600 disabled children ‘to miss out on £1,500’

Families with disabled children will receive nearly £1,500 less a year as a result of government changes to the welfare system, an MP has warned.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams said there are more than 600 disabled children in Oldham and their families would miss out on £1,456.

Speaking in the welfare reform debate she said: “The minister for disabled people wrote to my local paper, the Oldham Chronicle, saying her Government was committed to supporting disabled people. She quite rightly mentioned someone of the discrepancies in the system. But she failed to mention that her Government’s proposals mean that the middle and low rate DLA for caring for a child with disabilities will be halved.

“We know that disabled children are more likely to live in poverty and this policy will make things worse. We should not be reforming the welfare system by pushing disabled people into poverty.”

Sweeping reforms to the welfare system this week cleared the Commons — but David Cameron came under fire over benefits cuts to cancer patients.

Macmillan Cancer Support has claimed that patients could lose £94 a week if they remain unable to work for more than a year.

Mrs Abrahams added: “Is withdrawing support for this group of people a sign of a civilised society? I think not.”

The Labour MP said she was disgusted at the tone of the Bill which she believes suggested “everyone receiving or even asking for welfare support whether that’s because they are ill, have suffered a disability or on a low income is either a malingerer or a potential fraudster.”

The majority of people on Employment and Support Allowance want to return to work but there are barriers preventing this, she added.

“The most important factor is economic conditions, where demand for labour is low it is harder for people with long-term health conditions or who are intermittently incapacitated to secure work.”

The legislation’s centrepiece is the creation of a new universal credit to replace a complex range of existing means-tested benefits and tax credits for people of working age.

The legislation will cap the total amount of benefits that can be claimed at £26,000, with tougher sanctions for those who refuse work.

Mrs Abrahams said the Bill would widen inequality and “detrimentally affect the living conditions for the most vulnerable in our society”.