Disabled people hit by changes to the benefits system are having to rely on food banks, according to a coalition of disability charities. The Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), which is made up of 50 charities and other organisations such as the MS Society, Leonard Cheshire Disability and RNIB, is warning the situation will get even worse as the government implements more changes.
A survey of nearly 4000 disabled people, carried out by the DBC, reveals that of those hit by housing benefit changes – such as the ‘bedroom tax’ – more than one in ten (12 per cent) have needed to use food banks to feed themselves and their families.
There have also been changes to council tax that have hit some disabled people hard, increasing the amount of money they have to pay when they were previously exempt. A similar number of people affected by those cuts – 9 per cent – have also needed to use food banks.
Among those people unfortunate enough to be affected by changes to both housing benefit and council tax, as many as 15 per cent are using food banks.
The DBC is warning the government that even more disabled people and their carers are going to be forced to rely on food banks as benefit changes continue to come into force.
The Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is currently being replaced by Personal Independence Payment (PIP). PIP is supposed to help disabled people with the additional costs of living with a disability, but under the plans more than 600,000 people will no longer qualify for support. It will leave them even more likely to need help with the costs of housing and council tax.
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