Dear readers, I know we are all celebrating this amazing piece of breaking news. I’ll be eating chocolate cake while wondering who will replace him!

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has resigned citing pressure to make cuts to disability benefits.

It comes after mounting controversy over £4bn of planned cuts to Personal Independence Payments, expected to affect 640,000 people.

Mr Duncan Smith said the cuts were “not defensible” within a Budget that “benefits higher earning taxpayers”.

Earlier, a government source indicated the changes were going to be “kicked into the long grass”.

The planned changes apply to the formula the government uses to calculate the daily living component of PIP, which will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and come into effect in January 2017.

Mr Duncan Smith, who was the Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition from 2001-2003, said they were a “compromise too far”.

“I am unable to watch passively whilst certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self-imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest,” he said in his resignation letter.

“Too often my team and I have been pressured in the immediate run up to a budget or fiscal event to deliver yet more reductions to the working-age benefit bill.

“There has been too much emphasis on money-saving exercises and not enough awareness from the Treasury, in particular, that the government’s vision of a new welfare-to-work system could not be repeatedly salami-sliced.

“It is therefore with enormous regret that I have decided to resign.”

Mr Osborne has insisted the “most vulnerable” will still be protected.

There is overwhelming public opposition to the disability benefit cuts put forward by George Osborne in the Budget, a series of polls has revealed.

Cuts to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) confirmed by the Chancellor yesterday will raise £4.4 billion by 2020, by stripping people who use specially adapted appliances of payments. 

The cuts would see 370,000 disabled people lose an average of £3,500 a year, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

A poll by YouGov following the Budget found that 70 per cent of the general public believe the policy is “the wrong priority”, with just 13 per cent saying it is a “good idea”

A separate poll conducted by Populus for the learning disability charity Mencap found only 7 per cent of people think the cuts will make society more equal, with 61 per cent believing it will become less equal.

Previous polling released by the charity found that 71 per cent believe the cuts will make Britain a worse place to be disabled. 

The latest PIP cut comes hot-on-the hells of at £30-a-week reduction in payments to disabled people in the so-called “work related activity group” of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), passed by MPs this month.

The backlash against the cuts comes despite previously solid public support for welfare reductions in general. 

Against this public opinion backdrop, the Conservatives pledged to make £12 billion welfare cuts at the general election – with the largest single reduction in Wednesday’s spending statement coming from the disabled. 

Some backbench Conservative MPs have said they are nervous about the cut, with Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan last night suggesting they were not final and merely a “suggestion” that was “under consultation”.

The Department for Work and Pensions has however already completed its consultation on the changes and a source close to Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC this morning that any suggestion of a U-turn do not “tally with what we and Downing Street are saying”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Government had “declared war on the disabled”.

The Government has drawn particular criticism because the savings from the cuts produce as much money as George Osborne allocated for tax cuts for wealthier people. 

A coalition of 25 disability charities wrote to the DWP on the day the consultation was released arguing that the cuts would have a “severe impact” on people’s security and make it harder for them to find work.

Disabilities minister Justin Tomlinson said at the announcement of the cuts that they would make PIP work better.

“The introduction of Personal Independence Payment to replace the outdated Disability Living Allowance for working age claimants has been a hugely positive reform,” he said.

“But it is clear that the assessment criteria for aids and appliances are not working as planned. Many people are eligible for a weekly award despite having minimal to no extra costs and judicial decisions have expanded the criteria for aids and appliances to include items we would expect people to have in their homes already.

“We consulted widely to find the best approach. And this new change will ensure that PIP is fairer and targets support at those who need it most.”

Suggestions by a cabinet minister that the government may back down over cuts to disability benefit have been played down amid a growing Conservative row.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan described the plan as a “suggestion” and said it was “under consultation”.

But sources close to Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said her comments don’t “tally with what we and Downing Street are saying”.

The BBC was told Mrs Morgan didn’t “seem to understand” the proposals.

A number of Tory MPs have written to the chancellor urging a rethink of the £1.3bn a year cuts to spending on aids and appliances, which the government has said will affect up to 640,000 existing claimants. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said people could lose an average of £3,500 a year.

‘Declared war’

The government wants to change the way the daily living component of Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) is calculated from January 2017, with a public consultation closing last week. Budget documents made clear it would save the government more than £4bn by 2020-21.

But ministers have faced intense criticism over the plans, with Labour and some Tory MPs threatening to derail them in the Commons.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Chancellor George Osborne had “declared war on the disabled” and he would be seeking to force a Commons vote as soon as possible.

“The announcement made by the chancellor is a reverse of the whole trend of the past three decades, to go back to saying disabled people can’t lead independent lives, can’t get the support they need.”

He added: “Any of us could become disabled at any time. We’re just a car accident away from a major disability. We should think about that.”

‘Concession territory’

Speaking on BBC Question Time on Thursday, Ms Morgan said that the government was “continuing the conversation” to make sure money was “going to the right people to help them with the right needs”.

“First of all we’ve got to finish the consultation and the conversations that we’re having with MPs, but also with disability groups and others, before we even bring any legislation forward.

“It is something that has been put forward, there has been a review, there has been a suggestion, we are not ready to bring the legislation forward,” she said.

Fellow panel members responded with incredulity to Ms Morgan’s comments, with UKIP’s Roger Helmer asking: “The Budget is merely a suggestion, is it?”

And sources close to Mr Duncan Smith also played down the significance of her comments. “Listening to the Education Secretary you might have assumed we are in concession territory,” the source said, adding “that doesn’t tally with what we and Downing Street are saying”.

They added: “I don’t know how Nicky is explaining what she said, but she doesn’t quite seem to have understood what Iain has been saying.”

What are the proposed changes?

Recipients of PIPs are assessed using a points system to determine what level of help they receive. Claimants can get between £21.80 and £139.75 per week.

The money is meant to help people cope with the extra cost of living with a disability or long-term health problem and are used to fund everything from mobility cars to adapted baths and showers.

The weight given to the use of aids and appliances in two of the 10 daily living activities – dressing and managing toilet needs – will be reduced from January.

It follows an independent review, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, which said a “significant number of people” were likely to be getting the benefit despite having “minimal-to-no” ongoing daily living extra costs.

But disability campaigners say the changes will make it harder for some disabled people to qualify for the benefit and prevent people hit by other benefit cuts from living independently.

Downing Street said it would be bringing forward “legislative proposals” and, in the meantime, would continue discussions with MPs and campaigners.

Asked whether the education secretary had spoken out of turn, the PM’s spokesman said she was making the point there would be dialogue but insisted the government’s position has not changed.

There have been growing calls within the Conservative Party for a U-turn, with some MPs unhappy that the cuts are coinciding with plans to help middle and higher-earners by raising the threshold at which people pay 40% income tax to £45,000.

Sarah Wollaston, the chair of the Commons health select committee, said the only changes she wanted to see to disability benefits was a “refocus on those in greatest need”. She tweeted: “Govt will never meet approval for change that wld reduce entitlement to #PIP at the same time as raising higher rate tax threshold”.

Backbench Conservative MP David Burrowes said the proposals were a “backward step” and urged ministers to “press ‘pause’ on it” while Andrew Percy suggested they were more about helping the chancellor meet his self-imposed cap on overall welfare spending than reforming the benefits system.

The changes will need to be approved by both the House of Commons, where the government has a majority of 12, and House of Lords, where it has no working majority. The government was forced to abandon planned cuts to tax credits last year after they were voted down in the House of Lords.

An independent review of PIP in 2014 recommended major changes to the way it was delivered to improve how claimants are assessed and treated.

Justin Tomlinson, minister for disabled people, has defended the changes, saying there would still be an increase in the number of people claiming PIPs and that the government would be spending more on disability benefits in 2020 than it does now.

He told the BBC that although hundreds of thousands of people would be hit by the cut, many of those would not lose out completely and would still be eligible for other forms of support.

“A significant chunk of that 640,000 will continue to receive the benefit,” he said.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Statistics released by the DWP last week show a further small rise in the proportion of claimants being awarded employment and support allowance (ESA) and a small rise in the proportion being placed in the support group.

In the period from April 2015 to June 2015, the latest statistics show that:

70 per cent of claimants were entitled to Employment and Support Allowance. Of these:

• 10 per cent of claimants were placed in the Work Related Activity Group;
• 61 per cent of claimants were placed in the Support Group;
• 30 per cent of claimants were assessed as Fit for Work.

This means that the number of successful claims has risen by 1%, the proportion going into the work-related activity group is unchanged and the proportion going into the support group has risen by 2%.

Success rates for appeals have dropped very slightly, with 52% of appeals being won by claimants – this is a fall of 2% on the previous quarter.

You can download the full set of statistics from this link.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The latest personal independence payment statistics reveal that fewer than half of all new claimants get an award, whilst almost three quarters of disability living allowance (DLA) to PIP claimants get an award. There is also a large difference in the success rate for mandatory reconsiderations.

Awards and rates
Statistics released by the DWP this week covered the period up to January 2016. They reveal that, excluding terminally ill claimants:

47% of new PIP claimants get an award.
74% of DLA to PIP claimants get an award.

For claimants who are not terminally ill:

37% got daily living only
8% received mobility only
55% received both

20% of claimants received the enhanced rate for both components
54% received the enhanced rate for one component

For DLA to PIP transfers only:

67% received an award at the enhanced rate
33% received the enhanced rate for both components.

Mandatory reconsideration
234,200 mandatory reconsiderations for normal rules claims had been cleared by the end of January 2016: 180,000 new claims and 54,200 DLA to PIP claims.

15% of the reassessed new claims led to a change in award.
28% of reassessed DLA to PIP claims led to a change in award.

Conditions
35% of all awards were for psychiatric disorders, including anxiety and depression.
20% were for musculoskeletal disease, including osteoarthritis.

Speed
In January 2016, the average PIP claim took 13 weeks from registration to a decision being made.

You can download the full set of statistics from this page

Shocking comments by Michael Fabricant, Tory MP, in a statement a couple of hours ago.

Mr Fabricant issued his statement in an email sent to the media. This is what he said:

“George Osborne announced in the budget a further billion pounds to be spent on disability benefits – more than ever before. But with the population growing ever more elderly, it is important that benefits are targeted fairly.

“Social media has been rife with comments about changes to disability benefits. One person tweeted on budget day that a “quadriplegic has just written an excellent piece ( via voice automated keyboard)” that their benefits had been cut by the “wicked Tories” because of changes to the allowances.

“This cannot be true, so it really is time for a reality check.

“Firstly, no-one currently on disability benefits will have the amount of money they receive changed.

“And secondly, if after 2017 someone were unfortunately to begin to suffer from a severe disability, they will receive the same benefits and also not be affected by these changes.

“It is really as straightforward as that.

“But I know people, as I am sure you do, who are living with cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases who want to work to keep busy, are working, and are happy to do so. Despite their problems, they lead full and productive lives.

“There are others who have far less threatening disabilities who work for reduced hours in jobs that accommodate their condition. And good for them for making the best of a difficult situation.

“And then there are others who could work, but because they are receiving benefits, they choose not to. Perhaps you know some of them too. They may not see it this way, but they are taking the British taxpayer for a ride to the tune of over £500 million, and rising, each year. That just can’t be allowed to go on when the money could be better spent on education and the NHS.

“So from 2017, if unfortunately someone becomes disabled, an independent medical team will assess that person. If they believe someone is capable of work, they will receive the same amount of money as Job Seekers Allowance just like everyone else – which is less than full disability benefit – to encourage them to seek work.

“With unemployment in the Lichfield area currently less than 1%, I think that’s only fair to both those in work who pay their income tax to pay for these benefits and, actually, to those who could lead more productive lives.

“Of course, if – once these new provisions come in – anyone feels they have been incorrectly medically assessed, they should write to their own MP. If that MM is me, I will take up their case – as I would always do.”

The Mirror reports on how the PIP cuts planned in the Budget will affect Carers Allowance and ESA as well:

George Osborne’s own experts have exposed the vast scale of his cruel new benefit cut funding a tax break for the rich.

It confirms the Budget will slash an eye-watering £4,100 a year from 290,000 disabled people as they are disqualified from Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

The £80-a-week hit is more than what PIP pays because victims will see their other benefits fall like dominoes.

PIP claimants are automatically ‘passported’ to systems like the Carer’s Allowance – but this will end if they are disqualified, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned.

…

The OBR, which is the expert body the Chancellor set up, said: “The Government has chosen to reduce the points awarded for some ‘aids and appliances’ descriptors in PIP, which we expect to save £1.3billion [per year] by 2020-21.

“This includes knock-on reductions in spending on passported benefits, including carer’s allowance and employment and support allowance.”

…

The OBR’s figures appear to support warnings by the MS Society that the worst-hit PIP claimants could lose £150 a week once passported benefits are included.

Chief Executive Michelle Mitchell said: “Changes to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will increase anxiety and fear in thousands of people with MS. This is a vital benefit and access to it needs improving – not restricting further.

“These changes will fail to support those that are most in need. We’re deeply concerned and urge the Government not to proceed.”

A single mother of three had her benefits suspended after she missed a job centre appointment as her son was undergoing brain surgery, a Scottish food bank has claimed.

Basic Foods Bank in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, posted the woman’s story on Facebook, showing an apparent referral with a request for the centre’s help.

The post, which cannot be independently verified, explained that it was contacted by an agency aiming to return the unnamed mother’s access to benefits.

The food bank claimed the woman’s youngest son was having surgery on a brain tumour and so she could not attend an appointment at the job centre.

In a follow-up post, the food bank said the woman’s benefits had since been restored.

The food bank’s manager, David Shaw wrote on Facebook: “Further to our post about the single Mum with three kids who had been sanctioned for failure to attend the job centre, whilst she was in hospital with her son who was having surgery to remove a brain tumour. 

“Her benefit sanction has been lifted and she has access to her benefit.”

Mr Shaw added:”I have made the agency aware of the offers of support that have poured in through this Facebook page, which has been unbelievable. 

“If the Mum would like to take-up any offer of support the agency will let us know and we in turn will let you know.

“We will protect her confidentiality like we do for everybody who engages with ourselves.”

Same Difference is watching the 2016 Budget live and will bring you the announcements that affect disabled people and carers the most, as these break.

• The disability budget will still rise by more than a billion pounds and we will be spending more in real terms supporting disabled people than at any point during the last Labour Government.
• Half a million people with disabilities are losing over a billion pounds in Personal Independence Payments.
• Corbyn: “I simply ask the Chancellor this: If he can finance the giveaways that he’s put in his Budget to different sectors, why can’t he fund the need for dignity for the disabled people of this country?”

Very good question, Mr Corbyn, Sir. Regards, Same Difference.

Kate Rae, from Aveley, Thurrock, in Essex, was keen to get back to work after being diagnosed with a serious disability. And for four years, government support, in the form of the disability living allowance, allowed her to do so.

But in January, six days into a new job as an events sales executive for a four-star London hotel, Rae got a letter saying that her reassessment for the new personal independence payment (PIP) had found her capable of walking between 20 to 50 metres. She no longer qualified for a Motability car, crucial for her journey into London for work. Without it, she was forced to give up her job.

This weekend, Rae, 40, was dealt another blow: she expects to be one of the 200,000 disabled people who will lose benefit altogether, according to a Labour analysis, under further changes to disability benefit to be included in Wednesday’s budget.

“It is the last straw for me,” said Rae, who has chronic pain and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disorder causing poor balance that makes walking difficult. “Under the new scheme, I will no longer qualify. I don’t know what I’m going to do. How am I supposed to feed myself, clothe myself? Without these things, I can’t get ready to work.”

Under the old scheme, Rae would have been awarded eight points, for help with daily living, including two for an aid to help with dressing and undressing and two for an aid, such as a rail support, for going to the toilet, giving her £56 a week in daily care allowance. If she was reassessed under the new criteria, she would only score six points, which means no award.

This week, after much soul-searching, she is packing up her house to move to Shropshire so that “my mum can look after me”.

“I’ve lived independently all my life since I was 18,” said Rae. “I’ve been working since I was 14. I had seven years out of work when I first was disabled, but, through work, I was starting to feel like a proper person. They’ve taken away my ability to do that. Now I’m back to feeling like a poor little disabled girl again.

“We’re being treated like a financial inconvenience. The government forget that there are actual lives at the end of these changes.”

Disabled charities have described the plans, which is expected to hit an additional 400,000 people who will see their weekly PIP payments fall from an enhanced £82 to the standard £55, as devastating. They say cuts to benefits helping people to lead independent lives is a “false economy”.

The cuts are the latest in a string of reforms, including the change from disability living allowance to PIP, to proposed changes to employment support allowance and the cuts to social care that have affected disabled people.

Bethen Thorpe, an actor and former pub landlady from Highgate, north London, also expects to be among the 200,000 people who face having their benefit stopped under the measures in Wednesday’s budget.

Thorpe, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in September 2014, after losing the use of her left side and suffering vision problems, accused the government of discrimination.

“With the cuts to employment support allowance and the proposed cuts to PIP, I do feel discriminated against,” said Thorpe, 39. “These cuts are against some of society’s most vulnerable people, with the proviso that they won’t fight it.”

Following her diagnosis two years ago, Thorpe applied for PIP and was refused, but successfully appealed against the decision. Her appeal awarded her nine points, for standard daily living, including two points for an aid for using the toilet and two for an aid dressing and undressing. Under the proposed rules for each of these tasks, she would only receive one point, bringing her total to seven points and no award.

“If I don’t qualify, I will have no money coming in,” said Thorpe. “It is counterproductive to what they are saying disabled people should be doing. PIP can help cushion you getting into work or help you travel there. Without it, people with disabilities are less likely to get back to their normal lives.”

Disabled people and their relatives contacted the Guardian in response to an appeal for stories of experiences with the changes. One woman, from Nottingham, said she feared her mother, who has osteoarthritis as the result of a car accident, would lose her benefits.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: “I’m incredibly angry. This will have a knock-on effect. My mum worked for 40 years, most recently as a housing officer. She helps me out with my son and she helps out her former husband, who has mental health problems. She is going to be trapped in her bungalow. They are targeting the wrong people.”

Liz Sayce, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, said: “It’s a false economy to make cuts in the very areas that enable people to get their lives on track. We profoundly believe that disabled people have got so much to contribute to British society. But with the cuts to benefits, social care cuts and now the tighter regulation to PIP, we are really concerned it will jeopardise independent living for disabled people, leaving them socially isolated.”

A spokeswoman from the Department of Work and Pensions said: “The truth is that these changes are about ensuring that PIP is achieving its original purpose of supporting people with the extra costs associated with their disability. We have consulted widely with disability organisations, to ensure we get this right, and have been careful to protect people with the most complex needs. We continue to spend £50bn a year on disability benefits.”

She said the majority of people leaving the motobility scheme would be eligible for a £2,000 one-off payment and that claimants could also apply for an access to work grant for support to get to work.

Analysis by DWP found that 33% of claimants who receive the daily living component of PIP qualify solely due to their use of aids and appliances.

The Commons could be forced into an emergency debate on disability benefit cuts after almost 100,000 people signed a petition condemning moves which will result in claimants losing £1,500 a year.

Conservative MPs are facing a backlash in their constituencies over plans to reduce payments under the employment and support allowance (ESA) to disabled people judged fit for “work-related activity”. The measure, which will save £1.4bn over four years and which has been condemned by charities, will mean weekly payments for new claimants being cut from £102.15 to £73.10 in April 2017. 

A petition calling for a reversal of the cuts has been signed by 96,000. When it attracts 100,000 signatures, the issue has to be considered for a Commons debate.

The petition claims the reductions will “cripple those in receipt of these benefits, leaving many in poverty”. It claims: “Lives are at risk.”

Rossanna Trudgian, head of campaigns at Mencap, said: “The Government is clearly at odds with the public when it comes to cutting ESA. They have been told time and time again by experts and disabled people that the cut will push them further away from the job market.”

The Conservative MP Kit Malthouse has been forced to resign as patron of the Multiple Sclerosis charity’s board in his Hampshire constituency of Andover because of his support in a Commons vote this month. Its chairwoman said he was no longer suitable to hold the post. The Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith, Tory candidate for London Mayor, has been criticised by a disability charity of which he is a patron for voting for the cuts.

Nicky Clark tells her daughter Emily’s story in yesterday’s Independent.

At the end of June of this year our learning disabled autistic daughter who has a profound developmental delay and behaviours that challenge, has to leave her residential school, where she is currently living, because they can’t manage her needs.

In effect she will be homeless.

The Clinical Commissioning Group have said they will fund her care which will require carers initially so at least she will have someone with her 24 hours a day, but everything else will require benefits.

After initially being refused Employment and Support Allowance, she has been allocated £57 per week. £228 per month from which we’ll have to find her food, rent, electricity, gas, water, clothes and all other utilities which all of us need to live.

This will be subject to reassessment and stands as her only income. Currently it won’t even cover rent. Unless Emily qualifies for more benefits in order to live independently she won’t be able to.

I’ve applied for Personal Independence Payment and a Department of Work and Pensions assessor had to visit with me to prove that I’m her mum. As I was already registered on the system to this address, having claimed her Disability Living Allowance and my carers allowance, it was strange having to prove this but it was just another hurdle in trying to secure her life line benefits.

The extremes of Emily’s behaviours that challenge mean her returning home is too dangerous. She can’t help her condition, she isn’t at fault or to blame and the reality of her not being able to come home is causing me to cry as I write this. It’s the hardest fact we’ve ever had to face.

The system needs a complete over haul. Young women like Emily are human beings who deserve our support and an appreciation of their rights to live independently and safely.

I knew when she was first diagnosed at three years old that Emily would have to face challenges all her life. I didn’t know that the law makers, politicians and those who are in post to protect her, would bring into force a system which drives her into poverty and us into hopelessness.

We’re fighting for her today, as we will everyday. Thoughts of a time when I am no longer here to protect her haunt my days and keep me awake at night.

A very moving post, spotted on Facebook:

Bloody annoyed. First I get the ESA form. Took me awhile to fill in because my hands shake and spasm so much that it is difficult controlling the pen. Also, I found there is more than enough of repetition that I got really annoyed.

Next, I got a letter on Saturday, a great long thing from the DWP, telling me how DLA is coming to an end, and I will be invited to apply for PIP. It took me the whole of six pages to realise that this wasn’t happening to me right now, but may be happening soon.

Same Difference came across this last night on Welfare Weekly.

We think it needs to go viral.

Same Difference has just discovered some information that you really couldn’t make up, readers.

Patrons of the Motability Scheme include David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith.

Yet, readers, those very patrons of the scheme are sitting back and letting things like this and this and this happen.

Readers, DPAC have recently been running a very successful campaign trying to force disability charities to break links with MPs who voted for the cuts to the ESA WRAG.

Same Difference would love to see Cameron and IDS forced to step down from their roles at Motability. Even though Cameron abstained in the last vote on the policy, he leads the Government, and IDS the department, that thought it up.

Same Difference sends many thanks to reader and campaigner Nessie King who shared this on Facebook:

Mirror columnist Kevin Maguire says this week’s Budget will expose once and for all the Chancellor’s incompetence and ideological hatred of our most vulnerable

Brilliant image in the Mirror

With many thanks to Disability Rights UK:

Government advisor, Matthew Oakley, recently published a report titled Closing the gap: creating a framework for tackling the disability employment gap in the UK,

This report suggests a major reform of ESA and the WCA. His suggestions include scrapping the Support Group. (red bolding below mine.)

Four principles that should form the basis for reform of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the WCA are outlined below. It is important to highlight that this would not be a cost-cutting exercise. The reforms proposed would combine existing money and aim to distribute it better on the basis of need.

• Splitting benefit eligibility from setting conditionality
  As suggested in other reports, the assessment of eligibility for benefit should be split from the assessment of an individual’s ability to move towards and enter work. This would ensure that, no matter what the level of benefit an individual receives, they will still have an incentive to engage with the support available and move towards work if they are able to.
• Creating a common income-replacement element in Universal Credit
  The most obvious way of delivering this would be to remove the WCA and create one aligned income replacement benefit within Universal Credit. Anyone out of work and claiming benefits would receive the same basic entitlement to Universal Credit.
• Accounting for the extra costs of disability
  In effect, this would remove the Support Group element of ESA and align benefit rates for disabled and non-disabled claimants in Universal Credit. However, it is clear that those with a disability often face extra costs of living.To meet these extra costs, existing spending on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) / Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the support Group element of ESA should be brought together to finance a new extra costs benefit. Eligibility for this benefit should be determined on the basis of need, with an assessment replacing the WCA and PIP assessment and designed with extensive consultation.Where individuals are unable to work, there should also be a principle that the level of benefit provided is sufficient to allow them to live comfortably and engage fully in society. In the longer-term, the Government should explore whether these benefits could be set to ensure that disabled claimants are lifted out of poverty with the income they receive.
• Out on limb – contributory ESA (ESA(c))
  ESA(c) is currently expected to run alongside Universal Credit. However, these reforms will mean that the basis for determining eligibility (the WCA) to ESA(c) will be removed. This means that reform will be needed. Many reports have outlined arguments for strengthening the role of contributory benefits. Many of these have focussed on the role that a form of privately run social insurance could play in both increasing benefit generosity and improving the support that individuals get to manage their conditions and move back to work. These wider reforms of ESA would provide a much needed opportunity to revisit these arguments and build a benefit system that is both more supportive and more sustainable in the long term.

Readers, I would like to believe that this could be a good thing. However, I tried that with PIP which was sold to disabled people as ‘focusing on what we can do not what we can’t.”

So far, the stories I have heard about PIP have been bitterly disappointing and have left me with a deep fear of being transferred from my indefinite DLA Award, so now I have strong doubts about these new ideas.

Spotted on Twitter:

This is what Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson said in the House of Lords after the £30 weekly ESA WRAG cuts were forced through:

Arguments made by the Government to justify sharp disability benefit cuts were so poor they left a peer lost for words, she has said.

Baroness Campbell told the House of Lords that “words failed me” when she had heard the Government’s justification for cutting Employment and Support Allowance by £30.

The peer, a former Commissioner of the Disability Rights Commission who herself uses a ventilator, is an expert in disability reform and the benefits system.

“Our arguments, in my view, were pretty indisputable, especially in regard to the absence of evidence that cutting severely disabled people’s ESA would incentivise them to work,” she said.

“I think we all know deep down inside that it is attitudinal and environmental discrimination that really prevents this group from accessing employment.”

The crossbench peer criticised arguments by the Government in support of the cut, which she said had allowed the “niceties of parliamentary protocol [to] trump the lives of disabled people”.

The Government argues that the sharp cut in weekly payments will incentivise disabled people to find work.

It also says because the cut involves money the House of Lords should not be able to block i

Lord Low, another crossbencher who had proposed the rejected amendment, accused the Government of using “a pseudo-constitutional technicality” to force the measures through and said it was “a black day for disabled people”.

Baroness Campbell continued: “I hope and I pray that we don’t look back on this day as the moment we pushed some of the most severely disabled people in Britain over the edge.”

The peers were discussing the issue in the House of Lords after the Government invoked “financial privilege” on the cuts – meaning the peers could not overrule MPs.

This is the video of the speech Lord Low gave in the House Of Lords on Monday 7th March, about the £30 weekly cut to the ESA WRAG.

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The Cabinet is to review Atos’ performance in every one of its government contracts worth more than £10 million, the Guardian has reported. This will include the personal independence payment (PIP) assessment contracts won by Atos.

The review follows severe criticism of Atos by the Public Accounts Committee in relation to a contract to develop an IT system to extract and sell data from GP practices. The committee said that Atos: “appears to have acted solely with its own short-term best interests in mind”. The expected cost of the system rose from £14m to £40m before it had got past the planning and procurement phase.

In relation to PIP, the committee may well want to look into the enormous disparity between the number of assessment centres Atos claimed it would provide and the much smaller number that are actually available.

Many people will also want to know whether the sometimes considerable travel costs being reimbursed to claimants who have been forced to undertake very long journeys are coming out of the profits of Atos or being met by the taxpayer.

You can read the full story in the Guardian.

A Facebook status from campaigner Sue Jones:

“The fact is that Ministers are looking for large savings at the expense of the poorest and most vulnerable. That was not made clear in the general election campaign; then, the Prime Minister said that disabled people would be protected. – [Official Report, Commons, 2/3/16; cols. 1052-58.]”
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I started an article about the ESA WRAG cuts which the Tories have hammered through on the back of “financial privilege,” and after Priti Patel informing the Lords that they have “overstepped their mark” in opposing the cuts twice. The Peers have been forced to back down, with Lord Low describing yesterday as a “black day for disabled people”. It is. I’m too depressed to finish it tonight.

But contrary to what is being reported, it won’t be only new claimants affected by this. Anyone with a break in their claim (and that could be a reassessment with a decision that means you have to ask for mandatory review), and those migrated onto Universal Credit will also be affected.

Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Grey-Thompson said she was bitterly disappointed that this “dreadful and punitive” part of the Bill was going ahead.

Parliamentary procedure had prevented her putting down another amendment opposing the move, which will have a harsh, negative impact on thousands of people’s lives.

Facing a UN inquiry into grave and systematic human rights abuses of disabled people, Cameron remains completely unabashed in his government’s blatant attack on a protected social group, and the Conservatives continue to target disabled people for a disproportionately for austrity cuts. Whilst the public remain bystanders.

The “justification” the Tories offer for the cut of almost £120 a month to the lifeline support of people judged to be unfit for work by their own doctors AND the state, is that it will “help people into work”. I’ve never heard of taking money from people who already have very little described as “help” before. The Tories are such lying shameful bastards. Only this bunch of nasty, vindictive and cruel shits would contemplate cutting money from sick and disabled people, whilst gifting the millionaires with £107, 000 each per year in the form of a tax “break”.

Reducing disabled people’s incomes won’t “incentivise” anyone to find a job. It will just make life harder. Baroness Meacher warned that for the most vulnerable the cut was “terrifying” and bound to lead to increased debt.

Condemning the “truly terrible” actions of the Treasury, she urged ministers to monitor the number of suicides in the year after the change comes in, adding: “I am certain there will be people who cannot face the debt and the loss of their home, who will take their lives.” Not only have the government failed to carry out an impact assessment regarding the cuts, Lord Freud said that the impact and suicides won’t be monitored , apart from “privately” because details can’t be shared and because that isn’t a “useful approach”.

He went on to say “We have recently produced a large analysis on this, which I will send to the noble Baroness. That analysis makes it absolutely clear that you cannot make these causal links between the likelihood of dying—however you die—and the fact that someone is claiming benefit.” Actually, a refusal to investigate a correlation is not the same as that correlation not having a causal link, you stupid man. You cannot disprove that there is a causal link, and therefore commenting that there isn’t one established, whilst withholding crucial evidence in parliament and from the public domain is the action and behaviour of a f*cking tyrant.

Longtime readers know that we at Same Difference have never been fans of Frankie Boyle. However, we give credit where credit is due, and we couldn’t have put this better ourselves.

Reader Leon Carter recently shared his letter to his MP about WRAG cuts on Facebook:

People with mental health problems are still being wrongly assessed by a “severely flawed” system intended to find whether they are entitled to state help, according to a doctor who was charged with improving so-called “fit-for-work” tests.

The doctor, who did not want to be named, was employed by Maximus, the US company that took over the government’s controversial scheme to determine whether claimants are entitled to employment and support allowance in March 2015. He said that despite improvements to the system, some were still “falling through the net”.

The doctor, who now works in the NHS having left the company last year after more than a year as an assessor, alleged there were a series of problems at the heart of the scheme. These include unreasonable targets leading to poor quality assessments; not enough specialists in mental health; and tests that are too subjective and often skewed against the claimant.

As a result, the tests, which were introduced by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), were not fit for purpose, the doctor said.

“There may be cases where a person was seriously unwell, but within the criteria in the assessment, I would have to classify them as well,” the doctor, who has psychiatric training said.

Maximus is under severe pressure after a damning report by the National Audit Office in January found it performing worse than its much-criticised predecessor, Atos, in key areas. Auditors found that one in 10 of its reports on disability claimants were below standard, that the average cost of assessments has risen and the company is struggling to retain staff.

The doctor, who trained and worked in psychiatry for four years before becoming a disability assessor, first worked for Atos before going on to work for Maximus.

One issue, they said, were targets that meant the average face-to-face time with a claimant was just 30 minutes. “Working in clinical psychiatry, an assessment of a new patient would take 45-50 minutes, with 10 minutes for dictating notes,” they said.

“The target set by Maximus was six tests a day at 65 minutes each. Around 30 minutes for assessment, 30 for writing up. The argument was you might get an easy case that would take 35/40 minutes and a difficult one that would take longer. But there were times when you had five difficult cases in a row. You get pushed into doing difficult cases fast. I would stay late most evenings and had to skimp on quality at times.”

The DWP said that the scheme had been improved following consultation with mental health experts and charities.

The doctor acknowledged improvements to the scheme, saying that, following a spate of stories about claimants killing themselves, there was a shift in emphasis to allow protection of claimants who were believed to be at risk of harm if they were found fit for work.

However, echoing criticism of the work capability assessments that has been made by mental health groups, medical professionals, user groups and a parliamentary committee, the doctor said he believed those with mental health problems were still being failed by the scheme.

“You need people with psychiatric training. I worked in mental health for three years and I still struggled. If someone tells you they are severely depressed but there is no input from their GP and no psychiatrist, and no input from the mental health system, then the assessor is more likely to put down ‘fit for work’, because the assessor is basing their assessment more on the level of input they have rather than their clinical presentations,” the doctor said. He pointed out the majority of people who killed themselves who had mental health issues had not received a medical assessment.

“Some of the signs are subtle, if they have had depression, if they have had low mood or a lack of energy, looking at their body language. Their demeanour. You can assess how bad their mental state is but that’s very difficult if you have had no training,” he said.

Maximus said all staff had training in how to recognise how a person’s mental health impacted upon their ability to work. He said: “Our doctors, therapists and nurses are responsible for carrying out functional assessments, which are not clinical psychiatric assessments. While it is not our role to diagnose someone’s mental health, we know how important it is to understand it in the context of an individual’s functional capability.”

He said the company had more than doubled the number of mental health experts to help assessors.

“We continue to engage with mental health charities and organisations to support our training and understanding of people with mental health conditions who come to us for an assessment.”

A DWP spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring people get the right support they need – a high quality and fair assessment is key to this. The work capability assessment has been strengthened following five independent reviews, and this includes the way mental health is assessed.”

Law firm Leigh Day are calling for a full and public investigation into the death of a 59-year-old ex-soldier who died in 2013 after he was ‘sanctioned’ by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).  

David Clapson was a Lance Corporal in the Royal Signals serving in Belfast at the height of the troubles before leaving the army to work for BT. After working for the telecommunications firm for 16 years he became a carer for his elderly mother.  

According to his sister Gill Thompson, David was a proud and private man who found asking for help very difficult. David also suffered Type 1 Diabetes and relied on regular insulin shots to survive.   

He died in July 2013 from fatal diabetic ketoacidosis which occurs when a severe lack of insulin means the body cannot use glucose for energy, and the body starts to break down other body tissue as an alternative energy source.  

The Department for Work and Pensions had sanctioned him for a month, leaving him without electricity and food having stopped his £71.70 Job Seekers Allowance after he failed to attend two appointments.

In a letter to David’s MP, the DWP stated they were “aware Mr Clapson was insulin dependent”.  

With no money for his electricity meter, his family claim he was unable to chill his insulin in the height of Summer. He also was found to have no food in his stomach when he died.  

David’s sister, Gill Thompson has now started a crowd funding campaign in an attempt to secure an Inquest into her brother’s death to investigate whether the benefit sanctions contributed to David suffering fatal ketoacidosis.     

She said: “I cannot bring my brother back but I believe that if there was a full and transparent investigation into his death then lessons are not just learnt, but are acted upon to prevent anymore needless suffering of the vulnerable in our society.  

“My brother was very vulnerable yet he had his JSA allowance stopped for a month, penalised by the job centre for missing two meetings. He tried his best but was vulnerable, he had worked for over 30 years and CV’s were found just feet from his body.  

“He was not a scrounger or skiver, he was simply unwell and vulnerable and needed the caring support rather than being sanctioned without a life line.”  

In 2014 Ms Thompson started a petition with Change.org which gained over 200,000 signatures which helped to secure a Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry in March 2015, which came up with 26 recommendations.  

However, the Government rejected Gill’s calls for an Independent Review into David’s death and the deaths of others in similar circumstances and rejected the recommendation of the Select Committee that the number of peer reviews into deaths of persons subject to a sanction be made public.   

The Government also refused to accept the recommendation of an independent body to conduct more reviews into the deaths of those in receipt of ‘working-age’ benefits  Government response here.  

Merry Varney from the law firm Leigh Day who is representing Ms Thompson in her fight for an inquest into her brother’s death, said:  

“David had a made a significant contribution to the wider public good, working in the Forces at a difficult time and later providing personal care for his elderly mother. At the time he needed support, he was made destitute for failing to attend a meeting.   

“Managing Type 1 Diabetes requires good nutrition and regular insulin injections. Rendering a person unable to afford food and/or unable to chill their insulin is likely to have fatal consequences. David’s death must be investigated to make sure safeguards are in place to protect others and to establish whether the DWP knowingly cut off David’s lifeline.”

The results have been released, readers, and there is big news in them.

David Cameron abstained in the vote on cuts to the ESA WRAG.

The Prime Minister of a country completely voting against his own Government’s policy would be unheard of, but he did the next best thing.

What does this mean? Is David Cameron possibly, just possibly, starting to listen to disabled people? I’m never going to be his biggest fan, readers, but sometimes he gives me just a little bit of hope. This is one of those times.

The other big news is that after last week’s speech against the cut, this time around Heidi Allen was brave enough to vote against the Government. Another two Tory MPs, Stephen McPartland and Jason McCartney, also rebelled.

All 309 votes for the cut came from Tories. Sixteen Tories including Cameron abstained. Twenty-six Labour MPs abstained. No Labour MP voted for the cut. Green MP Caroline Lucas voted against. UKIP’s Douglas Carswell did not vote.

Disappointingly, Robert Halfon and Paul Maynard both voted for the cut again.

The Mirror have included a tool in their article linked above which you can use to see how your MP voted.

A press release:

Richard Kramer, Deputy Chief Executive at Sense, said:

“We are extremely disappointed to see the government once again reject the Lords’ sensible amendments. We believe ESA cuts will be incredibly damaging to disabled people, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet.

We are calling on the government to do a full U-turn on the proposed ESA changes. We hope the government will listen again to the concerns expressed by disabled people who have repeatedly said that the impacts of the cuts to ESA will simply make it harder to pay for the support that might allow them to find work.”

With many thanks to The People Vs The Government, DWP And ATOS Facebook page:

“To refresh people’s memory, the Government propose to cut financial support from £102.15 to £73.10—nearly £30 a week or £1,500 a year—for new ESA WRAG claimants from 2017. However, that will also apply to existing WRAG claimants. In April, nearly half a million people who are currently on ESA WRAG will start to migrate to universal credit, and the Government intend to remove the limited capability for work component of the work element of universal credit. That means that everyone currently on ESA WRAG will ultimately be transferred to UC and have their support reduced by that £29.05 a week or £1,500 a year.”
Debbie Abrahams MP

With many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Lord Freud has announced that employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants in the work-related activity group (WRAG) will be able to do higher limit permitted work for an unlimited period, instead of stopping after 52 weeks.

At present, ESA claimants in the support group can work for less than 16 hours a week and earn not more than £107.50 for an unlimited time.

But WRAG claimants can only do this for 52 weeks and then they have to switch to lower limit permitted work, earning not more than £20 a week. After 52 weeks of lower limit permitted work, or no work, they can again do higher limit permitted work for 52 weeks.

However, Lord Freud announced in a debate on welfare reform this week that:

“I want to act now to improve the work incentives for those continuing to get ESA—in other words, before they move on to UC—by removing the 52-week limit that applies to permitted work for those in the ESA WRAG. ESA WRAG claimants can currently work up to 16 hours and earn up to £107.50 per week under the permitted work rules, and keep their benefit. But the existing position is that, after undertaking permitted work for 52 weeks, ESA claimants in the WRAG have to stop work altogether, reduce their earnings to £20 per week, or lose their benefit. We will amend the regulations to remove the 52-week limit and allow claimants to continue to undertake 16 hours of part-time paid work and earn up to £107.50 per week, gaining skills and experience and building their confidence while still receiving benefit over a longer period.”

No date has been given ,as yet, for when the regulations will be amended. So, for the present, the 52 week rule still applies.

Readers, the House of Commons have just voted against Lord Low’s amendment on the proposed cuts to the ESA WRAG. The Amendment called for an impact assessment into the proposed cuts to the ESA WRAG, before these become law.

Same Difference is deeply saddened to be writing this result. However we admit that we are not surprised.

We will bring readers the full list of MPs who once again voted in favour of this deeply cruel cut, as soon as the information becomes available.

John Healy wrote to Disabled People Against Cuts on Facebook a couple of days ago:

PIP regs for Dentures.

aid or appliance-
(a) means any device which improves, provides or replaces claimant’s impaired physical or mental function, and
(b) includes a prosthesis

Same Difference understands from respected disability campaigner Paula Peters that today’s House of Commons debate on ESA WRAG cuts will begin at 6PM.

It is to be hoped that the Commons will accept the new amendment, passed by the Lords on Monday, calling for an impact assessment into the proposed cut before it becomes law.

However, we at Same Difference, along with many other disability campaigners, have been let down by the House of Commons too many times before on disability benefits. We will warmly welcome a victory, but we won’t hold our breath.

Please share this post to make people aware of the timing of the debate. Same Difference will be following the debate and we will being you the results of any votes when they break.

Updated 10am: Debbie Abrahams MP Tweets us to say:

Same Difference will be tuning in from 6PM just in case.

On 3rd February 2016, BBC News reported that nearly 14,000 disabled people have lost their Motability cars as a result of being transferred from DLA to PIP.

On 25th February 2016, in Parliament, Justin Tomlinson MP, Minister For Disabled People, was asked by Daniel Zeichner MP, Shadow Minister For Transport, to reveal how many disabled people had had their Motability cars taken away as a result of PIP replacing DLA.

In response, Justin Tomlinson MP claimed, in Parliament:

The Department does not hold this information.

The BBC News story of 3rd February was shown on BBC television news on that day, as well as being available on the BBC website. The online link to the story  spread like wildfire across several social media pages respected by Same Difference in the first week of February.

Same Difference still remembers it well, and we are, sadly, a much smaller organisation than the DWP.

It is completely unbelievable that no one within the DWP was following BBC News over the time the story broke.

Respected disability campaigner Mike Sivier says on his respected website, Vox Political, that he believes Mr Tomlinson did know the figure of nearly 14,000 claimants, but that he misled Parliament about this simply because he wanted to save himself, and the DWP, political embarrassment because the figure was so high.

This explanation is far more believable. Same Difference shares the opinion of Vox Political on this matter.

Misleading Parliament is a very serious matter, particularly for a Government Minister. Same Difference joins Vox Political in calling for MPs to hold Mr Tomlinson to account for this.

We also join Vox  Political in calling for a Parliamentary debate on the loss of Motability cars as a result of DLA being replaced by PIP. Motability cars provide independence for many disabled people who need cars because their disabilities leave them unable to use public transport.

The numbers of people losing their Motability cars along with their DLA are, simply, far too high. Parliament needs to note the figures and step in to help thousands of disabled people find a solution to this problem as soon as possible.

Cruel Tory plans to slash disability benefit have been defeated after a powerful speech by one of Britain’s greatest Paralympic athletes.

Eleven-time gold medallist Tanni Grey-Thompson begged the House of Lords tonight to stop the “ideological” £30-a-week cut to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

Peers voted 289-219 to halt the move until Iain Duncan Smith reviews how it will affect claimants’ mental health – which could delay it until 2020 costing the government £1billion.

Charities welcomed the 11th-hour intervention, which came after Baroness Grey-Thompson made a personal plea from her wheelchair revealing how she was told to give up her dreams.

The crossbench peer – who won gold for wheelchair racing in Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens – said: “I was told by a special careers advisor that the best job I could ever get would be answering telephones and I should not aim too high.

“That might have been 25 or 30 years ago, but right now disabled people are being told similar things.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Duncan Smith wants to cut sick and disabled peoples’ ESA from £102.15 to £73.10 a week – equal to jobseeker’s allowance – if they are deemed fit for “work-related activity”.

The cut in April 2017 will not affect existing claimants whose claims are interrupted for less than 12 weeks or those in the more severe “support group”.

Peers rejected the cut completely in January but were blocked by Tory MPs in the House of Commons, prompting Labour peers to put forward new plans tonight.

The latest vote will now be considered again by MPs in a process called “ping pong”.

The 46-year-old ex-athlete told the Lords “many people are already close to crisis point,” adding: “They feel so beaten up by the changes they are finding it hard to articulate.

“It’s not that they don’t care – it’s just that they don’t have the energy left and are just trying to survive.”

She added: “Reformers also claim there is a financial advantage to being on sickness benefit. That suggests to me they have no experience of what living on that amount of money if you’re sick or disabled is actually like.”

But Tory welfare reform minister Lord Freud attacked peers for “wrecking” the government’s plans with a large-scale trial that would delay the cut to 2020, costing £1billion.

He offered concessions including a £15million boost to the local Jobcentre flexible support fund for those with “limited capability” for work and changes to the permitted work rules.

Labour peer Lord McKenzie praised the small climbdown but accused “unacceptable and reckless” ministers of “playing havoc” with disabled peoples’ lives by cutting benefits without the right data.

Charities welcomed the House of Lords defeat.

Lucy Schonegevel of Macmillan Cancer Support said: “Cancer is the toughest thing many people will go through, and it is wrong to make it even harder by taking away crucial financial support when people can’t work because they are ill.”

Elliot Dunster of disability charity Scope added: “We urge the Government to take this opportunity to reconsider its plans.”

A DWP spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring that people have the best support possible, and that is what these changes are about.

“Current ESA claimants will continue to get the same level of support, and those with the most severe health conditions and disabilities will continue to get a higher rate of benefit.

“The vote in the House of Lords is a routine part of the legislative process and next steps will be announced in due course.”

The House of Lords have just voted  for  Amendment B1, tabled by Lord Low, by 289-219. The amendment asks for an impact assessment into the proposed cut to the WRAG before the cut becomes law.

This is a little piece of progress for disabled people after last week’s disappointment. The Bill will now go back to the House of Commons and it is to be hoped that the Commons will accept the new amendment.

Is happening now. Same Difference is listening as we type and we will post the results when they break.

If you would like to listen to the debate, you can do so here.

Same Difference would agree, if we thought it would work!