Welfare Reforms

There's a lot of speculation going on.

Rachel Reeves is coming under intense pressure to use the budget to abandon a £1.3bn cut to benefits for people with disabilities, first announced by the Tory government, amid warnings it will lead to hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people losing almost £5,000 a year.

The leading independent thinktank, the Resolution Foundation, has called on the chancellor to drop or delay changes to the work capability assessment (WCA), arguing that key aspects of the policy have not been thought through, and that around 420,000 people who are unable to work through disability or ill-health could lose up to £4,900 a year.

The controversy is another headache for the government, particularly as the savings from the Tory-conceived plan are already baked into the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts for the public finances that will underpin the budget on 30 October.

This latest dispute over benefits cuts follows outcries over the government’s plan to limit winter fuel payments to only the poorest pensioners, and its refusal to end the two-child benefit cap that is being blamed for tipping many thousands more children into poverty every month.

Mike Brewer, interim chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said the plan should be scrapped or at least rethought: “These changes disproportionately affect lower-income households, and could lead to individuals missing out on support, in spite of being at substantial risk of harm, opening up the government to legal challenges.

“Ministers are right to scrutinize fast-rising disability benefit spending. But these changes have not been thought through properly. They should be delayed – if not cancelled – until they are.”

How did I know you read that? There will be change but how they are going to change things nobody knows.

I would try not to worry until things are set in stone.

I didn't realise that the supposed savings from slashing the LCWRA group had already been baked into the current government's budget forecasts. That's upsetting. I only get LCWRA because of the substantial risk rule, I can't fulfill any work search obligations, my mental health just won't allow for it, even just the pressure of knowing I could be sanctioned is too much for me.

If they don't change their minds about this it will be nothing short of a democidal catastrophe for people with mental health disabilities.

Are they planning on doing that? I haven't seen anything at all on what exactly they may decide to do. With all due respect Jimm, you don't know anymore than we know. Honestly, all this speculation really is awful. 🙄

I don't understand your comment about "not being very effective" The WCA stats for UC say that 63% are found to have LCWRA, 19% LCW and 16% fit for work. The stats for ESA about about the same. That's pretty good in my opinion.

@vikki66 I'm always the sort of person that prefers facts to speculation. This is one of the reasons I won't worry until I have something to worry about. All this speculation isn't helping anyone, even more so for those that suffer extreme mental health.

I'm not a rude person on here or in real life. I'm a straight to the point sort of person but being this way doesn't mean I'm being rude. I'm actually quite the opposite and have always put others before myself, right from my childhood.

There's no tone to text speak so what a person writes may come across as being rude, when it actually wasn't.

I'm here to help people and tell them the facts, not to cause trouble for anyone. 😊

@Catherine21 thank you. ☺️

🙄 is my favourite emoji, it's how I react to most situations in life! Sort of 'good grief, here we again' 😂