Thousands protest over disability changes

11^th May 2011 - Thousands of disabled people and their supporters have taken part in the Hardest Hit march in London, in protest against government cuts to benefits and services.

The rally, which began at Victoria Embankment and ended with a lobby of MPs at Parliament, was called to show opposition to a range of changes which campaigners say will result in cuts to support needed in their everyday lives.

Government cuts

Disabled people say they are being hit by changes to welfare eligibility and cuts to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), while local authorities are also squeezing the amount of funds available for carers and services.

The Government announced in February that it was scrapping DLA and replacing it with a new Personal Independence Payment.

People claiming the new benefit will need to have experienced a disability for longer before they can apply, while claimants will be reassessed more often.

£9 billion cuts

The Disability Alliance, which includes many major health charities, says many people are living in fear of cuts which have been estimated at £9 billion to families over the next four years.

Its Hardest Hit campaign estimates that cutting 20% from the budget for DLA will lead to 700,000 disabled people having their benefits reduced or removed.

The Government has insisted that the welfare system is failing and that its changes will put more cash into the pockets of those who need it most.

However, campaigners against the changes point to a recent report by the think-tank Demos which said that its original estimate of £9 billion may have been too cautious in the light of more recent local authority cuts.

Around 40 charities were represented on the London march, including Scope, RNIB and Mencap. The Guardian reported that organisers of the march put the number of protesters at 5,000, while the police estimated  between 2,000 to 3,000 took part.

'Not fit for purpose'

 A spokesperson at the Department for Work and Pensions said in an email: "Our commitment to help support disabled people live independent lives runs at the heart of our welfare reforms and severely disabled people who need support will always get it.  The system we have at the moment is not fit for purpose and is failing disabled people. 

"We are reforming welfare to make sure that the billions we spend on benefits goes to those who need it and that for the first time disabled people get proper help and support to live independent lives and work in the mainstream jobs that they want."

The Department said its current spend on DLA amounted to £12 billion a year, which was more than the current Transport budget.                                                            

Dan Burden, spokesman for the Spinal Injuries Association, told us from Trafalgar Square as he waited to march to the Houses of Parliament that the Government needed to look at the whole picture and ensure that disabled people had the means to live independent lives. "They're not realising that a lot of these benefits enable people to do more than just get out of bed and be fed - they enable people to get employment," he said.

Burden added that "by reducing the budget in one area they may be increasing the budget in another area, in that people who are capable of working are rendered unable to do so because they don't have that support, and are ultimately left to claim benefits".

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