‘THIS is just pre-conference spin to try to improve the Tories toxic reputation on their shabby treatment of disabled people,’ said Disabled People Against cuts (DPAC) yesterday.
It was responding to Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green’s announcement that disabled people with permanent or progressive conditions would no longer have to go through repeat assessments.
DPAC added: ‘We need to see the detail before we can welcome this, and we know that DWP are masters of manipulating the detail of complex social security policy to disguise some of their worst misdeeds, so we will be scrutinising very closely when formal announcements are made.
‘Already people are starting to ask some awkward questions about this announcement. Does it cover PIP (Personal Independence Payment) as well as WCA (Work Capability Assessment)? What conditions are covered? Will the atrocious practice of frequent reassessments of people in mental distress continue, which can only be seen as deliberate harassment which can only lead to a worsening in people’s mental health?
‘But for the people who now will be spared reassessment and uncertainty, of course it will be a huge relief.’
DPAC said it ‘can’t help but wonder’ how it took the DWP eight years, since the WCA was introduced by Labour, ‘to work out there is no point in reassessing people who cannot get better’. It added: ‘Actually we think that this has more to do with reports from earlier this year that assessments of disabled people are costing more than they save and a need to reduce costs, than any sense of humanity from a DWP that we know and loathe.’
Meanwhile, ministers remain committed to a cut to be introduced next April in the amount of money that new recipients of ESA will receive. From April 2017, payments will fall from £109 to £73 for new claimants in the ‘work-related activity’ category as the Tories argue that too few people in the category are moving into work.