UK Politics

Time: 12pm noon
Date: Monday 30 October 2023
Place: Caxton House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
Hashtag: #NoMoreBenefitDeaths

Join Disabled People Against Cuts and allies to protest against the government’s proposals to tighten the Work Capability Assessment.

These proposals threaten to remove essential income from Deaf and disabled people and to subject many more of us to distressing and punitive work search activities and benefit sanctions.

Their argument is that Deaf and disabled people can work from home now. They want to remove assessment points for social anxiety, communication difficulties, mobility issues and bladder/bowel incontinence.

We know that working from home does not overcome these barriers.

Research has shown that disabled people benefitted less from home working than non-disabled people, because we are less likely to be in the kind of jobs that can be done from home.

If the WCA is tightened in the way they propose, many more Deaf and disabled people unable to find sustainable paid employment will lose benefits [ESA support group/Universal Credit LCWRA component] and lose protection from conditionality and sanctions.
Monday 30 October is the last day that the government’s consultation on their proposals is open.

The consultation will not only inform immediate changes to the WCA.

The consultation will also feed into the Tories’ long-term plans to:
– scrap the WCA
– remove ESA/Universal Credit LCWRA altogether
– replace them with a new Universal Credit health component that will be dependent on eligibility for Personal Independence Payment
– subject all Deaf and disabled people to conditionality and sanctions at the discretion of individual work coaches.

These plans will be a disaster for anyone who faces barriers to paid work.

They will unquestionably lead to a considerable increase in avoidable harm and more benefit deaths.

And we **cannot ** trust Labour not to keep any changes to tighten the WCA if elected.

Please support the protest however you can and let people know about the consultation and the government’s despicable plans.

For help with travel costs for DPAC members email: [email protected]

Consultation here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/work-capability-assessment-activities-and-descriptors

Template response from DPO Forum England here: https://dpac.uk.net/2023/10/template-response-to-the-wca-consultation/
Government white paper setting out their long-term plans here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-support-the-health-and-disability-white-paper