(186) disability & the cuts (september 2011)

Dr Simon Duffy, Sheffield, September 2011

Disability & the Cuts

Thursday, 20 October 11

Who Am I?

• Dr Simon Duffy -‐ Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform

• Policy Adviser to Campaign for a Fair Society -‐ on a voluntary basis

• Real life -‐ Live in Mosborough, Sheffield

• Past -‐ Invented many of the ideas (like Individual Budgets) that now go under the name ‘Personalisation’


• Beginnings -‐ began on 8th February 2011 by people horrified at the likely impact of the Spending Review.

• Members -‐ Over 1,000 individuals and 100 organisations are members.

• UK-‐wide -‐ There are Scottish, Welsh & English Steering Groups -‐ connected federally in a UK group.

• Communications -‐ information on web, twitter, facebook etc -‐ www.campaignforafairsociety.org

The Campaign for a Fair Society


http://www.campaignforafairsociety.org

http://www.campaignforafairsociety.org

What’s wrong with the cuts?

• Macro-‐economics -‐ it will further economic depression -‐ maybe

• Public services -‐ it is an attack of public services and the welfare state -‐ maybe

• Unfairness worry -‐ the cuts target the very groups who were already treated unfairly and worsen their absolute and relative positions -‐ YES -‐ definitely


To explore...

• Which groups are affected?

• How do the cuts target these groups?

• Why do the cuts target these groups?

• What should we advocate for instead?

• What should we do about it?


This is a pincer attack on the rights of disabled people. If we just focus on the 1.5 million people with the most significant disabilities - over the next four years they are likely to lose:

• £4.6 billion in social care support

• £4 billion in disability living allowance

• Termination of ILF

• Cuts to Supporting People

• Many further cuts in housing support

• Reductions to other benefits -‐ especially for those not in work -‐ e.g. changes in indexation

So, more than £8 billion of the total £27 billion (>>25%) which government is saving from departmental budgets is being born by less than 3% of the population - those who are least able to bear these cuts.


The emerging reality


• People with less severe, but still significant, disabilities

• People with mental health problems

• Women su!ering domestic violence

• People not in work

• Refugees and asylum seekers

And many other cuts will continue to fall on:

We are already the most centralised welfare state in the world.


• Bankers who benefited from bonuses

• Home owners who benefited from unsustainable house price increases

• Investors who benefited from unsustainable profits in finance industry

• Politicians who benefited from the illusion of a booming economy

An economic crisis caused by the bursting of a bubble created by...

Who did not benefit from the bubble? - the poor and disabled people


Protected CutPensions Disability bene!ts

Healthcare Social Care

Education Social Housing£350 billion out of £500 £40 billion

Universal, mainstream, for ‘ordinary people like us’

Special, marginal, ‘the poor & unfortunate’

Delivered by nationalised systems with high visibility

Delivered by complex systems with low visibility

Not just cuts - but targeted cuts


Political pandering


Central control - local weakness...

We are already the most centralised welfare state in the world.


Poverty & Welfare Reform

1. e poor can be very poor indeed - the poorest must live on £2,780 per year - compared to mean household income of £50,000 per year (<6%).

2. e poor pay marginal taxes of around 100% on their earnings and they pay more tax as a percentage of their income than any other group (!!)

3. Poor lose income if they live together - 25% tax on IS and have no incentive to save or invest.

4. e UK is the third most unequal society aer USA and Portugal


One cheer! - recognition that tax-benefit system is flawed

1. The recognition that the poor are over-‐taxed

2. That the benefit system is unfair and unduly complex

3. That the benefit system is stigmatising

4. That the tax and benefit systems should be integrated


137 different ways...

to give people not very much...• linked or not• means-‐tested or not

• tax credits or benefits• disability related or not

• employment-‐seeking or not


Citizens Advice acknowledges that the £1.5 billion cost of fraud in the benefit system must be recovered, but we are very concerned at the government’s persistent tendency to roll fraud and error figures together. Errors account for the remaining £3.7 billion of the £5.2 billion figure quoted...

In the meantime, the £5 billion cost to government through fraud and error is dwarfed by the £17 billion of benefits and tax credits that remain un-‐claimed every year, because people don’t know they are entitled to claim, or because the system is too complicated. The danger of making benefits more difficult to claim is that people in real need will not receive the money they need to pay their rent, keep their families warm, or feed their children.

Teresa Perchard , Director of Social Policy at Citizens AdviceThursday, 20 October 11

Government defrauds the poor at more than 11 times the rate at which the poor defraud the

government


•Weak entitlements -‐ eligibility thresholds high and rising, housing rights weak, legal rights weak

• Super-‐taxation for disabled people -‐ means-‐testing, charging

• Poverty traps -‐ benefit systems that punish families, savers, earners and disabled people

•Weakened families -‐ support focused on crises,family control undermined, families disrespected

• Imprisonment for many -‐ up to 20,000 people with learning difficulties in prison

• Pre-‐birth and at-‐birth eugenics -‐ 92% abortion rate for unborn children with Down’s syndrome (UK)

The cuts are just a symptom - there are long-standing problems to address


Everyone is equal, no matter their differences or disabilities. A fair society sees each of its members as a full citizen -‐ a unique person with a life of their own. A fair society is organised to support everyone to live a full life, with meaning and respect.

Core Values


1. Family -‐ we give families the support they need to look after each other.

2. Citizenship -‐ we are all of equal value and all have unique and positive contributions to make.

3. Community -‐ we root support and services in local communities.

4. Connection -‐ we all get chances to make friends and build relationships.

5. Capacity -‐ we help each other to be the best that we can be.

6. Equality -‐ we all share the same basic rights and entitlements.

7. Control -‐ we have the help we need to be in control of our own life and support.


Manifesto

1. human rights: this means embracing the European Convention on Human Rights... a fundamental redesign of the obligations of government at every level to secure citizenship for all.

2. the right to support as an objective right established in law: this will remove the dependency of older and disabled people on ‘gifts’ from professionals...

3. provide families and individuals with early support: this will prevent crises, reduce the need for expensive interventions, and end the indignity of severe eligibility thresholds.

4. put people back in control of their own lives: this will enhance personal autonomy and dignity by restoring people’s right to control both their lives and any essential support that they need.

5. good housing: this will give people the right to live in their own accessible homes, with a choice of the full range of different types of tenure...

6. guaranteed minimum income free from means-‐testing: this will create the necessary incentives for people to work and make contributions to civic life...

7. end the current super-‐tax on older and disabled people levied through local authority charges: this will end the indignity of older people having to spend or give away all their savings...


Action

• Use the Law?

• Connect with local advocacy groups?

• Demonstrate, complain -‐ make abuse of human rights public?

• Join the Campaign?

• Develop the case for a fairer system?


(186) disability & the cuts (september 2011)

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