NEW: Strong evidence has emerged that the DWP hid the true reasons for its planned cuts to disability benefits Documents disclosed in a legal challenge also suggest up to 100,000 disabled people could be pushed into poverty by the changes By me, for @bigissue.com www.bigissue.com/news/social-... - ThreadSky

cjayanetti.bsky.social • 72 days ago

NEW: Strong evidence has emerged that the DWP hid the true reasons for its planned cuts to disability benefits

Documents disclosed in a legal challenge also suggest up to 100,000 disabled people could be pushed into poverty by the changes

By me, for @bigissue.com

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-benefit-reforms-disabled-people-judicial-review/

Comments

georgespomp.bsky.social•70 days ago

I find this utterly disgusting of the DWP. Surely as Civil Servants they should be there to help people, not to treat people as scroungers. But by their lack of independent advice and help, it is dishonest and immoral. Against the Civil Service code.

jeremyjenkins.jdjenkins.co.uk•72 days ago

teresasm.bsky.social•71 days ago

I'm perhaps stupid but: you cut costs so you have money for something else. I consider gelping people who need it (like the disabled) a thing to spend money on. Why not tax richer people more instead?

oldtrotter.bsky.social•71 days ago

Great work 👏 Trying to give two different messages to different groups of voters -cracking down on scroungers for “hero voters” and helping people into work for progressives - is always vulnerable to someone finding out the facts.

cjayanetti.bsky.social•71 days ago

credit goes to Ellen Clifford and her lawyers - I just sat in the courtroom

oldtrotter.bsky.social•71 days ago

But you did sit there and you did report it.

radiobeartime.com•71 days ago

Agreed. A great and important job.

ceri38.bsky.social•71 days ago

So this is the previous Govt?

cjayanetti.bsky.social•71 days ago

The previous government, but Labour has continued to challenge the judicial review - it's not yet taken a stance on the proposals themselves

amberlin.bsky.social•71 days ago

~~Shock, horror, so surprised etc~~

It was very well reported though. Read it earlier.

barneymac66.bsky.social•71 days ago

No surprise there.

calenhad-social.bsky.social•71 days ago

D'oh, no fucking shit, Sherlock. Ffs.

cjayanetti.bsky.social•72 days ago

In September last year the DWP launched a consultation on plans to change benefit assessments so fewer people would qualify for additional disability payments.

The consultation documents billed the measures *entirely* as a way of helping disabled people find work, amid shifts to home-working etc

cjayanetti.bsky.social•72 days ago

But internal documents disclosed as part of a judicial review show the plans were heavily driven by a desire to simply cut spending.

Rishi Sunak applied pressure for the consultation to be rushed through so the predicted savings could be factored into the 2023 Autumn Statement:

cjayanetti.bsky.social•72 days ago

DWP officials privately worried that an obvious focus on cost-cutting would undermine their public case that the changes were needed to help disabled people find work:

“We would need to develop a strong evidence base for making any changes in order to establish a rationale beyond cost-savings.”

cjayanetti.bsky.social•72 days ago

There were internal debates over whether to include measures that *wouldn't* save money, just to make it look more convincing that cost-cutting wasn't a key driver of the plans.

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-benefit-reforms-disabled-people-judicial-review/

cjayanetti.bsky.social•72 days ago

The disclosures also suggest that up to 100,000 disabled people might be pushed into poverty by the changes - although there are caveats to that figure:

cjayanetti.bsky.social•72 days ago

The judicial review, brought by disability campaigner Ellen Clifford, is challenging the legality of the consultation on four grounds, including that it was too short, and did not adequately explain the rationale for the changes or the impact they'd have

A verdict is expected in the coming weeks

kentindell.bsky.social•72 days ago

And the DWP nudges ahead of the Home Office by a nose in the Whacky Evil Races. DWP minister Dick Dastardly cackles at the new level of cruelty, but little does he know that Home Office minister Scrappy “Visa” Doodoo has a plan.

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