More than 10,000 people in Milton Keynes likely to see disability benefit frozen

The Department for Work and Pensions is reportedly set to reveal £6 billion worth of potential benefit cuts, as laid out in measures seen by ITV News last week.

These measures aim to push more people claiming disability benefits into work. Under the plans, stricter criteria will be imposed on those who can receive Personal Independence Payments and the payments will not rise with inflation next year.

PIP is non-means-tested and helps with some of the extra costs caused by long-term disability, ill-health or when a person is approaching the end of their life due to a progressive disease. It is not an out-of-work benefit.

RADAR analysis of the most recent DWP figures show 13,969 people in Milton Keynes were receiving PIP as of October last year – up 77% from 7,898 in 2019.

Across England and Wales, the number of PIP claimants has increased from 2.1 million in 2019 to 3.6 million last year.

Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK, warned the cuts would be devastating, saying: "They will make more people sicker, further undermine everyone's right to a decent quality of life and further entrench the barriers to access, employment, and social inclusion that many disabled people face."

He added: "PIP payments are already known to be too low... it costs an average of £1000 per month extra for disabled people to live the life of a non-disabled person."

PIP is made up of two awards – a daily living rate and a mobility rate. People can be entitled to either or both of these.

The current standard daily living rate is £72.65, while the enhanced rate is £108.55. The standard mobility rate is £28.70 and the enhanced rate is £75.75.

In MK, 53% of people receiving the daily living payments were on the enhanced rate, and 64% claiming the mobility payments received the enhanced rate.

James Taylor, the charity's executive director of strategy, said: "We've had three years of bank-busting prices across the board, and energy is set to go up yet again in April. PIP exists because life costs more if you are disabled. Those costs won’t disappear if the Government freezes its value."

He added many disabled people use PIP to get to and from work and to pay for essential equipment like mobility aids.

"Making life harder will just push even more disabled people into poverty, not into jobs," he warned.

A DWP spokesperson said the current welfare system is "broken" and needs reform to help long-term sick and disabled people who can work to find employment. They added it will ensure people receive the support they need while being "fair to the taxpayer".

They said: "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."