'Devastating' disability cuts: what you need to know

The Government has now released its Green Paper on disability benefits.

You may have been aware of the discussions around this, both from the government and in the press.

I’ve found most people are only aware at a basic level, not actually realising what is involved and how it will affect disabled people. Most media outlets have been at best unhelpful in their language, and, at worst, not even done the most basic research for their reporting. This has led to a lot of misinformation before we even caught sight of the Green Paper this week.

Scope, a charity for disabled people, gave an immediate response on X: “The government has announced the most devastating cuts to disability benefits on record. These plans should shame the government to its core.”

'Catastrophic'

Carrying on in a follow on post they said: “These plans will be catastrophic for disabled people’s living standards. Nearly half of families living in poverty already include someone who is disabled. Now the government is choosing to penalise some of the poorest people in our society."

The UK charity Mencap said as part of its response: “The Government has just announced major changes to benefits, including proposed changes to the Work Capability Assessment and PIP. Nothing will change immediately, but we know many people with a learning disability are anxious about what this means for them."

On average, it costs a disabled person an extra £1,010 a month to live because of what is referred to as the disability tax - anything for disability always costs more than it should and inaccessibility also comes with an extra price tag.

This was also mentioned by charity the Trussell Trust, which said: “Life costs MORE if you’re disabled:

- Extra energy costs for medical equipment
- Accessible transport or car adaptations
- Specialist services and therapies
- Paying more to get the weekly shop delivered
- Having to pay for a carer
- Higher heating bills.”

For many people who are disabled, these proposals, if they go through, will mean they won’t be able to afford food, electricity and many other basic needs.

The Resolution Foundation gave a clear statement on social media too, including this:

“Around one million people are potentially at risk of losing support from tighter restrictions on PIP, while young people and those who fall ill in the future will lose support from a huge scaling back of incapacity benefits."

'Gruelling'

The one good thing within the suggestions is the ability for those on work-related disability benefits to try out work without having to go through the “gruelling assessment process” again if it doesn’t work out.

I found it strange that the rhetoric around changes to disability over the last few months has implied getting these benefits is too easy, and yet they have been called "gruelling" in this context.

Within the Green Paper, there are suggested changes to the qualifying points of PIP, which is a non-employment based benefit designed to help with the extra costs of disability, although the media would have you think it is a work-based benefit.

If those changes go through, very few people would qualify and there would be more disabled people out of work than back into work. This is because this benefit often helps disabled people to work due to the cost of equipment, adaptations and travel support needed to work.

When the Green Paper is billed as “Support to Get Britain Working," it seems odd they don’t take into account either the issue of causing unemployment by removing PIP and the huge problem of the unwillingness to employ disabled people.

Consultation

There is now a consultation open which will run until 11.55pm on 30th June 2025: "Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working. Green Paper." However, this consultation has been described by website Benefits and Work as “an entirely bogus consultation on changes to personal independence payment (PIP) and universal credit (UC)” because it is “refusing to consult on almost everything that matters most to claimants." (Link to this can be found at https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/dwp-launches-entirely-bogus-green-paper-consultation)

There will be more debates, disability organisations will input into discussions. Many backbench MPs have already spoken out about the paper and it is these MPs that could make a difference.

Whatever comes out of all this, changes to some parts of the system won’t take affect for around five years, but that doesn’t take away the worry and pressure on disabled people here and now.

The Green Paper backs up the feeling of a hostile environment that has been around since the previous government started this process. Any comments such as, “it might not happen,” and, “wait and see before worrying,” aren’t helpful when you’re living with a commentary of being a drain on society and viewed with suspicion of being a benefit fraud. In case you're wondering, disability benefit fraud is assessed to be 0%.

You may have noticed that I haven’t yet quoted any responses to the Green Paper from major Christian sources. That’s because - at the time of writing - the only ones addressing the proposals are the Church of England and some organisations whose ministries are based in disability or poverty (and I wrote one of those).

In the CofE statement, Bishop of Leicester Revd Martyn Snow (also the lead bishop for welfare) said: "Disabled people are disproportionately affected by poverty, and restricting their access to benefits will be felt most keenly where support is already scarce."

The Revd Canon Alice Kemp, who herself lives with "high levels of pain and fatigue" added that the proposed PIP restrictions would potentially take her out of work rather than into it: "Restricting PIP is a cruel blow for people who already experience severe disadvantages in the workplace, in the jobs market and in society more generally. As Christians we must always stand up for those who are disadvantaged and pushed to the margins."

But more positively, what can you do?

• Pray - for a just and wise resolution.
• Check in with disabled friends to make sure they’re ok.
• Write to your MP - this is a justice issue and MPs often say they tend to be approached by Christians about what we don’t want and not about issues of justice - why not surprise them!