WELFARE charities have branded the Prime Minister’s plans to cut benefits spending as "arbitrary" and a move that "will leave disabled Scots financially worse off”.
An article penned by Keir Starmer detailed that the Labour Government intends to “crack down” on people "gaming the system" when claiming benefits in a bid to slash £137 billion spent on welfare.
Starmer wrote in The Mail on Sunday: “In the coming months, Mail on Sunday readers will see even more sweeping changes. Because make no mistake, we will get to grips with the bulging benefits bill blighting our society.”
Gordon MacRae, assistant director of Shelter Scotland, told The National: "One of the areas we have seen welfare payments increase the most in recent years has been payments to private landlords to cover the cost of rents.
"Instead of putting more money into building social homes successive governments have cut the amount people can claim for housing costs as private rents have spiralled out of control.
"We know that this is a major driver of homelessness and that a disproportionate number of people needing assistance from homelessness services were previously private renters.
"Instead of setting arbitrary targets to cut spending our governments in Westminster and Holyrood should be investing in building homes for social rent."
“Over the years we have seen the repeated tightening of sanctions and conditionality ramp up misery, which has done little to improve the number of disabled people in work.
“We’d urge the Secretary of State to take a fresh approach to supporting disabled people into work. By spending time listening to their experiences and understanding the barriers they face that a focus on overall budgets and sanctions won’t solve.”
This comes as Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall prepares to announce a set of measures to "get Britain working" on Tuesday, after it was forecasted that more than four million people in the UK will be claiming long-term sickness benefits by 2030.
