Disabled people shouldn’t bear the brunt of the challenges our country faces

The news that the UK government is proposing to cut around £6bn worth of benefits from disabled people whose budgets are already so tightly squeezed won’t have passed you by. The horror and distress that these cuts could bring to so many across Scotland is unimaginable.

While many disability benefits are now devolved, some disability support is still overseen by Westminster, particularly Universal Credit and the additional health elements within it which people may qualify for if they are disabled or unwell – so these changes will affect people in Scotland too.

In addition, cuts to social security by the UK government could mean cuts to the money the Scottish government has available to deliver devolved disability benefits and invest in our social security system – with devastating consequences for disabled people in Scotland.

While Trussell saw a very slight drop last year in the number of emergency food parcels distributed between April and September, there were still more than 122,000 emergency food parcels provided to people in Scotland. If the UK government persists with driving people with disabilities deeper into poverty, we risk seeing these numbers rise again.

We already know that disabled people are massively over-represented at food bank. Some 75% of people referred to a food bank in the Trussell community live in a household where they or someone they live with is disabled. More than three quarters of people getting Universal Credit plus health or disability benefits are having to go without essentials. More than 4 in 10 are already missing meals to try and keep up with other essential costs, and a fifth have had to turn to a food bank in just the last month.

It is truly extraordinary for the UK government to look at this situation and choose to respond by making huge cuts to the incomes of people already facing such severe hardship. These cuts will cause immense harm and risk driving more people to need to use food banks – which are already stretched to the limits.

Food banks are telling us that people they support are ‘terrified’ of how they might survive cuts. For many disabled people, health and disability payments are the difference between being able to afford food, pay the bills, run medical equipment and afford the bus fare to hospital appointments. Or being trapped in a cold, dark home, hungry and scared, seeing debt pile up and feeling cut off from their community, services, friends, and family.

Plunging more disabled people into deeper hardship is likely to lead to health conditions worsening and people being less able to engage with support, training or try and return to work.

Reducing disability support will increase long-term costs for healthcare, local authorities, and society, increasing the barriers disabled people face to employment, education, and independent living. When the previous UK government proposed similar cuts to the WCA, the OBR found that around 400,000 would lose significant chunks of their income, but only 3% would move into work as a result.

. These cuts are not about removing barriers to work or supporting more disabled people to get jobs. They’re a shameful and short-sighted attempt to make short-term savings instead of investing in the future.

The public don’t want to see more people forced to food banks. This isn’t the kind of society we want to live in, and it’s not what people voted for. We know 85% of us agree that people receiving social security payments should be provided with enough money so that they don’t face hunger.

We all agree the system should work better – there are more effective and compassionate ways to do this, to benefit current and future generations. We can update social security so it’s able to be there for everyone who needs it and support people who can work, to stay in work.

Over the next four years, we need to see a new model of long-term employment for disabled people and carers, so anyone able to work is genuinely supported to stay in work and return to it after illness. The UK Government should work with the Scottish Government to put these building blocks in place and ensure disabled people are much better supported to access work, study and other opportunities.

The UK government is demanding disabled people bear the brunt of the challenges our country faces at home and abroad. This is both cruel and counterproductive.

We must urge the UK Government to safeguard disability benefits from cuts and put the needs and voices of the disabled community at the heart of its plans. There’s still time for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to change their minds. Will they listen and act on the evidence?