Disability equality charity SCOPE is urging the United Kingdom's Government to keep promises made to uprate benefits next year in line with inflation.
It comes after Chief Secretary of the Treasury, Chris Philip, declined to say whether or not common DWP benefits will rise once more in April 2023.
Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, he said: “There’s a statutory process, a legal process which the Government goes through every year, it’s led by the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] Secretary [Chloe Smith], it happens as a matter of routine every autumn."
Read more: DWP announces exact dates £324 cost of living payment will be paid into bank accounts
The Daily Record reports that he continued: “That will happen this autumn in the normal way and, when the welfare secretary has made - in consultation with other colleagues in Government - a decision, it’ll get announced to Parliament in the normal way. I’m not going to pre-empt that by making any sort of commitment one way or the other - it’s up to that process to carry on as normal.”
Prime Minister Liz Truss, has also refused to rule out the possibility of real-term cuts with regards to welfare, despite admitting that pensions will rise in line with inflation. The PM also declined to commit to the annual uprating of benefits in line with inflation, with millions of UK households trying to juggle a cost of living crisis inclusive of soaring food and energy costs.
Ms Truss was also very clear that she has 'committed to the Triple Lock' system, to protect State Pensions against price increases, but refused to give them same guarantee on benefits in April next year. This is despite prices rising by 9.9% compared to a year ago, as well as the Bank of England expecting inflation to hit 11%.
Not ruling out rowing back on Boris Johnson’s promise to maintain the increase in benefit payments in line with inflation, she said it was something Work and Pensions Secretary Chloe Smith is 'looking at'.
James Taylor, director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said: “If the UK Government u-turns on this promise, it would be devastating and lead to disabled people starving and freezing in their own homes. Disabled people and their families are the ones in our society who need financial support the most. But instead, the UK Government has chosen to lower taxes for top earners.”
He continued: “Many disabled people have no choice but to rely on benefits for income. They’ve seen real-term cut after cut, firstly because of a four-year benefits freeze, and then last year’s failure to increase in line with inflation. Refusing to increase benefits in line with the true inflation rate would show an utter disdain towards people who need this support.
“The UK Government must stick to its promise to increase benefits in line with inflation, and provide much more direct financial support now to disabled people at the sharp end of this crisis.”
The DWP has paid out around £600m to nearly six million people across the UK through the £150 disability cost of living payment, with further payments due to be made by early October. A date for the second cost of living payment of £324 for those on means-tested benefits has still to be announced.
People receiving Tax Credits only will get the second payment ‘from Winter 2022’.
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