Website offers evidence to counter untrue claims that ADHD and mental distress do not lead to extra costs

Disabled people have provided vital first-person evidence of the extra costs faced by autistic people, and those with ADHD, anxiety and depression, just as the government appears set to recommend cuts to their benefits.

Ministers have hinted that both the Milburn and Timms reports will recommend cuts to cash payments for some people with invisible impairments when they report later this month.

They have suggested that autistic people, those with mental distress, and particularly people with ADHD, could be offered services rather than disability benefits, while younger disabled people could be particularly affected by cuts.

In July, Sir Stephen Timms, the disability minister and co-chair of the review of personal independence payment (PIP), told MPs there was “a question about whether the process can also point people towards help that may be valuable to them in addition to, or in some cases perhaps instead of, a cash payment”.

He did later promise Disability News Service that no PIP claimant would be forced to accept products or services, such as therapy or mobility equipment, instead of cash.

But his boss, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, suggested to MPs in June that PIP was not fit for purpose in the way it dealt with claimants with “conditions like anxiety, depression, neurodiverse conditions and so on”.

And right-wing media and politicians have repeatedly called for cuts to spending on PIP for those with invisible impairments, often suggesting that they face few if any extra disability-related costs and do not need extra support.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch made such a claim this week when she criticised allowing people with ADHD to qualify for discounted rail tickets, and said: “The people who have ADHD need help with their ADHD… why do they need more benefits?”

With the publication of the final Timms and Milburn reports imminent, the Benefits and Work website appealed last month to autistic readers and those with ADHD, anxiety and depression, to provide evidence of the extra disability-related costs they face so they could “challenge the cost-free conditions argument”.

This week, the website – which has been offering support and advice to benefit claimants for more than 20 years – published the results of that appeal.

Benefits and Work said it received “a huge number of responses covering a very wide variety of extra expenses”.

They include accounts of extra travel, food and clothing costs, and the need to replace damaged and lost items, manage sensory needs, pay for specialist cleaning products, source a diagnosis privately, pay for home education, and meet higher fuel bills because of spending more time at home.

The website said its readers had expressed “anger, disbelief and fear about the claims that these conditions do not incur additional costs”.

One of those who responded to the appeal said: “I struggle to drive because of my anxiety and ADHD, and ADHD also makes it more difficult to use public transport, so have to pay for taxis a lot.”

Another told Benefits and Work: “Food wastage is a massive cost because of being unable to estimate how much food will be needed and being unable to keep track of use by dates.”

And one respondent with ADHD said: “I have frequent surprise ‘ADHD taxes’ in the form of forgetting to pay bills on time or forgetting to cancel free trials.”

Others spoke of needing to pay for a cleaner, specialist clothing, and equipment that helps with emotional and sensory regulation.

The findings mirror last year’s research by the grassroots, user-led mental health group Recovery in the Bin (RITB).

RITB was told of costs to cover taxis, legal advice, extra cleaning products, health services not covered by the NHS, food deliveries, inflated utility bills, advocacy, therapy, cleaners and counselling.