A DISABILITY membership organisation has highlighted the devastating impact that proposed cuts to welfare benefits would have, raising the difficulties that their members are already facing.
Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) has shared the severe impacts that the cuts will have on disabled people if they go ahead and challenged the political choice to do so.
The UK Government’s plan to cut welfare benefits was reported last week. It is expected that cuts will include the freezing of Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which helps disabled people with living costs, as well as changes to the application process for PIP, and changes to Universal Credit payments.
Tressa Burke, who heads the organisation and shared that she is disabled herself, said that the Government is “victim blaming the people that are actually the most vulnerable”.
The chief executive of the group – which has more than 5500 members – said many she has spoken to in recent days are “shocked, and very, very frightened”.
Burke (below) said: “We’ve got almost 6000 members, and they will all be affected by this. So is it right to place the responsibility of the country’s national debt on the shoulders of the people least responsible for causing the problem, and least able to endure the kind of impacts that this is going to have?”
She highlighted the challenges that disabled people are already facing in light of the rise in the cost of living.
Burke said: “We’re already experiencing the worst impacts of the cost of living crisis, which has come on the back of 15 years of austerity and the welfare cuts that already happened, and the pandemic that supercharged all the inequalities.
“The really obvious thing is that disabled people died in the highest numbers during Covid. So not only were the inequalities exacerbated and ‘supercharged’, but many new ones were created.”
In 2024, the organisation ran a survey to find out how their members were managing financially and the struggles they were facing.
Findings demonstrated that 97% of respondents felt forgotten in the Government’s priorities and plans.
Some 71% of respondents said they didn’t have enough money to manage the cost of their needs, 68% couldn’t afford utilities, while 58% couldn’t manage the costs of food and essential groceries.
Burke said: “Things are pretty bleak for disabled people, but it doesn’t need to be that way – that would be our position. It is about choices, and they are making a choice to scapegoat disabled people.”
Burke pointed to a report by the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) which makes recommendations after reviewing the UK’s implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The findings, published earlier this year, advise the UK to “increase its budget allocation for social security.”
Recommendations also include that “disability-related benefits, including the Personal Independence Payments and the Employment Support Allowance, adequately cover additional disability-related costs, in line with the human rights model of disability.”
A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We have been clear that the current welfare system is broken and needs reform, so that it helps long-term sick and disabled people who can work to find employment, ensuring people receive the support they need, while being fair to the taxpayer.
“Without reform, more people will be locked out of jobs, despite many wanting to work. That is not just bad for the economy, it’s bad for people too.
“We have a duty to get the welfare bill on a more sustainable path and we will achieve that through meaningful, principled reforms rather than arbitrary cuts to spending.
“That’s why, as part of our Plan for Change, we will bring forward our proposals for reform shortly that will unlock work and help us reach our ambition of an 80% employment rate.”
They advise that they do not comment on speculation and will propose their health and disability reform Green Paper next week.
Burke said that “many disabled people want to work, but there are so many barriers.”
She highlighted how the organisation focuses on “employer ability”, instead of “employability.”
They explore how employers can help disabled people, not the workplace, and make adequate adjustments.
Despite everything, GDA remains positive. They underline the difference that being a member of a group like theirs, and working together, can make.
Burke said: “We are really up for working with the Scottish Government to see what can be done about this and if only the UK Government was willing to listen and engage people, then we would be more than happy to work with them as well on alternatives. The bottom line is the members are feeling extremely fearful, but also up for getting involved in the solutions.”
