In just the last six years, the number of disabled families who are homeless has increased by 75%. This shocking increase points to a growing epidemic in Great Britain. About 34 million Americans are disabled, and nearly half of those are older than 65. The stakes couldn’t be higher, as millions would lose everything they have as a result of deep cuts to vital lifeline benefits.
At the moment, only one in four disabled people are awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP). This vital direct investment is targeted to the communities most in need. Of those who do qualify, the assistance tends to fall short of meeting the demand created by soaring costs of living. Many disabled people depend on PIP and universal credit to supplement their income, particularly as they navigate the additional expenses associated with disabilities.
The challenges extend beyond just financial support. The Access to Work program, created to help disabled people find and maintain jobs, is running into major backlogs. New applicants now face a waiting list that is almost a year deep. We understand that this climate poses profound challenges for people trying to reach or remain in the labor market. There are fundamental worries around looming cuts to the support worker component of Access to Work. This would leave disabled job seekers with even fewer resources in their searches for work.
Co-artistic director of Touretteshero, Jess Thom, has courageously shared her story of going through the Access to Work programme. She announced in March that her own support was slashed by 61%. This sudden cut makes a huge difference in her home life. It might even cripple her chances of bringing value to society through her artistic work as a career artist. These cuts to support services are increasingly the norm. This means some people are only getting care packages that consist of six 15-minute visits per day, so their dignity and quality of life is stripped.
The impact of these cuts goes far beyond the personal hardships of those directly affected and reverberates throughout the community. Recent numbers show that three-fourths of food bank clients have at least one member of their household with a disability. This dangerous trend underlines the ways that economic precarity fuels inequities for disabled households. These proposed benefit cuts would devastate already vulnerable households, potentially cutting their income by up to 58%. This extreme cut would drop millions of families into greater poverty.
Although support is an urgent need, the system is plagued by obstacles. Considering the fraud level for PIP is still just ridiculously low at under 1%, 46% of requests are denied. Alarmingly, 70% of PIP refusals that reach appeal are overturned. That leads to the travesty that many worthy people first receive a denial for critical support. This pattern of behavior brings into question how accessible and equitable the system designed to aid the most vulnerable really is.