Disabled people face lower benefits if not lifelong

Ludicrous. As if pushing people into poverty is any indication of improving health outcomes.

Hundreds of thousands of severely ill and disabled people making new claims will have their benefits cut if the government assesses that their condition might improve, charities have said.

In April, the health element of universal credit - an extra payment for people assessed as too unwell to work or prepare for work - will be halved to £50 a week and frozen for new claimants unless their condition is found to be terminal or severe and lifelong with no prospect of improvement.

Ministers had pledged last summer that the “severe and lifelong” clause - known as the severe conditions criteria - would shield the most severely disabled and ill people from the new lower benefit rate.

But charities and disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) have told the Guardian that a wide range of debilitating conditions may not meet the strict eligibility criteria, despite them often leaving someone unable to work. This includes multiple sclerosis, learning disabilities, bipolar, Parkinson’s, ME and long Covid.

»The Guardian →