{"id":9151,"date":"2022-05-31T13:37:27","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T12:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=9151"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:43:15","slug":"cost-of-living-crisis-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/cost-of-living-crisis-support\/","title":{"rendered":"In the cost of living crisis, disabled people with complex needs, need more support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While rising prices are affecting everyone, some people are noticing it more than others. Disabled people, and particularly the UK\u2019s 1.6 million disabled people with complex needs<\/a>, have long faced higher costs than non-disabled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Therapies, accessible transport, specialist equipment and the energy it takes to run it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all adds up.  But benefits for disabled people<\/a> are often just not enough to cover it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this means that the rising cost of living is causing particular hardship for disabled people with complex needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about going into work or taking on more hours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employment<\/a> isn\u2019t always an appropriate outcome for disabled people with complex needs. Even for those who can and do work, the jobs market and workplace don\u2019t make it easy for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all this, it\u2019s clear that disabled people with complex needs, needed specific support to help them deal with the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What support has the Chancellor announced for the cost of living crisis?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Specific support for disabled people<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We were pleased to hear the Chancellor recognise that, in his words, disabled people “may face a wide range of additional costs, such as specialist equipment, specialist food, and increased transport costs\u2026 these costs as they are likely to have increased\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to announce a one-off payment of \u00a3150 to everyone on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These payments aren’t means-tested. Any disabled person who gets PIP or DLA will get this extra support. This reflects the disproportionate impact of the cost of living crisis on disabled people, regardless of how much they earn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broader support for people on benefits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People on low-income benefits are undoubtedly the group that benefitted most from the measures the Chancellor announced on Thursday. Over eight million people on means-tested benefits will get an extra \u00a3650 this year, paid in lumps in July and in the Autumn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the \u00a320 uplift during the pandemic, it will apply to both those on Universal Credit and the older benefits that Universal Credit replaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that benefits have only gone up in line with the inflation rate for last September, when inflation was almost a third of what it is today, this extra financial support is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support for all households<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As well as support for disabled people and financial assistance targeted at those on means-tested benefits, the Chancellor also announced that every household in the UK will receive a \u00a3400 reduction in their energy bills this winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This replaces the scheme announced by the Government earlier this year, in which every household was to receive a \u00a3200 reduction in their energy bills. That amount would be paid back through higher energy costs over several years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the new scheme won\u2019t need to need to be paid back at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We think that benefits should be set at a level that lets disabled people with complex needs, whether they are in work or not, lead meaningful lives that are as independent as possible.”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But\u2026 is it enough?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt that disabled people with complex needs will receive a substantial amount of support as a result of last week\u2019s announcement. In total, disabled people with complex needs on both PIP\/DLA and means-tested benefits will receive one-off payments totalling \u00a3800 this year, as well as a \u00a3400 reduction in their energy bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u2018one-off\u2019 really is the key word here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sense, we think that benefits should be set at a level that lets disabled people with complex needs, whether they are in work or not, lead meaningful lives that are as independent as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disabled people with complex needs already weren\u2019t getting enough financial support from the welfare system before the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These one-off payments may lessen the impact of benefits not rising in line with the latest inflation rate. That is welcome. But one-off payments will only ever be sticking plasters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some other measures we’d like to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three ways the Government can do more to support disabled people with complex needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Make sure benefits reflect current inflation rates<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One obvious way to help disabled people with complex needs would be to make sure that benefits reflect the latest inflation rate. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, benefits are uprated once a year, in line with the inflation rate from six months ago. But with skyrocketing inflation, this has meant that benefits have failed to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want to see benefits uprated more than annually, with increases reflecting the inflation rate at the time of the uprating. This is particularly important in times like these when inflation is changing rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Make the transition to Universal Credit fairer<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Government recently started to move people on older benefits onto Universal Credit, with the aim of moving every person receiving benefits onto Universal Credit by 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who receives a letter telling them to move to Universal Credit will have three months to do so. Otherwise, they could lose their benefits altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We want to see additional support from the Government for disabled people with complex needs who have higher energy needs.”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At Sense, we’re concerned that this could mean people having their benefits cut off after three months, particularly if they don\u2019t get letters in an accessible format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as asking the Government to ensure that letters are sent out in accessible formats, we\u2019re calling for a guarantee that disabled people with complex needs won\u2019t lose their benefits if they can’t apply for Universal Credit within three months. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Help disabled people with complex needs to pay their energy bills<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we think the Government could do more to support disabled people with complex needs pay for the rising cost of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disabled people tend to have higher energy bills, yet changes to the eligibility criteria for the Warm Homes Discount mean that up to 300,000 disabled people will lose out on the annual \u00a3150 discount to their energy bills from October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as seeing the current eligibility rates retained, we want to see additional support for disabled people with complex needs who have higher energy needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, the Chancellor\u2019s statement was good news for disabled people with complex needs. But there is still more to be done to support people with complex dneeds through the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sense is here for everyone with complex needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you or a loved one are looking for support, get in touch with our Information and Advice service to find out how we can help. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

\n Contact us<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rising prices affect everyone, but some people than others. Disabled people have long faced higher costs than non-disabled people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":9057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1393,7],"tags":[],"display_author":[100],"class_list":["post-9151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","category-blog","display_author-evan-john"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9151","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9151"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=9151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}