20 PIP conditions in firing line from DWP with £5 billion cuts incoming
The 20 most claimed conditions have emerged as the DWP shakes up eligibility.
20 conditions in the firing line as the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) wields the axe on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) have been revealed. The 20 most claimed conditions have emerged as the DWP shakes up eligibility.
An estimated million disabled people will lose their benefits as Labour took an axe to the UK’s ballooning welfare bill. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said the bulk of the changes, aimed at saving £5bn by 2030, would fall on personal independence payment (PIP) by raising the threshold that people can qualify for it.
Charles Gillies, senior policy officer at the MS Society, said: “These immoral and devastating benefits cuts will push more disabled people into poverty, and worsen people’s health.”
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And PCS union general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Targeting the most vulnerable with benefit cuts to meet arbitrary fiscal rules is an immoral choice at any time, but at a time of rising poverty, long NHS waiting lists and when the cost of living crisis continues to bite is abhorrent.”
1. Arthritis
2. Mixed anxiety and depression
3. Back pain
4. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
5. Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain syndromes
6. Down’s syndrome and other learning disabilities
7. Bipolar disorder and depression
8. Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
9. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema
10. Stroke and other cerebrovascular disease
11. ADHD/ADD
12. Epilepsy
13. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
14. Chronic fatigue syndrome
15. Multiple sclerosis
16. Personality disorder
17. Injuries/fracture/dislocation
18. Diabetes
19. Cerebral palsy
20. Dyslexia and dyspraxia
National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “It is hard to conceive of a Labour government treating the most vulnerable members of society any worse. For pensioners who have lost the winter fuel allowance, parents coping with the two-child benefit, and now the targeting of disabled adults, cruelty is becoming a hallmark of this government. It is simply indefensible.”
The Scottish TUC said: “These welfare reforms from the Labour UK government could well have been delivered wearing a [Tory] blue rosette. It’s a short-sighted, reactionary decision that does nothing more than risk throwing people into avoidable destitution.”