{"id":48162,"date":"2024-04-22T17:32:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T16:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=48162"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:03:15","slug":"why-rishi-sunak-is-wrong-about-our-benefits-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/why-rishi-sunak-is-wrong-about-our-benefits-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Rishi Sunak is wrong about our benefits system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, the Prime Minister pledged to tackle Britain\u2019s so-called \u2018sick note culture\u2019.<\/a> Promising to \u2018control welfare\u2019 if re-elected, he announced that the Government would consult on reforming Personal Independence Payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t know yet exactly how the reforms will affect people with complex disabilities. And it\u2019s important to say that nothing will change anytime soon \u2013 the proposals won\u2019t be introduced until at least after the election, if at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there was plenty in the Prime Minister\u2019s speech that left us concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t just the proposals themselves. The Government\u2019s whole narrative around disability benefits right now is harmful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with complex disabilities aren\u2019t \u2018shirkers\u2019 or \u2018scroungers\u2019 looking to take the benefits system for a ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the rhetoric, we are concerned about what Rishi Sunak had to say about reforming Personal Independence Payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did the Prime Minister say?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister started by saying some of the right things. He acknowledged that not every disabled person will enter employment, and that the welfare system should always be there for people who cannot work. He added, too, that disability benefits should \u2018help people overcome whatever barriers\u202fthey might face to living an independent, fulfilling life.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only he had ended there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singling out the rise in benefits claims for mental health reasons, Sunak said that the rising cost of social security was unsustainable. He promised that, if elected again, that the next Conservative Government would \u2018control\u2019 the welfare bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving onto how he would do this, the Prime Minister set out some proposed changes to the sick notes used by people who are off work due to illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also reiterated the measures the Government had already taken, like the previously announced reforms to the Work Capability Assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, he turned his sights onto Personal Independence Payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is PIP being \u2018misused\u2019?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are designed to help disabled people pay for extra costs related to their condition or impairment. Depending on the rate someone is awarded, PIP is worth between \u00a328.70 and \u00a3184.30 a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Prime Minister, PIP is being \u2018misused\u2019. The Government is therefore going to look into whether the benefits system should move away from giving disabled people regular fixed amounts in the form of PIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questioning whether it was always right to offer ongoing support for disabled people\u2019s extra costs, he said that much of the support and equipment they need are either one-off costs or available for free on the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is simply not the case. Sense research has found that 46% of people with complex disabilities find it difficult to afford their extra costs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been particularly clear during the cost of living crisis, with rising energy bills having a catastrophic impact on disabled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some disabled people, for example, may need to run powered medical equipment at home. But while the NHS offers a rebate for the cost of running oxygen concentrators at home, disabled people who use other machines like ventilators and feeding machines get no financial help for this at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anything, disabled people don\u2019t get nearly enough support to cover the extra costs they face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making PIP \u2018more rigorous\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Worryingly, the Prime Minister also talked about making PIP \u2018more rigorous\u2019, saying that the application process should be more \u2018objective\u2019, with a greater emphasis on medical evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But ask anyone on PIP, and they will tell you that the application process is already challenging enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s forms that are too long and too complicated, or assessors who don\u2019t understand someone\u2019s condition or impairment, there are too many barriers facing disabled people who just want the support they\u2019re entitled to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not really clear what Rishi Sunak\u2019s words will mean in practice. We\u2019ll have to wait until the Government publishes the proposals in full before we know how they might affect people with complex disabilities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we doubt the changes would make disabled people\u2019s lives any easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to say that if you are already on PIP, you don\u2019t need to worry about any sudden changes to the support you receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as these proposals are still in a very early stage of development, PIP won\u2019t be undergoing reform any time soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government will be publishing its consultation on reforming PIP \u2018over the coming days\u2019. Sense will be responding to the consultation, setting out why we think the proposals are unfair to disabled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reforms won\u2019t go any further before the general election. During our election campaign, we\u2019ll be challenging all parties to offer disabled people the support they need to lead meaningful and independent lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, the Prime Minister pledged to tackle Britain\u2019s so-called \u2018sick note culture\u2019. Promising to \u2018control welfare\u2019 if re-elected, he announced that the Government would consult on reforming Personal Independence Payments. We don\u2019t know yet exactly how the reforms will affect people with complex disabilities. And it\u2019s important to say that nothing will change anytime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1393,7],"tags":[],"display_author":[100],"class_list":["post-48162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-blog","display_author-evan-john"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48162"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=48162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}