The UK government is considering reducing sickness benefits by some £30 a week
There are fears the UK government is set to further slash benefits of the sick and disabled by as much as £30 a week.
A leaked memo reveals proposed changes put forward by the Tories ahead of next week’s budget statement.
According to the document, which was leaked to the BBC, one of the biggest changes would be to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) which Tory ministers are considering cutting from the current £102.15 a week to the same level as Jobseeker’s Allowance – £73.10 a week for jobseekers over the age of 25.
Work Capability Assessments (WCA) would also be revised and called “Employment Capability Assessments”, to “focus attention on work seeking, not benefit seeking.”
The memo makes clear the current government’s onus is to shift the thinking behind sickness benefits from incapacity to capability – looking at what claimants can do rather than what they can’t.
Disabled people need a government who'll give them the support they need - Kate Green
The new approach would be justified as giving sick people more incentive to return to work.
ESA is divided into two categories currently: the work related activity group (WRAG) and those unable to work.
Controversially, WRAG claimants would no longer be entitled to any extra financial support in looking for work, even though they may have more barriers to employment than able-bodied jobseekers.
The move would not affect the second category on ESA who are judged unfit for work.
A total of 2.5m people are on ESA.
Campaigners already fear the Conservatives first budget without the Lib Dems could go even further than the widely anticipated £12bn welfare cuts already earmarked by Chancellor George Osborne.
Kate Green, shadow minister for disabled people, said: "Iain Duncan Smith should come clean with the public about his leaked plan to withdraw support from disabled people.
“Many disabled people would love the chance to work. But again and again this Government has failed disabled people with fewer than one in 10 people on the failing Work Programme finding a job.
“Disabled people need a government who'll give them the support they need."
Jane Harris, director of external affairs at the National Autistic Society, said: "Just 15% of autistic people are in full-time paid jobs, but 79% on out-of-work benefits want to work.
“Abolishing the lower level, work-related category of ESA would remove the little support that disabled people get to prepare for future jobs and ultimately mean they are even less likely to find work in the long-term.”
Osborne’s emergency budget will be announced on 8 July.
