Legal threat to Government from charities

Sunil Peck

The Government will face legal action unless it can provide evidence that it has considered the impact of cuts to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), campaigners have said. Disability Alliance (DA) has issued a letter of claim to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) asking it to demonstrate that the impact of its proposals to reduce expenditure on DLA by 20 per cent has been properly analysed.

The cuts are part of the welfare reform bill which was due to receive its second reading in the Lords after Disability Now went to press.

DA is concerned that disabled people of working age will be hit disproportionately hard by proposals to cut support for an estimated 652,000 people with lower support needs.

It’s also concerned at the lack of clarity over how the impact of removing the mobility component of DLA for an estimated 78,000 people in residential care will be mitigated.

The charity believes that the DWP may have also failed to pay due regard to public sector equality duties or its responsibilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Speaking to Disability Now, DA’s Director of Policy, Neil Coyle, said that he had a strong case for legal action.

He said that if the Government failed to provide adequate evidence that it had examined the impact of its proposals, he would seek a judicial review once the welfare reform bill had been enacted.

“We’ve been highlighting concerns for a year based on what disabled people have been telling us. But so far, not one of our concerns has been answered by Government. Five and a half thousand people responded to the Government’s own DLA consultation and no change resulted. We're increasingly of the impression that policy is being delivered to meet a financial cuts target and this has nothing to do with supporting active independent disabled citizens.”

He added that he had concerns that the abolition of DLA would increase demand on local authorities for social care services and would also force some disabled people to give up work.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of Scope, said that under the Government’s proposals, the people in most need of support would lose it.

He said: “For the bill to make it to the House of Lords without problems such as this being addressed raises some serious questions.”

He added that there were alternatives which would provide more targeted support and which would reduce Government's costs without risking disabled people’s independence and inclusion.

The DWP had not issued a response to the letter of claim as Disability Now went to press.