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Report and questionnaire on disability issues under UC by Citizens Advice, the Children’s Society and Disability Rights UK
“Citizens Advice, The Children’s Society and Disability Rights UK have just published a report which details the main ways in which support for disabled people is being restructured under Universal Credit and which groups are most likely to be affected by the changes. Some groups of disabled people will get more financial help under Universal Credit but some who claim for the first time will receive considerably less money under Universal Credit than they would get under the current system. Not all the people affected by the specific losses and gains will lose or gain overall in the way that might be expected. The report through a series of scenarios attempts to unpick some of that complexity.
It can be found at: http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/universalcredit
Also on the webpage are links to 3 surveys asking disabled people in the groups most likely to be affected by the changes to give us evidence of the likely effect these changes would have on their lives.
The 3 issues we are looking for evidence on are:
· There is no equivalent of the severe disability premium in UC
· There is no equivalent of the disability element of WTC for disabled people who would be found fit for work
· The child disability addition will be halved for most disabled children
We would be grateful for any publicity you can give to the questionnaires which will be running until 10th August and also to the issues highlighted as we are very concerned that these issues are much less well understood than the change from DLA to PIP.
There are a number of opportunities to influence policymakers over the next few months – we will be using our evidence to respond to the calls for evidence as well as using the results of the survey to campaign ahead of the Autumn tabling of the regulations. We hope that many others will also respond to these calls for evidence and highlight these issues
SSAC are calling for evidence on the UC regulations – deadline for this is 27th July -
http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/consult.shtml
The Work and Pensions Select Committee are calling for evidence on UC and have specifically identified support for disabled people under UC as an area they would like evidence on – the deadline for this is 17th August -
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news/uc-tor/
The UC regulations are to be tabled in the Autumn – we are planning to use the results of our questionnaires in a report we will publish in the Autumn which will highlight the likely impact of the financial changes on people’s lives.”