The House of Lords this afternoon gave its assent to a cut of £30 per week for new claimants in the work-related activity group (WRAG) of employment and support allowance (ESA) yesterday.{jcomments on}

The House of Lords had twice voted against reducing the level of payments for claimants, many of whom have degenerative diseases or serious mental health conditions, to the same level as jobseeker’s allowance.

However, on its third return to the Lords, the House of Commons claimed financial privilege for the cuts. By tradition the Lords do not overrule the Commons where a bill relates to finance.

The cut is due to be introduced in April 2017 and the DWP have said it will not affect current claimants.

The government’s cynical claim is that by cutting ESA WRAG claimants’ income to the same level as JSA, they will be encouraged to go out and find work.

Baroness Grey-Thomson told the Lords that:

“I apologise to the people affected by this Bill that, at this point, we could not do any more. This may be the end of the legislative process, but it is the start of the negative impact the Bill will have on thousands of people’s lives. It may be seen as a victory in terms of voting numbers in another place, but we cannot forget that there are many disabled people who will lose out. That may be realised only when the letters come flooding in.”

Comments

Write comments...
or post as a guest
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.

Be the first to comment.

Free PIP, ESA & UC Updates!

Delivered Fortnightly

Over 110,000 claimants and professionals subscribe to the UK's leading source of benefits news.

 
iContact
We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.