Preston disability charity calls on Rachel Reeves to re-think ‘devastating’ PIP benefit cuts

Mel Close is chief executive of Preston-based disability charity Disability Equality North West

‘Life costs more for disabled people’ is the message being given to the Chancellor ahead of the Spring Statement mini-budget.

Chief executive of Preston-based charity Disability Equality North West has written to Rachel Reeves warning of the impact of the proposed cuts to the Personal Independent Payment (PIP).

Nearly 10,000 people in Preston currently claim for the PIP – around 10 per cent of the working-age population – and estimates are around 1,000 of those would be affected by the government’s shake-up to benefits.

Mrs Close calls on the Chancellor to ‘think again’ and take time to listen to people with ‘lived experience of disabled people’.

In a letter, seen by Blog Preston, she said: “Disability benefits such as Personal Independent Payments and the Limited Capability for Work Amount, can be a lifeline for disabled households and can enabled people who receive PIP to work.

“Making the cuts to disability benefits, that you’re proposing, would have a catastrophic impact on disabled people in Lancashire and up and down the country.

“Personal Independent Payment is not an ‘out of work’ benefit as the media would have us believe, it’s an additional benefit for disabled people who have significant care and mobility needs, that on average cost them an additional £975 per month (Scope Extra Costs Commission Report 2023), without it thousands of disabled households could be pushed into poverty.

“Life costs more for disabled people. Huge numbers already live in poverty as a result of these
extra costs. The impact of any cuts to disability benefits would be devastating.”

Mrs Close, who is also a Labour councillor on Preston City Council, goes on to urge the government to review the Access to Work system and listen to disabled people’s voices.

She also writes: “Disabled people should not be an afterthought, we were there for you at the polling stations because we believed that would be there for us when we needed, please do not prove us wrong.”

Backbench Labour MPs, such as Preston’s Sir Mark Hendrick, have been lobbying the government to consider alternative proposals for benefits reform.

Sir Mark has written to the Secretary for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, outlining his concerns at the PIP changes.

Liz Kendall last week outlined the government’s plans, saying: “Social and demographic change means more people are now living with a disability.

“But the increase in disability benefits is double the rate of increasing prevalence of working age disability in the country.

“With claims amongst young people up 150%. For mental health conditions, up 190%. And claims for learning difficulties up over 400%, according to the IFS.

“Every day, there are more than 1,000 new PIP awards. That’s the equivalent of adding a population the size of Leicester every single year.

“Mr Speaker, that is not sustainable long-term, above all, for the people who depend on this support.”

She went on to say they will not freeze the PIP payments but reform the application system to introduce a new points-based system so anyone wanting PIP will need to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to quality for the daily living element of PIP payments from November 2026.

Liz Kendall also committed to launching a review of the PIP assessment in consultation with disabled people and organisations who represent them.

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