New welfare reform proposals will result in many disabled children facing a cut of up to £1,400 per year (£27 per week) compared to their current welfare entitlements.
By Sam Royston, Policy Adviser the Children’s society
A coalition of 30 national organisations and charities, led by The Children’s Society, are calling on the Government to reverse their planned cut to support for disabled children under the new Universal Credit.
The organisations have identified that new welfare reform proposals will result in many disabled children facing a cut of up to £1,400 per year (£27 per week) compared to their current welfare entitlements. By the time a disabled child reaches 16, this could cost the family £22,000.
Raising a disabled child is extremely expensive. The range of costs can include higher travel costs, increased fuel bills, extra childcare and loss of income due to hospital appointments.
The government estimates that 100,000 disabled children will be hit by this change.
The £27 lost per disabled child a week (which could double or triple if there are two or three disabled children in a family) is more than half the average family’s food budget. This can make the difference between a family coping or falling below the breadline. This shift will force families into poverty.
So why is the government making this change? It claims that the measures are being introduced in order to align child and adult rates of disability support.
But the group of adults with whom support is aligned are at some point likely to be able to move back into work. Children cannot work to raise extra money to increase their income, so have no way to escape poverty. It must be recognised that disabled children face additional barriers to escaping poverty and therefore require extra support.
It is absolutely crucial for people to join us in petitioning the government to understand the significance of this change for disabled children and their families. For many low income families already living on the breadline, this will make the difference between meeting their children’s basic needs and finding themselves unable to cope.
Click here for more information and to see the list of organisations that have signed up.
77 Responses to “Help stop government changes to welfare penalising disabled children”
freiahill
RT @leftfootfwd: Help stop government changes to welfare penalising disabled children: http://t.co/pGPTol6 @childrensociety's @raficooper
Sam Royston (Policy Adviser to The Children's Society)
Dear David,
Many thanks for your comment on this post. I agree many adults in the ESA WRAG will not be able to work for some time and I think you make a fair point about this, however, I still think ti is fair to point out that many will have aspirations to do so at some point.
I think a crucial point around this issue is not about benefit rates per se, but about income stability. For low income families it is crucial to have a level of support they can rely upon, as such the way to align benefit rates is to uprate one group over time, and as resources become available, not to cut support for another group (as is being done with disabled children).
Thanks for signing the petition!
All the best,
Sam
Sam Royston (Policy Adviser to The Children's Society)
Dear Anon E Mouse,
Thank you for your comments about this post. Regarding transitional protection I think there are three key points:
Firstly, only existing benefit claimants will be protected – new claimants
following the introduction of universal credit will receive no protection and
could lose substantially compared to their entitlement under the current
system.
Secondly, the level of protection will not be uprated with inflation, meaning that even relatively large losses under the universal credit would be eroded within just a few years.
Finally, households whose circumstances change may lose their cash
protection. What counts as a “change in circumstances” for these purposes has not yet been defined in detail.
For households at risk of losing substantial cash protection, this could
create a minefield of benefit complexity – they will need detailed welfare
rights advice to ensure that they are aware of what changes of circumstances could lead to them losing their additional support.
All the best,
Sam
Kidz Exhibitions
Help stop government changes to welfare penalising disabled children
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Peter Underwood
RT @leftfootfwd: Help stop government changes to welfare penalising disabled children: http://t.co/pGPTol6 @childrensociety's @raficooper