As part of Spending Round 2019, the Chancellor has today announced £36 million extra funding for the DWP and an extra £40 million funding for discretionary housing payments in the private rented sector in England and Wales.
The extra funding breaks down as follows:
- £36 million to ensure DWP decision-making is accurate and the application processes are straightforward and accessible, as well as improving safeguarding by creating a new independent Serious Case Panel;
- £7 million to expand Jobcentre advisor support in schools for young people with special educational needs and extending eligibility for Access to Work to internships for disabled people; and
- £23 million to fund a range of other measures, including support for vulnerable claimants and people with complex needs migrating to universal credit, additional outreach activities to support those who are homeless, and increasing the number of Armed Forces champions to support veterans when entering the labour market; and
- £40 million additional funding for discretionary housing payments to tackle affordability pressures in the private rented sector in England and Wales.
Ken Butler DR UK’s Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser said:
“DR UK welcomes extra Jobcentre advisor support in schools for young people with special educational needs and the extension of Access to Work to internships for disabled people.
However, overall the extra funding for the DWP is woefully inadequate.
Only yesterday, new research was published highlighting that nearly half of disabled people hit by the benefits freeze have gone without essentials such as food and toiletries.
Other changes to the welfare system over the past ten years have left disabled adults four times worse off financially than non-disabled adults.
Radical reform to the benefits system for disabled people is urgently needed, including:
- ending the benefit freeze;
- ending the bedroom tax;
- bringing back the ESA work-related activity component and the equivalent element in universal credit;
- introducing a disability element to universal credit to replace the disability premiums that have been cut from the system
- removing the benefit cap for everyone who receives a disability-related benefit, including those in the work-related activity group or equivalent in universal credit;
- returning the work allowances in universal credit to pre-2016 levels; and
- removing the two-child limit.
- reviewing the assessment criteria for personal independence payment;
- carrying out regular, independent surveys of the actual costs of living with a disability and ensure that the level of payments under PIP reflects this.”
For more information see the Chancellor’s Spending Round 2019 document.