Open Letter to Iain Duncan Smith

Stop the cuts to benefits

Open Letter to Iain Duncan Smith:

Dear Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

We believe the Government’s proposed cut to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will undermine its commitment to halve the disability employment gap, and push sick and disabled people further away from work and closer to poverty.

The Government committed to protecting disability benefits, but instead is pushing through a cut of £30 a week to new claimants in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA. These are sick and disabled people who have been found currently unable to work. The Government says this £30 disincentivises sick and disabled people from finding work, but it has so far offered no evidence for this claim. In fact a recent independent Review showed the opposite is true: that this cut will make it harder for disabled people to find work.

Almost 70% of sick and disabled people we surveyed say this cut to ESA would cause their health to suffer and just under half said they would not be able to return to work so quickly. We call on the Government to listen to the damaging effect this will have on the lives of sick and disabled people and immediately halt this cut.

Signed:

1. Lord Low of Dalston CBE
2. Baroness Grey-Thompson DBE
3. Baroness Meacher
4. Jan Tregelles, Chief Executive of Mencap
5. Steve Ford, Chief Executive of Parkinson’s UK
6. Michelle Mitchell OBE, Chief Executive of the MS Society
7. Lesley-Anne Alexander CBE, Chief Executive of RNIB
8. Mark Lever, Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society
9. Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness
10. Paul Farmer CBE, Chief Executive of Mind
11. Lynda Thomas, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support
12. Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK
13. Heléna Herklots, Chief Executive of Carers UK
14. Gillian Morbey OBE, Chief Executive of Sense
15. Richard Leaman CB OBE, Chief Executive of Guide Dogs
16. Paul Breckell, Chief Executive of Action on Hearing Loss
17. Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group
18. Amanda Batten, Chief Executive of Contact a Family
19. Deborah Gold, Chief Executive of National AIDS Trust
20. Jackie Morton, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust
21. Carol Boys, Chief Executive of Down’s Syndrome Association
22. Jeff Skipp, Chief Executive of Deafblind UK
23. Sonya Chowdhury, Chief Executive of Action for M.E.
24. Dr Adrian James, Registrar of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
25. Philip Lee, Chief Executive of Epilepsy Action
26. David Barker, Chief Executive of Crohn’s & Colitis UK
27. Debbie Cook, Chief Executive of National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society
28. Stephen Fisher, Chair of RSI Action
29. Paul Lenihan MBE, Chief Executive of Action Duchenne
30. Dave Webber, Chief Executive of Livability
31. Chris Simmonds, Chief Executive of Revitalise
32. Tanya Marlow, Founder of Compassionate Britain
33. Peter Corbett, Chief Executive of Thomas Pocklington Trust
34. Theresa Shearer, Chief Executive of ENABLE Scotland
35. Teresa Catto-Smith, Founder of Autism in Scotland
36. Billy Watson, Chief Executive of Scottish Association for Mental Health
37. Ian Welsh, Chief Executive of Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland