Plans to cut disability benefits will hit most vulnerable - campaigner

Labour mayor of York and North Yorkshire David Skaith said that while reform of the welfare system was needed, it should not be done on the back of disabled people in need of support.

The mayor responded to disability rights campaigner Flick Williams who called on him to speak out against proposals she said would fail while depriving people of the means to live.

The exchange comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the Government would press ahead with its planned shake up of the welfare system amid political pressure and an ongoing backlash.

The prime minister told reporters while travelling to the G7 summit in Canada that reforms which aim to save up to £5bn-a-year by 2030 were needed for claimants and taxpayers.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said the proposed reforms aimed to boost employment by removing barriers to work while supporting those unable to take a job.

North Yorkshire was chosen to carry out an Inactivity Trailblazer with £10 million in Government funding to improve workplaces to try and get people unemployed for long periods into jobs.

A York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority meeting on Friday, June 6 was told that £3 million-a-year was also earmarked for the region to help the disabled and others overcome barriers to work.

The funding comes as part of the wider Get Britain Working Strategy which is being rolled out as the welfare reforms, dubbed Pathways to Work, make their way through Parliament.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told The Guardian forthcoming legislation would feature additional protections amid concerns over the effect on people claiming personal independent payments (PIP).

A report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty and Inequality published on Monday, June 16 claimed the reforms would not be effective in supporting disabled people into work.

But speaking at the combined authority meeting earlier this month, Ms Williams said Health Equity North research found that North Yorkshire PIP claimants could lose a total of £72 million-a-year.

She added reducing payments for those in receipt of the aid, which is paid to disabled people to help them with additional costs they face to live, was economic self-harm.

Ms Williams said: “I invite you to look back at all the many welfare to work initiatives over the years where eye-watering amounts of money were spent supporting people into work with disappointingly poor outcomes.

“Society’s inacessibility and inherent ableism means employers don’t want to hire people they deem an expensive risk.

“No amount of money poured into employment support changes the fact that chronically sick disabled people assessed repeatedly as unfit for work don’t suddenly become so when you deprive us of the means to live.”

Mr Skaith said he had listened to disabled people from across York and North Yorkshire who had shared their fears and concerns about the Government’s proposals.

The Labour mayor said the proposals would undermine efforts to tackle economic inactivity in their current form.

He said: “Reforms to the benefits system are needed but it shouldn’t be done on the backs of disabled people.

“These cuts will take tens of millions of pounds out of our economy and hit the most vulnerable hardest.

“We will continue to press the Government to rethink these plans to ensure the reforms strenthen and don’t weaken the support for disabled people.”