DWP rule change for PIP claimants could see £5,600 payment replaced with vouchers
manchestereveningnews.co.ukPeople living with disability and long-term sickness could lose out on more than £5,600 per year of government financial assistance, under proposals laid out following a fortnight of attacks on Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
Disability rights advocates have criticised the plan, calling the government "obsessed with austerity, sanctions and conditionality".
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policy paper proposes removing cash payments from disabled people and the long-term sick, in exchange for vouchers that could only be spent in specific shops on specific items, removing entirely the personal independence point of PIP.
The Tory-designed disability benefit replaced Disability Living Allowance in 2012 with the intent to support "disabled people to lead independent and active lives." However, in the week since the Prime Minister attacked PIP in a speech at the Centre for Social Justice, the widely claimed benefit has become a payment for the "extra costs" of disability rather than a tool for independence and, as such, could be limited to a one-off payment for accessibility equipment.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk
