DWP dismisses MPs’ call to increase cost-of-living disability payments

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has dismissed a call from MPs to increase the level of any future payments it makes to disabled people to help them with the extra costs they face during the cost-of-living crisis.

DWP’s refusal came just a week after its own figures showed nearly half of all individuals in families with at least one disabled child and one disabled adult were living in poverty by 2021-22, even before the crisis.

The department dismissed a series of recommendations on how to improve its system for supporting people to survive the cost-of-living crisis, if the government decides to issue a further series of payments in 2024-25.

The recommendations were made in a report last November by the cross-party Commons work and pensions committee, which has a Conservative majority and a Labour chair.

Among those recommendations, the committee called on the government to increase the financial support for disabled people “in proportion to the additional costs that they incur”.

In each of the last two years, disabled people in receipt of disability benefits such as personal independence payment, disability living allowance or (in Scotland) adult disability payment, were entitled to just £150.

The committee said these payments did not cover disabled people’s extra costs, particularly if they were not entitled to any other cost-of-living support such as means-tested payments.

The MPs also called on DWP to produce “detailed reasoning” that would show “why a payment of this size was considered correct”.

As part of its inquiry, the committee received nearly 2,000 responses to a survey, and engaged with people with learning difficulties about their experiences of the cost-of-living payments.

One of those adults with learning difficulties told the committee that the rising cost of food and energy meant they had needed to borrow regularly from friends.

Of those who received the disability payment but no other cost-of-living payments, almost all said this provided only “extremely limited” help.

One survey respondent said: “In my case, my condition means I need to keep my joints warm and I need the heating on more than the average person, I also need to use hot water more frequently.

“I also need to charge equipment I use for my disability. This obviously leads to more energy use and higher costs.

“A single payment of £150 did not take these extra needs into account, especially when compared to the amount those on certain benefits received.”

A second respondent said: “Gratefully received but a drop in the ocean of the tidal wave of extra costs.”

In its response to the committee’s report, published this week, DWP said it provided about six million disabled people with a disability cost-of-living payment of £150 at a cost of £900 million in 2022, and provided 6.4 million disabled people with a further £150 payment at a cost of £1 billion in 2023.

It said it had estimated that in 2023-24 nearly three-fifths of disabled people who received the relevant disability benefit to qualify for the £150 payment will also receive a means-tested payment.

It added: “In setting the level of the Cost of Living Payments, the Government believes that it is right that the highest amount goes to those on means-tested benefits as those on the lowest incomes will be most vulnerable to rises in the cost of living.”

DWP appears to have rejected or ignored all but two of the work and pensions committee’s 12 recommendations, including calls for future cost-of-living support payments to take account of family size, and for it to bring forward its evaluation of cost-of-living support payments.

Sir Stephen Timms, who chairs the committee, told Disability News Service: “Support payments provided to groups such as disabled people which have been disproportionately impacted during the cost-of-living crisis fell short of what was needed.

“It is still not clear from the government’s response why an extra payment of £150 was seen as sufficient for the many people with disabilities who have been struggling to get by.

“The lack of support is particularly worrying given the latest DWP figures showing the true extent of poverty faced by families with disabled children.”

Sir Stephen has written to employment minister Jo Churchill with questions about the government’s response, including asking for a more detailed explanation of how DWP decided on £150 as the value of the disability cost-of-living payment.

Meanwhile, the Disability Poverty Campaign Group, which is led by disabled people’s organisations Disability Rights UK and Inclusion London, has written to Claire Coutinho, secretary of state for energy security, to ask for “urgent discussions” with her department.

They say the situation facing disabled people is “bleak and desperate” and warn that many have been forced to turn off their heating and limit the charging of health and mobility- related equipment, while there are fears that the government has no further plans to help with disability poverty.

In the letter (PDF), they say: “This is morally unacceptable and will inevitably lead to more ill health, risk to life and increased hospital admissions. Surely this is not acceptable.”

They point to reports that government plans for an energy social tariff have been abandoned, while some energy companies are now once again being allowed to force-fit prepayment meters in households struggling with unpaid bills.

They say there is a risk that the decline of living standards among disabled people could become “a human catastrophe”.

The letter adds: “We know that many Disabled people live in accommodation that is cold, as well as inaccessible and unusable.

“We ask the Government to deliver a better, effective package of financial support for Disabled people and for those with higher energy bills due to disability related energy use.

“We also ask for the energy social tariff to be resurrected as a matter of urgency, following due consultation with not only utility firms but representatives from the Disabled community.”

The government said this week that it recognised the challenge of cost-of-living pressures, including those facing disabled people in fuel poverty, and pointed to a package of support worth £104 billion across 2022 to 2025, including the cost-of-living payments.

It also pointed to established financial support for low-income households such as the winter fuel payment – worth between £250 and £600 – and the £150 warm home discount.

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