Independent living for disabled at risk from cuts, say MPs

Independent living for disabled people is being put at risk by the combined impact of cuts to social care and benefits, MPs and peers warned today.

Cuts to care and different benefits are interacting in a “particularly harmful” way for disabled people and many service users fear they will be forced into residential care as a result, Parliament’s joint committee on human rights said in a report.

It cited increases in eligibility thresholds for social care, the closure of the Independent Living Fund to new claimants, cuts to housing benefit and the replacement of disability living allowance by personal independence payment, which will see 500,000 people lose out on the benefit.

The committee called on the government to assess the cumulative impact of these cuts on disabled people and consider the introduction of a right to independent living.

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