Wednesday’s Budget made shockingly few significant improvements to the lives of disabled people, who have seen living standards and vital services cut over the past decade. 50% of people living in poverty, seven million, are now either disabled or have a disabled person in the household.
Disability Rights UK welcomes government commitments to “levelling up” and to investing in infrastructure, but following our departure from the EU, we would like to see much more ambition to create a country where disabled people have equal rights, equal opportunities and equal access to power.
Despite consensus that social care is dramatically under-funded, the Budget was silent on this national priority. Disabled people are getting too little social care, as well as being left in hsospitals or residential institutions, when they should be living with support within the community.
The Budget failed to recognise that due to cuts in local authority spending , thousands of disabled children are struggling in schools without the necessary support to learn and without inclusion in the life of the school. This situation is desperate for many, with parents driven to take legal action to get the support their children need.
In terms of the benefits system, some welcome measures included allowing statutory sick pay (SSP) to be paid from the first day of sickness, and making new style employment and support allowance (NSESA) payable from the first day of sickness, rather than the eighth day. However, these are temporary measures and should instead be made permanent.
While those who are not eligible to claim SSP or NSESA can claim Universal Credit, the Budget should have included measures to end the initial five week wait for the benefit.
In addition, there were no measures to recognise that disabled people on Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit need disability premiums to meet the additional costs of disability, and there is no extra support for carers.
There were welcome changes to the administration of the benefits system, to ensure that people with COVID-19 (Coronavirus) get the help they need quickly and without needing to visit job centres. We would urge government to embed these changes into the benefits system.
We welcome investment in infrastructure and applaud the £30m allocated to increase the network of Changing Places toilets, however, we would ask that clear commitments be made to setting mandatory accessibility requirements in respect of new homes, transport schemes and hospital buildings.
You can read about the Budget in full here: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-2020