DISABLED people in Scotland are being starved by the Tory government, with some people waiting as long as 15 months without receiving a single penny benefit.
According to the report by Citizens Advice Scotland, the average waiting time that disabled people have to endure before receiving their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) … is six months.
However, the report found that some have reported delays of 13, 14 or 15 months.
The report spells out the that these delays are leaving many people without enough money to eat, travel, or heat their home.
Scottish National Party (SNP) MSP Jamie Hepburn said the report was ‘damning evidence of the devastating consequences Westminster’s welfare cuts are having on thousands of sick and disabled people in Scotland’.
He added: ‘The Tory conference last week has only reaffirmed their commitment to a shameless and sustained attack on the poor.’
PIP has been introduced in Scotland over the past year. It is part of wider welfare reforms by the UK government, and has replaced the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as the main benefit that helps disabled people meet the costs of their basic daily living.
Citizens Advice compiled the report on the implementation of PIP using evidence gathered from its Citizens Advice Bureau staff.
More than half of the advisers said the delays have caused the disabled people ‘severe hardship’.
Citizens Advice Scotland’s head of policy, Susan McPhee, said the basic cost of living is generally higher for sick and disabled people than for the average citizen.
This is because of the additional costs of special food, medicines or equipment they might need, extra heating and lighting costs for those who need to stay at home longer, or transport costs for those who are less mobile.
She added: ‘These extra costs are not luxuries. They are essential to leading a basic life of dignity and any civilised society should make it a priority to see that people who need this help get it without fuss.
‘The evidence we are publishing here shows that, under the new Personal Independence Payment, too many disabled people are not getting that support and many are falling into poverty as a result.’
She called on the government to urgently address these problems ‘as they are causing great detriment to some very vulnerable citizens and their families’.
In June, the Public Accounts Committee at Westminster warned that the PIP scheme had been ‘rushed’ through, with a ‘shocking’ impact on claimants.
Meanwhile, the government has launched four pilot schemes to ‘help’ unemployed people with mental health problems to ‘find work’.
The scheme, which is currently ‘voluntary’, will see people on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) being ‘offered employment support’ and ‘psychiatric help’.
The £2m pilots, all in England, will run for six months. Ministers insist they are not a precursor to forcing unemployed people with mental health problems to seek help in order to kick them off their benefits.
