Time to Stand Together: Say No to Devastating Disability Benefits Cuts
It’s time for us to stand together and take action against this dangerous attack on our rights and livelihoods. The government’s proposed cuts to disability and health benefits threaten our financial security, our independence, and our dignity. We cannot stay silent.
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Why This Matters:
We live in a world that disables us through systemic barriers. Benefits are not “extras” — they are essential support to help us survive, participate, and live with dignity.
Despite this, the government has proposed restricting access to two essential disability-related benefits: PIP and the health element of Universal Credit. Their proposals will push hundreds of thousands of people off these benefits.
They argue this will ‘incentivise’ Disabled people to find work. But they are wrong. Cutting this support is not only morally wrong, it’s economically irresponsible.
Disabled people receiving these benefits are among the poorest in society: 77% of us are already going without essentials. Taking even more away will not only deepen hardship, it will also push people further from work and inclusion.
If the government really wanted to support Disabled people into employment, it would start by:
- Fixing accessibility in workplaces and our communities
- Tackling discrimination and low pay
- Investing in proper adjustments and flexible working
A few of these issues are included in the Green Paper consultation, but the government has not made any proposals about how to tackle them. Instead, their proposals are all based on taking money away from us. We are being blamed for a broken system we didn’t create.
The Benefits bill is not rising overall. But the percentage of it that is being spent on Disabled people is.
This isn’t because the system is too generous to us — it’s because vital services are failing:
- NHS waiting lists are at crisis point
- Social care is collapsing
- Support in education is missing
- Housing is inaccessible and unaffordable
- Workplaces remain inaccessible and discriminatory
When services fail, people are forced to rely on benefits. But rather than fixing what’s broken, the government wants to take away the support that remains.
Poverty costs money — cuts now will only push people into crisis and shift the burden onto already stretched public services.
Myth Busting: the ‘Crisis’
The overall benefits bill hasn’t grown since 2009, and isn’t projected to grow in the next 5 years, despite expected increases in disability-related claims. There is no ‘affordability’ crisis.
The rise in the proportion of disability benefits reflects the huge problems in our society, including the long-term impacts of Covid, the cost-of-living crisis, and the collapse of public services. The rising pension age is also a major factor.
During the last ‘reform’ of disability benefits – when Disability Living Allowance was replaced with Personal Independence Payment – thousands of Disabled people lost their payments, and many had to leave jobs they were no longer supported to do. We fear this will happen again.
What Our Movement Is Saying
Tracey Lazard, CEO of Inclusion London, said:
“Disabled people are part of life – we’re parents, successful employees and trusted friends. Like everyone, some of us need support to be able to live good lives. But we’re already much more likely to be living in poverty, pushed to the brink by 15 years of cuts.
That’s why it’s so shocking and infuriating that these reforms are coming from the same Labour government that promised to end austerity.
The government have specifically excluded the changes to the PIP and WCA assessments, which are the elements of the Green Paper that will cause hundreds of thousands of Disabled people to lose financial support, from the consultation. This is unacceptable: consulting without involving us in the main financial decisions is not consultation.
Cutting benefits won’t create growth or help people into work — it will only increase poverty, ill health, and exclusion.
We know that real change comes through investment — in health, housing, care, inclusive employment support, and accessible workplaces.
A small 2% wealth tax on the richest 0.4% of the population (those with over £10 million, whose unearned income has skyrocketed) could raise £24 billion a year — far more than any cuts to benefits.
Slashing support from the poorest is not a necessity — it’s a political choice.”
Together, We Can Push Back
This isn’t over. We still have the power to change the direction of this debate — but only if we act together.
- Share this message with others in your networks.
- Contact your MP.
- Speak to local press and community media.
- Mobilise your organisation, your members, and your allies.
We’ve done it before — we can do it again. Together, we are stronger. Together, we can stop this.
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