The figures shatter the Chancellor’s pledge last month to “support the vulnerable”, which he made while capping their benefits
More than three million disabled people will be £156 a year worse off after George Osborne’s shocking “Strivers’ Tax”.
Today’s figures shatter the Chancellor’s pledge last month to “support the vulnerable”, which he made while capping their benefits.
Mr Osborne and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith promised the disabled would not suffer from the move to limit benefit rises to one per cent for the next three years.
They insisted payments would go up in line with inflation, but Labour says ministers are “hiding the truth” over the cuts.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne said: “This is shocking.
“It tells you all you need to know about the priorities of this Government that David Cameron and George Osborne are cutting support for the disabled.”
The cap on benefits will leave at least 3.4 million people an average of £156 a year worse off in 2015, according to the new figures.
It means a third of homes with at least one disabled person will lose out by £3 a week, admits the Department for Work and Pensions.
And in a double blow, 206,320 people who have severe disabilities will be £62.76 a year poorer.
Those in the “support group” of the Employment and Support Allowance will lose out as just part of their benefits will rise in line with inflation.
The rest will be limited to the one per cent cap, giving them an increase of 1.4 per cent.
Labour has already slammed the “Strivers’ Tax” because of its impact on seven million workers who will lose out on tax credits.
And now Labour’s Mr Byrne has accused the Conservatives of mounting a cover-up.
He said: “David Cameron’s Government has once again been caught hiding the truth about their Strivers’ Tax bill.
“First, we discover that ministers weren’t being straight with the seven million working families set to be hit and now we know they have tried to hide the impact on the disabled as well. Iain Duncan Smith has repeatedly claimed that disabled people are protected.
“But these figures reveal that 3.4 million households with disabled people will be worse off, including the most vulnerable that this Government promised to protect.”
In a statement, Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb confirmed that 34 per cent of households where someone is disabled would be around £156 a year worse off.
The minister added: “This represents about 3.4 million households in Great Britain.”
The Mirror
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On & on it goes will there ever be an end to this bile and its pedallers.
This is quite bad enough but I’ve noticed there are not many on the Support Group. To be on it is a virtual impossibility! Disabled should be a universally recognized definition not what the government say it is or there well fed, big earning employees in ATOS!
This, combined with the Universal Credit Time bomb is coming to this country. Not long till Common Purpose infested housing associations who think they can bully you come to the fore evicting people behind in their rent and the entire benefits system comes crashing down. By late summer it’s going to get “interesting” But unlike the 2011 riots people are going to know exactly where to go, that’s why local govt was warning late last year about rising discontent.
As Hillary Clinton once remarked, “There’s a pattern emerging here”. Every time ‘Pinocchio’ Osborne opens his mouth, another lie emerges. In fact, the whole Tory Party are a bunch of overpaid, slippery deceivers. Their political goal is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It started with Thatcher, who hated the working man and wiped out 150 years of British skill and industry in less than ten years. This lot will never change. Taking money off sick and disabled people is about as low as you can get.
ROLL ON THE VOTING DAY WHEN THIS DANGEROUS & LYING GOVERMENT IS OUT…I DIDNT VOTE THEM IN BUT I AM CERTAINLY VOTING THEM OUT !!!!!
THEY ARE THAT DANGEROUS THAT THEY ALL SHOULD WEAR T-SHIRTS STATING ” GOVERMENT HEALTH WARNING”.