‘PIP plan will make the vulnerable scapegoats’
THE Conservatives were rightly hammered at the local election polls last week. I am hoping that the same thing will happen at the upcoming General Election because, if re-elected, the Conservatives have plans to punish our most vulnerable citizens in a vindictive move targeting those who have suffered most from their cuts in vital public services.
The Conservative Government is now eyeing up the Personal Independence Payment known as PIP.
Late last month, it announced that it is considering major changes to the disability benefits system.
Government plans could include stopping regular cash payments and instead offering claimants one-off grants for things such as home adaptations, which are already covered by existing Disability Facility Grants.
PIP is a benefit for those who work as well as those who do not. It helps with the extra costs of living with a health condition or a disability. For many, PIP is essential to help them stay in work because of the assistance it provides, such as with special diets, accessible transport and higher insurance costs.
It was designed by the Conservative Government in 2013 as a replacement for the disability living allowance.
Now 11 years on, they say that it is not working. So is this all about ramping up pre-election ‘benefit scrounger’ rhetoric while ignoring the underlying drivers of ill-health: record levels of poverty, cash starved NHS and social care services, and poor housing for which this Government is responsible?
The reason behind this move is the expected growth in spending on PIP. But the Government is looking at the wrong end of the stick.
One of the reasons for the rise in claimants is because of the increase in mental health conditions.
The Government should be looking at the dire state of the NHS under its watch and its failure, despite warm words, to give mental health equality of esteem with physical health within the NHS.
The disability equity charity Scope has described the plans as a ‘reckless assault on disabled people’ and called on the Government to fix the ‘real underlying issues’.
“It is hard to have any faith that this consultation is about anything other than cutting the benefits bill, no matter the impact. Life costs a lot more for disabled people, including people with mental health conditions. Threatening to take away the low amount of income PIP provides won’t solve the country’s problems,” said James Taylor, the executive director of strategy at Scope.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking about his plans to reform PIP, said “Something has gone wrong since the pandemic”, leading to more people not working because of long term ill health.
We all know what has happened since the pandemic and indeed before.
NHS waiting lists which were already high before covid have now spiralled out of control.
Depression and anxiety has rocketed. But according to Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists: “If Government is committed to addressing this crisis it must tackle the causes of mental illness and ensure people have timely access to the care and treatment they need.”
More than 1.8 million people are on the waiting list for mental health services. According to NHS Providers, NHS Trusts are very worried about so many people, particularly children and young people, not getting the help they need.
NHS Providers said: “The pressure on mental health services demands long term investment in and support for prevention and early intervention. We need too substantially more capital investment in mental health services to boost trusts’ ability to better meet rising demand and to modernise out-of-date buildings and facilities to give patients the right environments for treatment.”
But with the priority of this Conservative Government being tax handouts to the rich, there is no hope of any improvement under the present administration.
It is a disgrace to make our most vulnerable citizens scapegoats for the failures of this Government.