100,000 disabled children may lose out under new benefit

A report, Holes in the Safety Net, which was compiled by Disability Rights UK, says that 100,000 disabled children stand to lose up to £28 per week compared to benefits to which they are entitled under the current system.

The report claims that despite government assurances that the new universal credit will make work pay, in contrast, the changes could make it harder for disabled people to stay in work. The new benefit will replace job seeker’s allowance, income support, tax credits and housing benefit.

Holes in the Safety Net says: “At present, families with a disabled child in receipt of some level of disability living allowance (DLA), may be entitled to receive additional financial support through the disability element of child tax credit, currently worth £57 a week.

“Under the new system, this support is to be provided through a ‘disability addition’ in a family’s universal credit entitlement.

“However, the proposal is to cut the level of this financial support in half to just £28 a week. This change will affect those families with a disabled child unless the child is receiving the high rate care component of DLA or is registered blind.

“The government estimates that this change will affect around 100,000 disabled children.”

Additional support

Baroness Grey-Thompson, a former Paralympian wheelchair racer, said: “The findings of this report do not make easy reading. The clear message is that many households with disabled people are already struggling to keep their heads above water.

“Reducing financial support for families with disabled children, disabled people who are living alone, families with young carers and those who are working, risk driving many over the edge in future.”

In September, the government announced extra support for universal credit claimants and said that help towards housing costs for those living in supported accommodation would be provided outside universal credit.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said savings from abolishing the adult disability premiums and changes in the child rate would be “recycled” into higher payments for more severely disabled people.

She added that universal credit would provide greater incentives for people – including disabled people – to try out work and would reduce the financial and administrative barriers to work that exist in the current system.