Disability charity Scope’s executive director of strategy James Taylor said: “The Chancellor has a choice – to cut benefits and plunge more disabled people into poverty, or invest in an equal future for disabled people.
Changes to how people are assessed for health-related benefits remain widely expected, including the long-promised ‘reform’ to the work capability assessment – one of the main ways a claimant’s eligibility for health-related benefits is assessed.
“Instead of focusing on an amount they want to cut, the government needs to work with disabled people to create a system which supports disabled people.”.
Earlier this month, the DWP secretary shared a department-commissioned survey that found about a third of people claiming health and disability benefits want to get a job.
As ministers battle over the final policy package for disability benefits, reports also indicate that there is disquiet amongst MPs about Labour’s choice to maintain the two-child benefit cap.
