Letters: Labour is redefining what it means to be disabled to satisfy Rachel Reeves

People who are too ill to work will be cut off from receiving any disability benefits at all, says a severely disabled single mum.

Disability cuts will leave me in absolute poverty

I’m a severely disabled single mum, and because of Labour’s planned changes to disability benefits, I’m facing the loss of over £6,000 a year – more than a third of my income. I am desperate to be able to work, and the implication that this is a choice is deeply insulting. The money doesn’t stretch to luxuries. It buys basic essentials and contributes to the extra costs of living with a disability. Without it, I don’t know how I’ll survive. I am unable to physically access a food bank. I am largely housebound with ME and rely on paid carers and my elderly parents to cook, clean, shop, drive me to appointments and look after my child. I am facing a cliff edge and am absolutely terrified. 

Labour is proposing to change who qualifies for personal independence payment (PIP), making it harder to access. But they’re also turning PIP into a gateway benefit, so losing it means losing the health component of ESA and/or universal credit too. That means disabled people like me, who are too ill to work, will be cut off from receiving any disability benefits at all. These cuts will hit women and older people hardest. Under Labour’s new system, 32% of men will qualify, while only 25% of women will. That’s a tenfold increase in gender disparity. 

The people making these decisions seem to have no real understanding of what it’s like to live with severe, lifelong conditions, and that, unfortunately, for many, even part-time work is not sustainable. Labour is effectively redefining what it means to be disabled, not based on medical reality, but to satisfy Rachel Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules. 

The government and Labour talk about reducing child poverty, but they know exactly what they’re doing: the OBR estimates 50,000 children will be pushed into poverty because of these changes. My daughter is one of those children. Please help people understand what this will mean for families like mine. We are being pushed into absolute poverty by a party that claims to care.

Helen Smith, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Readers react: Reform councillor calls children in care ‘evil’

Dehumanising and seeing kids in care as “less than” has been a huge common thread between the various grooming gangs and institutional abuses we have seen. I hope Reform UK are vocal in their condemnation of this language.

u/doitnowinaminute, Reddit

Calling them evil just evades any responsibility to support the most vulnerable in society and is the first thread that allows the social contract to completely unravel. To think he felt comfortable saying this as someone who has been elected to have a responsibility to improve his constituents’ lives is actually terrifying and should be extremely concerning.

u/Yeahyeahsono, Reddit

Despicable man. Try compassion, understanding and empathy to children in the care system. The reason they are in the care system, most likely in the first place, is a lack of love or circumstances. These pen pushers need to understand from a much deeper level what the meaning of humanity is.

@fairydusts_journey01, Instagram

Anyone who thinks a child is evil when they haven’t done a single thing to deserve such a label should never be in a position where they have the power to determine what happens to those children. This man is disgusting.

Sue Lovell, Facebook

Read more:

• How to navigate DWP disability benefit applications and PIP assessments
• Disability pay gap sees disabled workers earn £1.93 per hour less than non-disabled employees
• Disability benefit cuts could plunge 700,000 households into poverty, Labour warned
• DWP warned over disability benefits failures that leave disabled people in ‘psychological distress’

Careless cuts

I remember when ‘Care in the Community’ was brought in during the 1990s with assurances that the mentally ill would have a better life with plenty of support in their own homes. Now I see how that support has been wiped away, they are left unsupported, freezing and without adequate food.

To survive on a low income takes a lot of managing, prioritising and planning. To survive on a low income with mental health problems is often impossible. What shall we call it now, ‘Neglect in the Community’?

@Jeannesvintage, Instagram

A free lunch

Just give all kids food… This shouldn’t be controversial. Free breakfast, lunch and dinner. It will help parents out with costs and time of preparing food, it also helps kids to ensure they’re never hungry, and what they eat is good quality and nutritious. Having breakfast and dinner clubs would help working parents. Schools can also introduce different types of foods so that kids are best prepared for the future. All the kids eating together is great for socialising too.

As there will be volume, schools can get better deals by going directly to British farms.

Daniel Williams, Facebook

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