Reform UK accused of ‘punishing’ individuals who most want welfare system with draconian plan
Reform UK has been accused of ‘punishing’ people who are most in need of the welfare system after unveiling draconian plans to cut the benefits bill by £50billion
Tory turncoat Robert Jenrick, who is Reform’s Treasury spokesman, faced fury after he announced plans to withdraw or change disability and sickness payments(Image: ANDY RAIN/EPA/Shutterstock)
Reform UK has been accused of “punishing” people who are most in need of the welfare system after unveiling draconian plans to cut the benefits bill by £50billion.
Tory turncoat Robert Jenrick, who is Reform’s Treasury spokesman, faced fury after he announced plans to withdraw or change disability and sickness payments.
Reform plans to replace Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and the health element of Universal Credit with a new Health Security Allowance. Only cases that are “severe, enduring or high-risk” will get support, a policy document states.
Disability experts said the proposals were “cruel and dangerous” and could push disabled people into poverty. And economists questioned Reform’s planned savings on disability benefits coming from a “substantially tougher” assessment of people’s needs, saying there is “little detail” on what the new assessment would actually entail.
Elsewhere, Mr Jenrick announced plans to force long-term benefits claimants to clean up their local high street or face being stripped of their benefits.
Under a Reform UK government, a “welfare to work” policy would mean that people who are long-term claimants and fit to work would be forced to do 20 hours of work a week in the community. If claimants refuse to participate or fail to show up, they will face penalties.
At a press conference in Westminster, Mr Jenrick said: “Let me speak very plainly. If people who are capable of work refuse, then they’ll get nothing. That’s fair.”
Reform also said it would ban foreign nationals from claiming almost all types of benefits in the UK, including EU nationals. The move faced a backlash on Sunday night, when first revealed, with critics warning it would breach the UK’s Brexit deal and risk retaliation from the EU.
At Monday’s press conference, Mr Jenrick and Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice set up a confrontation with the European Union over the issue, as they admitted the policy meant the Brexit deal would have to be renegotiated.
Charles Gillies, Policy Co-Chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium and Senior Policy Officer at the MS Society, said: “Scrapping PIP and the UC heath element are cruel and dangerous proposals which would vastly increase poverty and worsen people’s health. Disabled people are already more likely to live in poverty, and face significant extra costs like mobility aids and visits from carers.
“These damaging proposals would deprive the vast majority of disabled people – including those with MS – of any form of health-related financial support from the social security system. This would also cause huge amounts of pressure for the NHS and other public services.”
Jen Clark, Amnesty International UK’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Director, said: “Cutting support for people with disabilities and people out of work isn’t welfare reform – it’s a rollback of rights the UK has committed to protecting.
“Pip isn’t generosity, it’s what lets people eat, pay for the equipment they need to stay alive, live with dignity and take part in society – and taking it away doesn’t save money, it shifts the cost onto people’s health, sometimes their lives. You don’t fix a welfare system by punishing the people who need it most.”
Abdi Mohamed, head of policy at disability equality charity Scope, said: “Reform’s proposals should be about creating opportunities, not pushing disabled people into poverty and calling it compassion. Life costs a huge amount more when you’re disabled, and PIP goes towards covering those costs, whether or not you’re in work. It’s not an unemployment benefit.We need to be far more ambitious about tackling inaccessible workplaces, improving employment support, and ensuring employers provide the adjustments disabled people need to work.”
Scope’s Disability Price Tag report shows disabled households need an extra £1,095 a month on average to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.
Harriet Edwards, Director of Influencing at the national disability charity Sense, said: “Disability benefits are a lifeline to many disabled people. They enable people to be part of their communities, see people they love and stay active. “All politicians should recognise how important disability benefits are to society. We want to see policies designed to tackle the barriers disabled people face, instead of taking away vital financial support from disabled people.”
Tom Waters, an Associate Director at IFS, said: “For disability benefits, Reform envisage a system that is much harder to qualify for, that provides more in-kind support such as equipment rather than cash, that means-tests supports away from better-off households, and whose burden is shouldered slightly more by employers.
“Most of the planned savings here would come from a new disability needs assessment which is intended to be substantially tougher. But there is relatively little detail on what the new assessment would actually entail or on how they would avoid the experience of previous attempts to toughen up the system, which saw savings falling significantly short of government’s expectations.”
Mr Jenrick insisted “those in need, pensioners, children, the vulnerable, our armed forces veterans, will always be protected under a Reform government”. He said Reform’s welfare savings, which also include already announced policies including the reinstating of the two-child benefit limit, total £49billion.
