Against the cuts in Euston

By New Worker correspondent

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) campaigners took to the streets of London this week to protest against the government’s removal of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and to demand a fundamental overhaul of the social security system.
    They blocked The Euston Road in central London for over half an hour on Tuesday in an “AudioRiot” of drums, bells, whistles and loudhailers as part of their national campaign to mark the end of COVID‑19-related support mechanisms in Universal Credit.
    The government increased Universal Credit by £20 per week at the start of the pandemic. They never gave it to people on legacy benefits – meaning that more than two million disabled people and carers missed out. The uplift was also temporary and ends on 30th September.
    Senior Tories, including six former Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions, have pleaded with the government not to end the uplift yet. Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green even made a last-ditch attempt to get a motion to stop the cut voted on through the Pensions uprating debate, but their amendment was not chosen by the Speaker.
    Many claimants never got the £20 in the first place. It was only applied to Universal Credit, so those still on legacy benefits and not yet moved over to Universal Credit were missed out. Over three-quarters are disabled, and their living costs have been significantly higher as a result of the pandemic and needing to shield.
    Out-of-work benefits are well below the amount needed for a decent standard of living. Even after the uplift, Universal Credit is just 43.4 per cent of the minimum income standard needed for a decent standard of living. For those on legacy benefits, their social security payments all the way through the pandemic have represented just 33.9 per cent of the minimum income standard.

Don’t cut disabled benefits again!

by New Worker correspondent

SCORES of members and supporters of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) braved the dark, cold, wind and teeming rain last Wednesday evening to gather on Old Palace Yard – just across the road from the Houses of Parliament – to call on MPs to drop plans for further drastic cuts to disability benefits.

The next day, 17th November, the House of Commons passed a cross-party motion to delay and review the proposed implementation of the ESA (employment support allowance) cut of £29-a-week to new claimants of the ESA Work Related Activity Group.

Tory MPs called on the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, to reconsider the cuts ahead of the Autumn Budget Statement, after a backbench motion to pause the planned cuts passed unanimously in the House of Commons.

No MPs voted against the motion to stop the planned cuts to employment and support allowance (ESA) and universal credit, with 127 voting in favour. But the motion is purely symbolic, intended only as a method of sending a message to Government.

During the debate, called by the Scottish National Party’s Neil Gray, MPs across the House called on Hammond to pause a planned £29-a-week cut to ESA, which applies to those not in employment through illness or disability but who have been judged fit to prepare to return to work.

The universal credit cuts will also mean a reduction in the amount people are able to earn before their benefits are withdrawn.

Heidi Allen, the Conservative MP, who has led calls for a rethink on welfare cuts, said she could think of no other issue “so regretted by colleagues on my side of the House”.

This Wednesday’s Autumn Budget Statement will shed light on whether this popular delay will have any real effect on the proposed cuts.

Fighting for our safety!

 

By New Worker correspondent

MEMBERS of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) found time last week, during a very busy Week of Action, to join RMT pickets during the strike action against Southern Rail in the long-running dispute about sustaining the role of fully trained guards on all trains.

Fighting for Disabled rights!

By New Worker correspondent

Disabled people’s rights campaigners from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) picketed the Jobcentre in Kentish Town, London as part of last week’s national Week of Action to raise awareness of the plight of the disabled under the austerity regime.

            The protests were timed to coincide with the start of the Paralympics in Brazil, which gave a false impression that the disabled in Britain are well supported. The reality is that at the end of last year Britain became the first country in the world to be investigated by the United Nations for grave and systematic violations of Disabled people’s rights.

The interest surrounding the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio was used by DPAC to draw attention to the cumulative impact of the cuts on Disabled people that are taking Disabled people’s rights back decades with attacks in every area of our lives, from education to independent living to employment to income.

DPAC is not protesting against the Games themselves but is using this opportunity to raise awareness of the increasing numbers of Disabled people whose access not only to sport and recreation but also to basic human rights, such support to eat, drink and use the toilet, is being taken away as a result of the cuts.