Disabled People: Impact from Policies and Spending Cuts
Question
14:56:00
Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to
assess the impact of their (1) policies, and (2) planned spending
cuts, on people with disabilities, to ensure that they do not
exacerbate existing inequalities.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work
and Pensions () (Con)
My Lords, the Government recognise the barriers that disabled
people face across many aspects of their lives. All government
departments have rigorous processes in place, in line with the
public sector equality duty to ensure that they consider
proactively the impacts on disabled people when carrying out
their day-to-day work in shaping policy and delivering services.
This includes the Treasury, which carefully considers the
equality impacts, including for disabled people, of the
individual measures announced at fiscal events.
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for his Answer. This Question concerns the
wider issue of impact assessments being used to guide government
policy for disabled people, and is not just around vital income
support. First, is an impact assessment being conducted, or has
one been proposed, to look at the impact that Home Office
immigration rules are having on the supply of personal assistants
for working-age disabled people to allow them to be economically
independent? Secondly, is an impact assessment being carried out,
or has one been proposed, on the effects of the proposed
modernisation of the railways on the mobility of wheelchair-users
and people with sight impairment, many of whom are very worried
about this?
(Con)
The first thing to say is that there are no plans for impact
assessments. What I can say to reassure the noble Baroness and
the House is that much work has been done to take account of the
extra costs that are required for those who are disabled. The
extra-cost disability benefits have been uprated every year since
their introduction, in line with inflation; these benefits were
also exempt from the recent benefits freeze. Over 1.3 million
more people of working age are in receipt of an extra-cost
disability benefit since May 2013. On her final point about
transport. we have done a lot of work on the transport issues.
For example, we have enacted the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles
(Disabled Persons) Act 2022 and published guidance on inclusive
mobility and tactile paving, and there is more that I could say.
(Con)
My Lords, my understanding is that Access to Work grants for
disabled people are beset with significant delays. For example,
the Royal National Institute for Deaf People says that many are
waiting close to four months for initial claims to be processed
or renewals to be approved. This has a knock-on effect on the
support workers they rely on, who understandably may refuse to
take bookings from them as they will not get paid. Will my noble
friend the Minister say what the Government are doing to cut
delays?
(Con)
I agree with my noble friend that there have been delays, and
perhaps I can give a little thought to this. One matter to note
is that the Access to Work systems are currently receiving an
increased level of applications for support—for example, there
are 24,677 cases. On what we are doing about this, DWP has taken
a number of actions: all applications for a job to start in the
next four weeks are prioritised, renewal applications are also
prioritised where possible, and support is approved using a new
streamlined process. We have also increased the number of staff
working on Access to Work. We are very aware of the delays and
are taking some action.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the Equality and
Human Rights Commission. Are the Government minded to implement
Section 28(8) of the Equality Act 2006, which would give the
commission the powers to bring disability discrimination cases to
court?
(Con)
Although I cannot confirm that, I know that the commission
examined whether my department was making reasonable adjustments
to its processes for people with mental health conditions and
learning difficulties, as required under the Equality Act 2010.
As the noble Baroness will know, the EHRC published a statement
on 19 April about drawing up a legally binding agreement with the
DWP to commit it to an action plan.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, I declare my interest: a 42 year-old family member has
recently become an amputee, so I have seen at first hand the
desperate situation that many suffer, particularly in residential
care. We are prepared to pay up to £2,000 or £3,000 a week for
residential care but not for independent accommodation.
Therefore, if the Minister considers an impact an assessment—I am
disappointed to hear that he is not doing so—will he consider the
impact on disabled people, particularly those with physical
disabilities? Given local authorities’ depleted housing stock,
they may need to rely on private housing. Will the Minister give
some assurance that he will at least look at that?
(Con)
I reassure the noble Baroness that we understand that people
across the UK, including those who are disabled, are worried
about the cost of living—she mentioned housing and other matters.
She will know that we have provided £37 billion-worth of cost of
living support in this financial year, including a cost of living
payment of £150 for the disabled. We have provided up to £650 for
low-income households and £300 for pension households—both of
these groups have large numbers of disabled people.
(LD)
My Lords, other noble Lords have spoken about some of the
problems inside DWP. I will ask about PIP and applicants who have
been disallowed it because they “didn’t return the form”. In
2017, 7,500 claimants were disallowed but, by last year, that had
risen to over 42,000. The problem is that, even though many of
these people were marked as vulnerable, some have died: Laura
Winham starved to death, and it took three years for her body to
be found—she was not the only person. What systems is DWP putting
in place to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable disabled
people?
(Con)
The noble Baroness is right to raise PIP. We are targeting
support at those with the greatest needs, as she raised. PIP
exempts a household from the benefits cap and is uprated by CPI,
and it is payable regardless of a person’s employment status. On
her particular points, I am pleased to say that we continue to
see an improvement in the way that we look at and pay PIP, and
particularly in the clearance times—the noble Baroness will know
that there have been some delays. I will write to her on her
specific question about the content. As I say, the delays are
very much a priority for my department at the moment.
(Lab)
My Lords, I take the Minister back to his answer on personal
assistants. When we were taking evidence in the Adult Social Care
Committee on the provision of personal assistants, it became
perfectly obvious that there is a real crisis for those people
who do not want to ask their families to care for them and who
would really benefit from personal assistants. One lady we spoke
to had employed 27 personal assistants in the course of a year,
none of whom could stay with her because they could not afford
to. What is the Minister going to do, if he is not going to do an
impact assessment, to find out what is actually going on in the
lives of these people, particularly in an area where the data is
extremely short and where we also know that people are having to
take on personal assistants and then act as small businesses to
try to organise their national insurance? For many, that is a
huge burden.
(Con)
The noble Baroness raises an important point. I think it might be
helpful to remind her that the Minister for Disabled People
announced on 1 December last year that a new disability action
plan will be consulted on and published in 2023. The groups the
noble Baroness mentioned will be part of that. It will set out
the immediate action the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to
improve disabled people’s lives, as well as laying the
foundations for a longer-term change. The plan will reference the
work already being taken forward by individual government
departments, but I know that there is more to do in this area and
she is right to raise it.
(LD)
My Lords, a decade of tightening eligibility for out-of-work
sickness benefits on top of cuts to rates means that disabled
people are now far more likely to be found incorrectly fit for
work than awarded benefits they do not need. When will the
Government take action to do something about this injustice?
(Con)
We certainly keep this under review. The noble Baroness will know
that SSP is administered and paid entirely by employers, at a
rate of £99.35 per week. Employers are required to pay it, but as
I say, this matter is kept under constant review.
(Lab)
My Lords, we all know that the cost of living crisis and
pressures on public services are affecting families across the
country, but the impact on families with disabled children is
particularly acute and often not well highlighted. What
assessment have the Government made of the effect of their
current spending plans on the level of support for disabled
children and their parents?
(Con)
I do not have any figures on disabled children but I can say
that, in the year 2022-23, we will be spending around £65.7
billion on benefits to support disabled people and people with
health conditions in Great Britain, including children. This is
around 2.6% of GDP. Spending on the main disability benefits—PIP,
DLA and attendance allowance—will be more than £7 billion higher
in real terms than it was in 2010.
