Subject line: UC bill: crucial amendments
Dear MP,
I am writing as a constituent to ask that you vote today to make the UC bill the best it can be.
That means voting in favour of amendments NC8, NC11 and 38
We welcome Government amendments that will:
- Remove cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from the bill
- Make provisions to both increase the Standard Allowance of UC above inflation and to annually uprate the LCWRA component
- Apply the above to Northern Ireland
However the choice of selected amendments for debate means there is no chance to prevent:
- 830,000 Disabled people losing essential income by 2029/30
- An additional 50,000 Disabled people pushed into poverty[1]
- Additional unsustainable pressures on our already broken public services
- Disabled people becoming trapped in benefit dependency in a new “severe conditions” group
It is a huge relief that the Government has put forward amendments to remove the cuts to PIP and remove the freezing of the LCWRA component of UC.
But there are other cuts to disability benefits in the bill.
These include:
- Halving UC LCWRA for new claimants
- Freezing UC LCW for pre April 2017 claimants
These cuts will hit large numbers of Deaf and Disabled people across the UK.
The majority of these are people with limited capability for work and work related activity – often referred to as “unfit for work”.
The employment outcomes for this group will be negligible although that information will not be available until October 2025.
The government has not published any disaggregated poverty impacts so with the PIP cuts removed, we do not know what the poverty impacts of the measures left in the bill will be.
We do not believe that MPs should vote on legislation without all the information they need to make informed decisions on issues as serious as those that affect the lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Disabled people, our families and our communities.
We urge you to vote against the bill in order to prevent these cuts or at the very least to vote in favour of the above amendments in an attempt to mitigate the impending damage and increased benefit deaths that will undoubtedly be the result of this terrible piece of legislation.
Regards,
UK DDPO CRDP Monitoring Coalition
Coalition Against Benefit Cuts
Disabled People Against Cuts
[1] The Government assessment that claims 50,000 will be lifted out of poverty has been calculated on the basis of deducting the number of Disabled people who would have been pushed into poverty by WCA changes proposed by the previous government that never happened. The reality figure is 50,000 into poverty.
Thank you Denise Davies 12 health conditions many acute and degenerative.
Sheryl Fraser civil servant and carer for disabled husband
Lesley Walton