John Kirkpatrick

CEO

EHRC

john.kirkpatrick@equalityhumanrights.com and ceo@equalityhumanrights.com

cc

Valentine Murombe-Chivero

Head of Corporate Communications at The Equality and Human Rights Commission

valentine.murombe-chivero@equalityhumanrights.com

10 May 2025

Dear John

Complaint against the Labour Government and request for the EHRC to investigate the urgent threat to the equality and human rights of disabled people by a raft of policy announcements and planned legislation.

We are asking the EHRC to investigate the urgent threat to the equality and human rights of disabled people by a raft of policy announcements and planned legislation by the UK Government.  The disproportionate impact on disabled people if these measures go ahead need investigation for the following reasons:

• the proposed cuts to welfare benefits for disabled people will push many into and further into poverty and are discriminatory relative to the rest of the population
• ongoing austerity budgets for local authorities, impacting adult social care which many disabled people rely on for their independence
• Ongoing cuts to NHS and mental health services disguised as efficiency savings
• Safeguarding concerns and risks of harm and deaths – there is evidence from DWP that austerity cuts are associated with countless deaths, and with the level of mental distress. It is inevitable that further cuts will cause many more deaths. People continue to die as a result of DWP failings as it is. These cuts will make that even worse.
• the impact of tax rises on NHS and social care service providers for disabled people and disabled people’s organisations (DPOs)
• the impact of negative, misleading and false statements made by Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall about disabled people and benefits and the impact this has on hate crime against disabled people
• the disproportionate impact of the proposed changes to PIP and Universal Credit on people with learning disability, mental health conditions, autism and neuro-diverse conditions (see Big Issue story)[1]
• the disproportionate impact on families with a disabled person who are already the poorest in society
• the failure of the government to consult or coproduce with DPOs in shaping policy and legislation in violation of the CRPD and domestic legislation
• the failure to carry out a comprehensive impact assessment ahead of the policy announcements and the publication of the Green Paper
• MPs are going to be asked to vote on legislation before the OBR analysis is published in the Autumn

We are calling for this action by the EHRC under pillar two of your current strategic plan, where you commit to:  ‘act with speed and precision when responding to the most significant and urgent threats to equality and human rights’.

The Government has failed and refused to carry out any effective analysis of the impact of this proposed legislation and policy changes.  Therefore, we are asking EHRC to do a human rights analysis of the Green Paper and the anticipated Bill, in line with your responsibilities to uphold the Human Rights Act and as part of UKIM for monitoring the CRPD.

We are also requesting the EHRC to urgently carry out a cumulative impact assessment to evidence the erosion of our rights and living standards by the new Labour Government.  There is precedent for you to carry out such an analysis, as you commissioned a cumulative impact assessment under the previous government, as published in 2018: The cumulative impact of tax and welfare reforms | EHRC

These proposed cuts, which amount to ongoing austerity for disabled people, do not address the concerns and recommendations from the UN CRPD committee in 2024 and in fact represent further regression of rights for our disabled population in the UK:

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities published a report, after looking at the UK government’s progress since 2016. This was when the same committee found that austerity and welfare policies were leading to grave and systematic violations of Disabled People’s Human Rights.  The UN Committee did not see any progress in addressing those violations, moreover, it documented evidence of retrogression.

You can read the UN’s report here (DOCX).

Key quotes from the report

“The Committee concludes that no significant progress has been made … The Committee also notes that while some measures have been taken to address its recommendations … there are also signs of regression”

“The Committee finds that the State party has failed to take all appropriate measures to address grave and systematic violations of the human rights of persons with disabilities”.

The government does not consult with Disabled people and our organisations as it is obliged to (73) and uses a “rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity” (74).

3 articles were mentioned in particular:

Article 19: Right to live independently and be included in the community

Disabled people are offered “bare subsistence” instead of “full enjoyment of the right to live independently and in the community” (77).

More and more disabled people are stuck in institutions with no plans to end “disability-based detention and compulsory treatment” (78-79).

Article 27: Right to work and employment

The “Work Capability Assessment (WCA) process is complex and onerous” and the “assessors are inexperienced and/or unqualified” (82).

Article 28: Right to an adequate standard of living and social protection

PIP is insufficient and its eligibility criteria are “contrary to the human rights model of disability” (76).

In 2023 UK was in violation of international law in not providing social protection which ensured an adequate standard of living, including for disabled people (86)

Here is a summary of the proposed changes to welfare benefits that will disproportionately affect disabled people relative to the non-disabled population:

• It is estimated that through the Government’s proposed Personal Independence (PIP) cuts, between 800,000 and 1.2 million Disabled people will lose between £4200 and £6300 a year by 2029 to 2030 (Resolution Foundation, 2025).

• According to DWP own calculation as well as the 250,000+ households the Green Paper cuts will push into poverty, the cuts are also forecast to hit 700,000 families that are already in poverty, many of whom are households with a disabled person.

• The DWP’s modelling shows about 2.4m people in poverty gaining from the reforms will almost certainly be non-disabled UC claimants benefitting from the small rise in the standard allowance whilst disabled people will experience cuts.
• Because PIP is a gateway benefit disabled people and their families who lose eligibility for PIP will also lose eligibility for Carer’s Allowance, council tax reduction and other passported entitlements.
• According to the proposals, from 2028-29, getting PIP will be the factor that determines whether you get the health element of UC – meaning there will be no support specifically for Disabled people unable to work. Those who would otherwise qualify for the health element of UC – but not PIP (currently 600,000 people) – will therefore not get the element and be worse off by £2,400 per year (today’s prices; assuming they are new claimants who would otherwise have got the reduced health element
• If the cuts to PIP are taken together with the Government’s proposals to scrap the Work Capability Assessment and replace current out of work disability benefits with a new “health” component of Universal Credit with eligibility tied to PIP, some claimants risk losing £9600 per year.

• There will be no health element in UC for under 22s. Many disabled students rely on it to go to university so the knock on impact to future employment prospects of not going will be catastrophic for this group.

• The current PIP fraud figures are 0% according to the DWP’s Fraud and Error in the Benefits System Annual Report of 2024, so the government’s crackdown on benefit fraud and its impact is inconsistent with the figures and very low rates of PIP fraud.

DISABILITY AND SOCIAL SECURITY – THE REAL PICTURE

Welfare spending is not out of control

• It is lower than a decade ago and not set to rise within the next five years: Government claims of ‘spiralling’ spending on benefits are false and ‘ideological’, official figures show – Disability News Service

• What is true is that disability benefits as a share of overall welfare spending has risen. This is due to many factors, one being the increase in State pension age, but also NHS and mental health support waiting lists, the effects of Long Covid, and escalating mental distress among young people: see research by academic Ben Geiger These are all very real issues which we need the government to address.

• Nearly £23 billion worth of social security and social tariffs currently goes unclaimed due to lack of awareness, stigma and the complexity of the UK social security system. See Missing out 2024: £23 billion of support is unclaimed each year | Policy in Practice. Unclaimed social security includes universal credit, pension credit, child benefit, carers allowance and housing benefit for pensioners. Social tariffs include council tax support (a rebate, not a payment/benefit), free school meals, free TV licence and various energy/broadband support schemes.

• In the Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024, The DWP estimates that 4% (£870 million) went underclaimed for PIP and 11% (£750 million) for DLA: Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024 – GOV.UK.

Actual benefit fraud requires a court of law to establish that a claimant knowingly or dishonestly claimed benefit. Only 820 people were convicted on this basis in 2023.  The DWP statistical definition of fraud is much less rigorous – it is an assessment by the DWP of those who were not entitled to benefit but could ‘reasonably be expected to know.’ DWP estimate that rates for this type of overpayment were 2.8% (£7.4 bn) in 2024.  Rates of overpayment for claimant error were put at 0.6% (£1.6bn) and DWP official error at 0.3% (£0.8bn).  See Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024 – GOV.UK.

Tests for eligibility for disability benefits are not too easy

• Deaf and Disabled people who need disability benefits are too often found ineligible by assessments that are arduous, harrowing, frequently inadequate and result in arbitrary decisions. These are the same assessments that Labour criticised when in opposition and which were the subject of a number of highly critical Work and Pensions Committee reports: Health assessments for benefits – Committees – UK Parliament

• The rate of assessment decisions over-turned at appeal is at an all-time high. Currently around two-thirds of PIP appeals are overturned in favour of the claimant compared to around half of universal credit and ESA appeals: Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2024 – GOV.UK.However, many give up either before or after Mandatory Reconsideration stage because they cannot face the battle and due to lack of welfare advice and support to challenge unfair decisions.

• Recent research demonstrates that people claiming benefits for reasons of mental health are living with high levels of mental distress: Mental distress among people receiving benefits: new evidence. This is in contrast to deliberate misrepresentations contained within political rhetoric and media reporting of people supposedly found eligible for benefits who have low levels of anxiety or depression.

• This picture is further supported by OBR’s calculations that of the 163,000 benefit claimants with mental distress impacted by the proposals to change the WCA, only 3% would be able to find and undertake paid work.

• Recent media headlines about 200,000 claimants found unfit for work who are ready and willing to work now were deeply misleading. The survey question to which these claimants responded was whether they could work now with the “right job” and the “right support”. There was no follow up question about the likely availability of either. The 200,000 figure was extrapolated from a much smaller claimant sample. People who have learning disabilities and/or are autistic were twice as likely to respond yes to this question. 49% of respondents felt they would never be able to work or work again. 62% of these customers were over the age of 50, and 66% felt their health was likely to get worse in the future: Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers: Interim findings – Department for Work and Pensions

Disability benefits do not act as a disincentive to work

• Disability benefits keep Deaf and Disabled people out of absolute poverty.

• In 2022/23, 16 million people in the UK living in families in poverty. Of these there were 8.7 million people in poverty who are Disabled themselves, or who live with a Disabled person, up from 6.9 million in 2019/20. 33% of people living in the lowest income decile are Disabled compared to just 9% in the top.

• Even if you receive both out of work disability benefits and the higher rates of both the mobility and care components of PIP – currently on 2024/25 £783.16 pm ESA support group and £1400.50 pm UC LCWRA)- this is just 33% or 60% respectively % of the Minimum Income Standard (£28k pa) for a single adult.

• The rate that Universal Credit standard allowance is paid at is deliberately set to be too low to survive on for anything but a very short, temporary amount of time. For those unable to earn a living through paid work, an out of work disability benefit component is essential in addition to the standard allowance.

• Personal Independence Payment is a non-means tested extra costs benefit intended to contribute to the additional unavoidable expenditure that Deaf and Disabled people face. Scope estimates that Disabled people face on average extra costs of £1067 per month compared to non-Disabled people: Disability Price Tag 2024 | Disability charity Scope UK

• Claimants in receipt of out of work disability benefits have the highest levels of support need. These include people with terminal illness and neurodegenerative conditions and people with profound and complex needs. Many claimants in this category spend a considerable amount of time in too much pain or distress or fatigue to function. Time during the week is taken up with medical and therapeutic appointments, accessing drugs and treatment and with assessments and monitoring linked to the services and support we rely on.

• Many PIP claimants will not be able to continue in work if they lose access to this benefit. This is because engaging in paid work places extra demands on us that can exacerbate our conditions which in turn increases our unavoidable disability related expenditure. It also gives us less time on top of managing our impairments and illnesses to be able to function in other necessary areas of our lives such as domestic tasks. The OBR states that one sixth of PIP claimants are in work: Trends in working-age disability benefit onflows – Office for Budget Responsibility

• Cutting disability benefits will push more households into poverty. Reports we are hearing say the cuts to be announced will impact a million Disabled people. The charities fear that 700,000 additional households containing a Disabled person will be pushed into poverty as a result of these cuts.

• Disability-related poverty had increased dramatically even before the cost of living crisis:

• 54% of all poverty in the country is now disability related.
• The proportion of people in families with at least one Disabled child and one Disabled adult who were living in poverty rose by 7% from 2019–21 up to 46% in 2021-22. This is compared to a consistent figure of 17% for individuals in families with no Disabled members across these two years. [LINK]

• Poverty moves people further from employment. In 2021–22, the poverty rate for individuals in a household in receipt of a disability benefit was 20%: Benefit levels in the UK – Work and Pensions Committee.
• The research suggested the “main triggers” for applying for PIP were health deterioration, financial hardship and employment concerns.

Cuts to disability benefits will cost the economy more in the long-term

• Poverty costs money. In 2016 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that poverty costs the economy £78 billion per year and that £1 in every £5 spent on public services went towards mitigating the harms caused by poverty: Counting the cost of UK poverty | Joseph Rowntree Foundation

• Cuts will cause substantial additional pressures on the NHS, mental health services, and social care services and will lead to an increase in survival crime. They are entirely inconsistent with the government’s pledge to reduce shoplifting! Disabled people impacted by cuts may be forced to find paid work in unsuitable jobs such as sex work.

• Disability benefit cuts will also push up child poverty rates. 870,000 children live in families who receive PIP with 290,000 of these children already in poverty: Cuts to disability benefits would undermine government plans to tackle child poverty, warns charity – Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).

Here is a summary of the impact of the local government finance settlement 2025/2026 on adult social care from Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS):

“While this additional funding is welcome, there remains a funding gap of over £1bn for adult social care to even standstill next year, which means councils won’t be able to fully meet people’s care and support needs.  This means that fewer people will be able to draw on care and support to help them stay independent and well, such as transport to go shopping, a regular cooked meal or support for family carers.

“Limiting the number of people who can access adult social care creates a vicious cycle; too many people reach crisis point and end up in hospital unnecessarily because they aren’t receiving low level care at home, and they can’t leave hospital because there isn’t enough support to return home safely.

“To get people home from hospital quicker and prevent them from needing to go there in the first place, the Government must commit to a long-term, fully funded plan for social care, to make care at home and in the community the default option for everybody.”

Melanie Williams, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services

We hope this evidence of continuing violations of disabled people’s rights by the new Labour government, since its election last July, following 14 years of ‘grave and systematic violations’ of disabled people’s rights will mean you will act on this complaint, investigate and carry out the cumulative impact assessment as requested.

Yours sincerely

(final list of signatories TBC)

DPAC

[1] DWP figures released in response to an FOI request from the Benefits and Work website show how many people with different disabilities and illnesses currently receive the PIP daily living allowance having scored under four points in all categories. They include:

• 214,000 claimants with arthritis – that’s 77% of all arthritis claimants receiving the daily living allowance

• 38,000 with cardiovascular diseases – 62%

• 45,000 with respiratory diseases – 55%

• 38,000 with multiple sclerosis and neuropathic diseases – 48%

• 23,000 with cancer – 33%

• 11,000 with cerebral palsy and neurological muscular diseases – 24%

• 26,000 with psychotic disorders – 23%

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