Disability charities and campaign groups in Sheffield have criticized the governments proposal to reduce the number of people eligible for additional disability benefits, which would lead to thousands of disabled people being forced to find work.
The plans to reform the Work Capability Assessment, announced on 22 November as part of the Autumn Statement, will reduce the number of disabled people classed as having a “more severe” incapacity.
This means thousands of disabled people will no longer be eligible for additional disability benefits.
I spoke to Lexy Webster, Marketing Coordinator for the Burton Street Foundation, a disability support charity based in Sheffield.
She told me that there is a concern that some of their clients may have to reduce the number of hours that they could visit them, because of the planned benefits cut.
“Although a lot of our clients are in good support systems with their families and things like that, we don’t anticipate that most of our clients will have issues. But we do have some people who are of higher capacity who could be affected by this.
“It’s going to bring some real issues for people like me and for people like our clients.”
Read the full article here: https://sheffieldwire.co.uk/index.php/2023/12/08/disabled-people-arent-part-of-the-conversation-sheffield-organisations-criticise-plans-to-cut-disability-benefits/
Esmé Kenney 
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