We are opposed to the government’s announcement of more cuts and freezes to resources that support Deaf, Disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill people, and those with lived experience of mental health to live equitably in UK society.

This latest decision to freeze Personal Independent Payments (PIP) is compounded by the masses of local authority cuts affecting Deaf and Disabled people’s personal care budgets and shows a regressive government decision that penalises and isolates Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent people.

PIP is a non-means-tested payment that provides equity for working-age adults who have additional costs linked to living independently.

We have been here before. On 30 June 2015, the Independent Living Fund (ILF) closed causing long-term lasting reductions in support and a postcode lottery caused by new schemes being managed by local councils. (1)

As a result, some disabled people were forced to leave their homes and go into care homes to find inadequate support. (2) This decision was a momentous downfall for disability rights movement.

In 2010, all new applications to ILF were closed. PiP, a much-reduced resource, was introduced in April 2013, intended to support the additional costs incurred by Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent people.

When PIP and similar programmes are cut, it impacts Disabled people’s access to work, housing, healthcare, transport, and culture.

This is just one cut in a long history of the removal of resources that support Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent people. These resources were hard won through years of campaigning for equity from the government.

• PIP is necessary because being Disabled is more expensive than being non-disabled. In the UK, this is on average £975 per month extra. (3)
• PIP can be given to people who are in work to pay for the additional care and access costs which are not covered by employers, Access to Work or other means.
• If PIP no longer existed and Access to Work continued to be inaccessible for many people, the barriers to employment for Disabled people would become insurmountable.

These cuts are being announced at a time with NHS waiting lists are at 7.5 million (4), there is an Access to Work backlog of 55,000, and other cuts (including to Access to Work) are being touted. (5) Equity, diversity, and inclusion are under attack in work and society, denying further access to PIP only puts Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent people more at risk of exclusion, safety, and living independent lives.

More people have become Disabled since the pandemic hit; an estimated 2 million people were living with symptoms of long covid as of February 2023 (6). However, resources to support people have only dwindled, as is the case we also see in the NHS. Telling disabled people to just pull up their bootstraps and toughen up does not change the outcome if the root cause is not addressed, nor does calling for us to get out to work without making the systemic shifts needed to make this possible. The support and resources must increase for Deaf, Disabled, and neurodivergent individuals to be able to access work and society in a meaningful, safe, and accessible way.

We implore the government to consult meaningfully with our communities, who offer expert and economically sound solutions which can drive our society to a place of equity, and a world in which disabled people can thrive and not die. DO not freeze or reduce PIP.

Signed

Graeae Theatre Company

References

1: Disability News Service

2: Independent

3: Scope

4: NHS England

5: Disability News Service

6: Office for National Statistics

7. Watch the speeches from activists Lisa Hammond (transcript) and Cherylee Houston (transcript) on the impact of cuts to PIP.