Rachel Reeves has been torn apart by a charity boss after her Spring Statement over cuts to welfare. The director of disability campaign group Scope, James Taylor, says families will ultimately “lose more than they gain” after the Chancellor announced that she would slash benefits. Ms Reeves is also facing pleas from Labour MPs to reverse the cuts amid warnings they will lead to increased poverty. “These are one of the biggest cuts to disability benefits for the last 20 years,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.
“250,000 people moving into poverty, 800,000 people losing PIP [personal independence payments], 20% of all disabled households are going to be worse off as a result of today. These cannot be good outcomes of policy. We’ve been hearing from disabled people over the last two weeks who are extremely worried, and I think they’re going to be proved correct today, that people are going to be struggling to get by for years to come.”
The expert then said that the Government says its policies will get people into work, but claimed there is “no analysis of how many will get into jobs”.
Ms Reeves confirmed during her Spring Statement a further squeeze on the welfare budget, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, earlier this month.
The package is now expected to save £4.8billion rather than the more than £5billion in 2029/30 hoped for by ministers.
“This seems purely about saving money,” Mr Taylor added. “I don’t think 3.2million people losing on average £2,000 a year on average is the right thing to do.”
He then highlighted that the cuts will affect people with mental health problems, learning disabilities, autism and cancer, as well as carers and young families.
Mr Taylor said: “The Government’s own assessment is disabled families will lose more than they gain as a result of these changes.
“We’re not spending more on welfare now than 10 years ago as the percentage in GDP is roughly the same.”
The Treasury and No. 10 are looking for “short-term savings,” he added.
When challenged on disabled people losing benefits, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, told the BBC yesterday: “I can’t talk about individual cases, but what we are doing is making sure that the most severely disabled are protected.”