DWP urged to drop 'dangerous' WCA change which will cost people £4,900

Thousands could lose up to £4,900 a year if the plan is retained in the forthcoming budget from the Labour Party.

Pressure has mounted on new Labour Party government Chancellor Rachel Reeves to drop a "dangerous" £1.3bn cut to benefits for the disabled. Thousands could lose up to £4,900 a year if the plan is retained in the forthcoming budget from the Labour Party.

Ms Reeves is coming under intense pressure to use the budget to abandon a £1.3bn cut to benefits for people with disabilities, first announced by the Tory government. The leading independent thinktank, the Resolution Foundation, has called on the chancellor to drop or delay changes to the work capability assessment (WCA).

The Foundation warns key aspects of the policy have not been thought through, and 420,000 people who are unable to work through disability or ill-health could lose up to £4,900 a year.Mike Brewer, interim chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: “These changes disproportionately affect lower-income households, and could lead to individuals missing out on support, in spite of being at substantial risk of harm, opening up the government to legal challenges.

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“Ministers are right to scrutinise fast-rising disability benefit spending. But these changes have not been thought through properly. They should be delayed – if not cancelled – until they are.” It says: “This change risks making the process too stringent, and risks either not saving the government money or putting vulnerable people at risk.”

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Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK, which works to improve the rights of disabled people, said: “It is farcical for the Labour government to be resurrecting Conservative legislation that would subject hundreds of thousands of us to reassessments and conditionalityinstead of the support we need.

“Carrying on the last government’s proposed changes to the work capability assessment process would prove that we are living under a government pursuing ever more surveillance of our lives – another government happy to gamble disabled lives by subjecting us to increased benefit sanctions and eroding rights.”

He added: “Changes to the ‘substantial risk’ rule are reckless and dangerous. It is already a state failure that this is often the only route people who experience mental ill-health and distress can access the support we need. With over 600 benefits-related deaths in the last three years, many of which were suicides as a result of benefit sanctions, pushing disabled people who experience mental distress into work should be the furthest from this government’s priorities.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “Spiralling inactivity and millions of people denied the right support is holding the country back and stifling the economy. We believe the work capability assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a proper plan to support disabled people.

“We will deliver the change the country needs; supporting those who can work, into work, and delivering growth in every part of the country.”