70,000 more families with disabled children hit by cuts

Seventy thousand more families with disabled children than first thought will see their benefits slashed under Welfare Reform Bill plans, government figures have revealed.

An updated Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) policy briefing has revealed that 170,000 families will now be affected by the plans to halve disability premiums.

This is 70,000 more than the DWP previously estimated and represents the number of households who receive the disabled element in child tax credit or the disabled child premium in income support.

Campaign group Every Disabled Child Matters is urging the government to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment that takes these latest figures into account.

Srabani Sen, EDCM board member, said: “We are growing increasingly concerned that the Welfare Reform Bill is removing vital financial support from families with disabled children and that the government has not yet assessed the full impact of this bill on child poverty and disabled children.”

The bill receives its second reading in the House of Lords this week.

The DWP policy briefing concedes that 300,000 families will lose out under Welfare Reform Bill plans to simplify the benefits system and bring in a universal credit. However, it anticipates the same number of families will gain under the reforms.

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