Save Disability Benefits and Services

Supporting statement for team at Pat’s Petition for their visit with Liam Byrne

To whom it may concern.

The changes that the latest Welfare Reform Act brings are the most devastating set of changes to the UK welfare system ever to be enacted in one go by Parliament.

Whilst we realise it is not legally possible for this Parliament to Repeal the WRA, it may be possible to enact further legislation that would remove some of the more disturbing impacts of this current Act.

The Welfare Reform Act (2012) places a huge burden on those sick, disabled and those on low incomes to reduce the money spent on welfare.

Whilst we can see a need for some reform of benefits, the whole idea being put forward is not driven by a concern for “targeting those most in need”, as the Minister for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith keeps on repeating, it is actually just a brutal and impersonal cutting of benefits to many different groups.

The impact of these cuts cannot be underestimated.  In fact there is no study available (except the ones the Minister  refuses to publish) that shows what the total effect of all these cuts will be on ordinary people.

Whole segments of society will be impoverished by these acts.  The elderly as much as the young and fit are affected as well as single parents and Carers to sick and disabled people.

Please do all that is in your power to make the government do a full assessment and publish the results so that it can be debated properly before it is too late and people’s lives have been damaged permanently.

Ian Sandeman
DLA/PIP Help Groups

http://dlahelpgroup.com
http://piphelp.me.uk

 

 

 

Tags: benefits, carerwatch, cumulative impact assessment, disability, disability living allowance, DLA help group, employment support allowance, hardest hit, personal independence payment, social care, universal credit, welfare reform

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2013 at 9:27 pm and is filed under Pat's Debate, Pat's Petition, welfare reform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.