ALMOST two-thirds of disabled people on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) “will not cope” without it, a charity has warned, amid reports that the government will reduce the benefit. 

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to unveil reforms aimed at reducing welfare costs that ministers have described as “unsustainable.”

Reports suggest that PIP, the main benefit for working-age adults both in and out of work, could be frozen rather than increased in line with inflation, delivering a real-terms cut for 3.6 million claimants.

A new analysis from Sense has found that 38 per cent of PIP recipients with complex needs are already behind on energy bills. 
Almost half — 46 per cent — are struggling to afford essential costs such as council tax and water, while 41 per cent are living in debt due to benefits failing to cover the cost of essentials like food.

Fifty-eight per cent of those polled reported significant ongoing extra costs due to disability and 53 per cent said their PIP payments were insufficient to cover those expenses.

Sense chief executive James Watson-O’Neill said PIP “exists because living with a disability means facing higher costs, from increased energy bills to specialised equipment and specific diets.”

“These additional expenses won’t disappear if eligibility is tightened. It will only plunge more disabled people into poverty.

“Making it harder to access benefits won’t help disabled people find jobs either. It will only deepen the struggle.”

Asked about the reports today, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he had not yet seen full proposals, but was sure Ms Kendall “wants to support people who need help the most.”

He also said he believes there is an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions leading to “too many people being written off” as unable to work.

But Linda Burnip of Disabled People Against Cuts said: “The link between extreme poverty and worsening levels of mental health are obviously being totally ignored by Wes Streeting and other Labour MPs.

“Added to that, mental health services have been decimated by the Tories so when people are ill, they can’t get treatment or the support they need to become better or be able to cope.

“Labour’s plans to remove PIP and force ill people into work are a total disgrace and proposals to send work coaches into acute mental health wards would be laughable if they weren't quite so ridiculous.”

SNP work and pensions spokeswoman Kirsty Blackman MP called for the cuts to be scrapped, accusing Labour of fuelling speculation that has left millions of disabled people “panicking” about their future.

A PIP recipient with multiple sclerosis told the MS Society the prospect of cuts “scares the hell out of me.”

They added: “Even with my husband’s income and my PIP payments, our finances just disappear each month.

“My MS means I have extra costs like taking supplements and accessing different therapies which can be expensive. Alongside that, our day-to-day living costs are increasing.”

A government source said: “The broken welfare system we inherited is trapping thousands of people in a life on benefits with no means of support, or any hope for a future of life in work.

“Our reforms will deliver fairness and opportunity for disabled people, and those with long-term health conditions, protecting the welfare system so it is sustainable for the future and will always be there for those who need it.”