£3,000,000,000 cut to benefits will ‘push disabled people into poverty’
£3,000,000,000 cut to benefits will ‘push disabled people into poverty’
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Campaigners have warned the government’s plans to cut billions from benefits could push ‘many more’ disabled people into poverty. Disability charity Scope said such massive cuts would make it more difficult for many people on benefits to find a job, as the government sets out plans for bringing millions of Brits back into employment.
![[Stephen Timms]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237551198-49d2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
It comes after DWP minister Sir Stephen Timms defended the cuts, stating they are ‘wholly consistent’ with getting people into work. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has picked up the previous Conservative government’s target of slashing £3 billion from the UK’s benefits bill, with a plan expected in the next few weeks.
![[LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Labour Party MP Stephen Timms attends a service to honour Sir David Amess at St Margaret's church on October 18, 2021 in London, England. Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death while meeting with constituents in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday. A 25-year-old man, Ali Harbi Ali, was arrested at the scene and the attack is being treated by police as a terrorist incident. (Photo by Jonathan Brady - WPA Pool / Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PRI_205596869-6a72.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Sir Stephen Timms, the disability and social security minister, told Metro he did not consider the two to be mutually exclusive. He said: ‘I think that delivering the savings which have been committed to is wholly consistent with changing the system so that it supports people better.’.
The minister added: ‘We do have to deliver stability in the economy, and that means we’ve got to deliver those savings. ‘But we believe we can do it in a way that improves the way the system works, and that’s what we’re going to be setting out in the plans in the spring, and we’re taking it very carefully.’.
Last week, Sir Stephen visited the Camden HQ of St Mungo’s in north London to see how the homeless charity was helping its hostel residents learn the skills they would need to go into long-term employment. A facility below the building is used to teach ‘clients’ plumbing, wiring, tiling and decorating – a scheme the minister suggested could help the UK hit the never-seen-before 80% employment rate mooted last November.
