above 20% of recipients on DLA/PIP were behind on essential bills [5](see Figure 6)

According to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation:

‘….disabled people have higher poverty rates than the rest of the population – poverty rates that are understated by the official statistics.

…. disabled people make up 28% of people in poverty, and a further 20% of people in poverty live in a household with a disabled person.

In other words, almost half of people in poverty in the UK are in a household with a disabled person or are disabled themselves.’[6]

Welfare benefit reforms

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 brought in cuts and changes inwelfare benefits including:

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) abolished, replaced by Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

Changes to Housing Benefit, including the Spare Room Subsidy removal/social housing size criteria, (commonly known as ‘the bedroom tax’).
Harsher ‘work-related requirements’ [7] including a tougher sanctions regime.[8]

Disabled people are being disproportionally impacted by welfare benefit reforms as research conducted for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) revealed:

“The impacts of tax and welfare reforms are more negative for families containing at least one disabled person, particularly a disabled child, and that these negative impacts are particularly strong for low income families”.[9]

The impact of the welfare reforms have left many Deaf and Disabled people struggling to pay for daily living expenses, having to use food bank and are on the edge of eviction if not evicted.

Sanctions

The government introduced a harsher sanctions system for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and ESA if the rules for claiming are not strictly followed. Benefit can be stopped from 4 weeks up to 3 years[10].

In just one month (March 2014) 3,695 Disabled people received an ESA sanction.[11] Concerns have been raised by the Methodist church that many people with mental health support needs are being sanctioned, possibly at a a rate higher than 100 a day.[12] A Freedom of Information request to the DWP reveals that people with ‘Mental and Behavioural Disorders’ receive a greater number of ESA sanctions than any other impairment.[13]

Research on the impact of sanction by York University[14] found:

‘Those subject to sanctions reported widespread anxiety and disempowerment; sanctions had severely detrimental impacts financially, materially, emotionally and on health' people reported debts, reliance on charities and foodbanks and arrears in utilities and rent.’

The great hardship and distress caused by sanctions is illustrated by the two cases below sent to us bya Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO) in 2013:

Case 1

Of the family with a three week old baby, her father sanctioned this morning for a year. The job centre said he came on the wrong day, he showed them the letter for the day to see them today, the jcp changed it and did not tell him. He cried on my shoulder, his family affected by the bedroom tax, no food, nothing. So we applied for DHP for him, and for hardship payments, his baby called Chole has a few toys for Christmas and some clothes and baby milk, some of the shops in the area donated for them.

Case 2

“My benefits are sanctioned over Christmas for arriving to a work programme 5 mins & 15 minutes late on 2 appointments. I’ve no money until the 5th January, I cannot get a budgeting loan as they say i owe them to much already I have no food no electric no heating & 2 young children. I’m in desperate need of some form of help, is there anything i can do?

Work Capability Assessment (WCA)

Since 2010 criteria and testing for access to key welfare benefits has become harsher, particularly the WCA. Assessments are driven by the intention to ‘reduce disability benefit spending[15]; resulting in inaccurate the assessments; in January 2016 a National Audit Office (NAO) report found that only 13% of assessment reports achieved the expected standard.[16]

The WCA is causing harm and distress, including suicides:[17] Mary Hassell, a senior coroner sent a ‘Prevention of future deaths report’[18] to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) following the suicide of a man found ‘fit for work’ by the department after undergoing the WCA. In the report, Mary Hassell said,

‘I found that the trigger for Mr O’Sullivan’s suicide was his recent assessment by a DWP doctor as being fit for work’.

A similar finding by a coroner had already occurred in 2010. This coroner called for a review of the policy not to seek medical evidence from a GP or psychiatrist if the claimant has a mental health condition, but the government has ignored the coroner’s advice.[19]

The conclusions of research published in the British Medical Journal found:

‘The programme of reassessing people on disability benefits using the Work Capability Assessment was independently associated with an increase in suicides, self-reported mental health problems and antidepressant prescribing. This policy may have had serious adverse consequences for mental health in England, which could outweigh any benefits that arise from moving people off disability benefits’.[20]

The case studies given below to illustrate the impact on Disabled people’s lives of the WCAwere provided by Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) in London in 2015:

Case 1

“People with schizophrenia and severe mental health problems often come to us for support at a crisis point, when they have had no income for some time, and are on the point of eviction. The person has often applied for ESA but been found fit for work. Our advocacy worker has to negotiate with housing department to avoid evictions. There have been cases when the advocate provides support to apply for JSA but the Jobcentre staff has seen the Disabled person is not well enough to work at the interview and told them to apply for ESW. The Disabled person is in then in Catch 22 situation - meanwhile they have no income.

The advocacy worker now always asks for the professional qualifications of the officer carrying out WCA when appealing decisions, because the impact of the disabled person’s condition has often not been adequately recognised in the initial assessment.”

Case 2

“The original decision found the Disabled person was not eligible for ESA because they had been awarded 0 points. Mandatory Reconsideration[21] confirmed this. However, the decision was reversed at appeal tribunal…... But by that time their housing benefit stopped, they had been evicted and thrown further into depression.”

Personal Independence Allowance

Disability Living Allowance/Personal Independence Payment is a welfare benefit to help with the extra costs of being disabled. Through the Welfare Reform Act 2012, DLA was abolished and replaced by PIP. Government estimated that 500,000 fewer Disabled people would receive PIP than DLA by 2015/2016[22] due to narrower eligibility criteria.

Disabled people on DLA are gradually being reassessed for PIP. Government statistics, published in June 2016 show that award Rates for new PIP claims are 47% and for reassessed Claims are 73%, so 27% of people who received DLA are being refused PIP.[23]

Below is a case of person that was found not to be entitled to PIP and was appealing the decision, which was sent to Inclusion London in January 2016:

“I have previously received pip for two years before being made to reapply. I am under a psychiatrist and my gp this has really knocked me back and as a result me my husband and my two young boys are having to live on £90 a week esa payments. I am currently waiting for my case to be heard at a tribunal as my mandatory reconsideration was refused almost instantly.

….My illness got worse over the two years I was in receipt of pip. I feel that the medical professionals need to have some experience in the field that the person they are assessing….”

Mandatory reconsideration was introduced by the government in 2013 for PIP and Universal credit. Mandatory reconsideration prolongs the period that Deaf and Disabled people are on a very low income, yet over 60% of mandatory reconsiderations of personal independence payment (PIP) decisions leave the award unchanged, according to the DWP.[24]

Loss of Motability vehicles

Eligibility for the enhanced rate of the Mobility Component of was tightened under PIP:[25] “Under DLA, the walking distance was 50 metres, which was in the Department for Transport guidance on inclusive mobility. The new distance of 20 metres is just under two London bus lengths, and is unrecognised in any other setting”.[26]

Due to this change many Disabled people are no longer eligibility for a Motability vehicle, which enables travel outside the home. According to Motability, who lease cars and powered wheelchairs to Disabled people, 3,000 out of 8,000 of their customers who have so far been reassessed have lost their eligibility for the scheme and have therefore had to give up their vehicles. A Motability spokeswoman said: “We are currently seeing over 100 customers losing eligibility each week”.[27]

‘Spare room subsidy removal’

The Welfare Reform Act introduced new Housing Benefit rules for working age adults, which only allows one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household. Those deemed to have one ‘spare’ bedroom have a 14 per cent reduction in their housing benefit, while those with two or more spare bedrooms have a 25 per cent reduction.

The removal of the subsidy is having a disproportionate impact on Disabled people.[28] Disabled people often need a bedroom to store equipment or to sleep in because sharing a bed with a partner is not possible due to an impairment or health condition. Also the accommodation may be adapted and no smaller accessible accommodation may be available.

The government claims the Disabled people’s needs are being met by Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP)[29][30].But discretionary payments give no security of tenure and Disabled people’s support network in their locality could be lost by a move to a different area. Also many Disabled people are being refused DHP according to research by the Papworth Trust:

1 in 3 Disabled people are being refused a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP).[31]
Local Authorities have even rejected DHP applications from Disabled people living in adapted properties who are unable to downsize in the short term.[32]
Nine in ten (90%) Disabled people are cutting back on food or bills to pay the bedroom tax if they are refused a safety-net housing payment[33].

Cumulative impact of welfare reforms

The cumulative impact of the welfare benefit reforms is having is increasing the poverty of Deaf and Disabled people who are left struggling to pay for food, fuel and rental bills. DDPOs have told us Disabled people arehaving to make use foodbanks more frequently and Disabled people have been evicted or are on the edge of eviction because of the impact of Welfare Reforms.

Despitenumerous calls[34] the government has repeatedly refused[35] to undertake a cumulative impact assessment of the welfare benefit changes on Deaf and Disabled people.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, wrote in its advanced report on the UK:

‘The Committee is seriously concerned about the disproportionate adverse impact that austerity measures, introduced since 2010, are having on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups. The Committee is concerned thatthe State party has not undertaken a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative impact of such measures on the realization of economic, social and cultural rights…..’[36]

Employment

Disability employment gap

Nearly half (49%) of Disabled people in the UK are employed compared with 76.7% for non-disabled people, an employment gap of 30.1 percentage points.[37] The gap has been static for many years.[38] The employment rate of people with learning difficulties and mental health support needs is even lower and is about 14%.

The government pledged to halve disability employment gap,[39] but at the same time are cutting funding for employment support.[40]

Access to Work

The Access to Work (AtW) scheme was designed to ensure that Disabled employees enjoy the same opportunities as non-disabled. The government is trying to expand the number of AtW users with a marginal increase in the budget to the detriment of existing users whose support is being cut[41] as a result Disabled people are saying AtW is broken.[42]

Social care and support

In June 2015 a total of £4.6 billion budget reductions for adult social care had been made in England.[43] The ADASS told the Commons Health Select Committee that in June 2015, some 400,000 fewer disabled and older people received social care than in 2009–10, yet the population is ageing and more likely to need care.

“I don't get enough care hours. I have 1 hour in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening to get me showered and dressed/undressed. This does not give me care for help in the kitchen as I cannot prepare or cook food for myself - my kitchen is not wheelchair accessible. I receive no support to fund travel to my family and friends.” (Written in 2012)

The recent case below illustrates difficulties that former users of the Independent Living Fund are currently facing:

Sarah-Jane*, who has 24/7 support needs, initially had her support package cut from 84 hours a week (pre ILF closure) to 36 hours following a reassessment by her local authority. She received support from a solicitor to challenge this and had her package reinstated pending reassessment.

Last week her social worker visited…..the social worker was there to advise that the funding panel had already agreed the outcome of the second reassessment and the support plan that had been completed at the same time without Sarah Jane’s involvement. This support plan awarded her 39 hours of support per week and was to be implemented four weeks from the social workers visit. This timeframe gave no consideration to Sarah-Jane’s obligations under employment law with regards to her Personal Assistants’ notice periods.

For more information contact:

Inclusion London
336 Brixton Road
London, SW9 7AA

Office contacts:

Email:

Telephone: 020 7237 3181
Text message: 0771 839 4687

Registered Charity number: 1157376
Company registration number: 6729420

[1] Family Resources survey United Kingdom 2012/13: (page 61)

[2] (page 64)

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[5] Figure 6)

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[17] section 12.1

[18]a prevention of future deaths (PFD) report,

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[36]Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the United ...

tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CESCR/.../GBR/E_C-12_GBR_CO_6_24399_E.docx (See under No 16. Tax Polices)

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