People with Disabilities: Cost of Living

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 16th May 2023 Westminster Hall

[Marion Fellows]

The hon. Lady will know that I do not often agree with her, but in this case I totally agree. There are many other organisations—she mentioned the Resolution Foundation, and the MND Association has outlined that those with motor neurone disease face additional costs of £14,500 per year. Naturally, those with the condition have much higher energy needs in order to power their essential, life-saving equipment.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

The latest Government statistics show that 68% of PIP decisions appealed by a claimant were overturned. Does the hon. Member agree that there is a pressing need to improve the PIP assessment to ensure that people who are disabled or have a serious health condition do not have to fight continually through reassessments and tribunals to get the support that they so desperately need?

[Marion Fellows]

I could not agree with the hon. Lady more. This is a scandal, and it is a huge waste of public money with the number and cost of appeals and tribunals.

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[Margaret Greenwood]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. When I met representatives of Scope a few months ago, one issue they raised was the household support fund. It is designed to help vulnerable people across England and is administered by local authorities, but it has not helped many disabled people. Many people are not aware of its existence. Does she agree that that is shocking and that, as the Government have extended the fund until the end of March 2024, it is vital that people are made aware of the support that is available?

[Vicky Foxcroft]

My hon. Friend raises an important point, and I completely agree.

The costs will vary depending on the specific disability or disabilities that an individual has, but they might include assistive equipment, care and therapies—things that are essential for them to live their lives. My hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) raised the fear of more disabled people dying, and my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Margaret Greenwood) rightly pointed to problems with PIP decisions and the need for the reform of the assessment process.

We all know that disabled households tend to spend more on essential goods and services such as heating, food and travel. As we have heard many times, last month the disability equality charity Scope released updated research on the extra costs associated with having a disability—the so-called disability price tag. When Scope last calculated the price tag in 2019, it stood at £583 per month. The update makes for very sober reading: over the last four years the price tag has risen to a shocking £975 per month, which is equivalent to 63% of household income. That means that disabled households need to find almost £12,000 extra per year to achieve the same standard of living as non-disabled households.

The hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) rightly articulated the escalating rise in food costs, which under the Conservatives have risen at the highest rate for more than 45 years. Depending on the nature of their disability, some people have difficulty preparing certain foods and rely on pre-prepared or convenience food, which frequently works out to be more expensive than buying raw ingredients. The price of ready meals rose by almost 22% in 2022. If someone has difficulty standing or sitting for long enough to prepare a meal from scratch, they might feel they have no choice other than to pay those prices.

The hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Sarah Green) raised the case of a constituent who could not afford their energy costs and had to switch off important equipment. Disabled people have been hit hard by rising energy prices not only because they might have difficulty keeping warm and spend more time at home, but because many have to run life-saving medical equipment. In the Commons Chamber at the end of last year, I raised a case in which the actor Kate Winslet stepped in to help a family faced with a £17,000 bill.

I am sure the Minister will tell us that the Government have taken steps to support disabled people through the crisis by delivering the disability cost of living payments. Disabled people may also benefit from broader support measures such as the energy price guarantee and other cost of living payments for those on means-tested benefits. What the Government will probably not remind us of is that hundreds of thousands of people are no longer entitled to the warm home discount since the Government excluded those who claim disability living allowance, personal independence payment and attendance allowance.

I find myself in the odd position of agreeing with the hon. Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson) that we should abolish reassessments for conditions that we know will not improve or are deteriorating. I am interested in how the Minister will respond to that idea.

Among many others, Disability Rights UK has said that the support given to disabled people has barely touched the sides. Trussell Trust figures show that even in early 2020, 62% of working-age people referred to food banks were disabled. A Mencap survey has revealed that 35% of people with a learning disability have skipped meals to cut back on costs and 38% had not turned on their heating despite being cold. I could go on, but others have already stated the case very eloquently this morning, so I will finish by asking the Minister to commit to working closely with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations to find a sustainable solution to the crisis. As many have already said, they genuinely are the experts by experience.

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[Margaret Greenwood]

One of the things that charities representing disabled people have been campaigning for is a social tariff for energy—the Minister was just talking about energy—to give disabled people, older people and carers who face high energy costs discounted energy bills. In January, I asked the Government what plans they had to introduce a social tariff for energy, and the Minister at the time replied:

“The Government has committed to work with consumer groups and industry to consider the best approach, including options such as social tariffs”.

Will the Minister please provide an update on that? Also, I urge him to have discussions with disabled people and the charities that represent them, as well as industry and consumer groups.

[Tom Pursglove]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady for her intervention. If I may, I will come to that point a little later, because I want to address the social tariff issue directly.

We understand and recognise that many households in the United Kingdom include vulnerable people who may be elderly or disabled, or who may have a medical condition. Often, that inevitably leads to higher energy costs. We are clear that everybody must be able to afford their energy usage, particularly to be able to power any machines and equipment that they might require. With that in mind, I would argue that the Government acted decisively and rapidly by putting in place a significant and comprehensive package of support to assist with the cost of living challenges. It is worth more than £94 billion in 2022-23 and 2023-24—an average of more than £3,300 per UK household. It is also important to note the 10.1% uplift to benefits across the board.

To reflect back on 2022-23, one of the vehicles through which we were able to deliver that support was the cost of living payments—the £1,100 payments for some households during the 2022-23 financial year. It was a remarkable achievement that, from the first announcement back in May last year to delivery, more than 30 million cost of living payments were paid last year. More than 8 million households received up to £650 across two payments; more than 8 million pensioner households received an additional £300, on top of their winter fuel payments; and 6 million people receiving an extra-costs benefit such as personal independence payment or adult disability payment in Scotland received a £150 disability cost of living payment.

Those payments came alongside a wider package of cost of living support, with the energy price guarantee capping fuel bills at £2,500 for average use, the £400 off domestic electricity bills that was received by every household in Great Britain, and then the council tax reductions for properties in bands A to D in England, as well as—this was an important part of the package, recognising that people’s circumstances are often not neat and that there is a risk that people fall between the cracks of the structured support—the household support fund, including funding in that envelope for the devolved Administrations. We extended that support twice, and the total has been £1.5 billion since October 2021.

I certainly feel that the household support fund has been a helpful vehicle for us to get support out to people by working with local authorities. I totally accept that we should look at what more we can do about awareness of it and getting the message out. Of course, many of our partners, such as Citizens Advice and advice services, are invaluable in helping the Department and local authorities to get the word out about it, but I would certainly be keen to look at any suggestions about what more colleagues think we can do about awareness, because it has been an effective means of getting help to people who require it.

[Margaret Greenwood]

I thank the Minister for giving way again; he is being extremely generous. He is talking about what else we could do. Will he recognise the erosion of advice centres for constituents? I am sure that many of us in this room are acutely aware that there has been an erosion of the provision of advice to people, and particularly to disabled people. Perhaps the Minister could speak to his colleagues about looking at funding such centres, because a lot of them came about through local authority funding, which has been squeezed to such a degree that there is no longer the same level of advice available in our communities as there should be.

[Tom Pursglove]

I will certainly and gladly take that point back to the Department. I am sure it is something I can pick up on during the many engagement sessions that I have, particularly with disability charities and disabled people’s organisations. I would be keen to hear their views on how the issue is best approached and what more we can do in the advice space.

I want to touch on the cost of living support in place for 2023-24. Members will recall the commitments that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer made in the autumn statement, including a firm commitment to support the most vulnerable people in our society. That will be delivered through 8 million low-income households getting £900 cost of living payments. I am delighted to say that my Department has already delivered 99% of the first cost of living payment of £301 to the 7.3 million households in receipt of a means-tested benefit such as universal credit. That in itself represents a £2.2 billion injection of help for households.

I am also pleased to confirm that we will shortly lay in Parliament regulations that will allow us to pay the additional £150 disability cost of living payment to 6.5 million people throughout the UK who receive an extra-costs disability benefit. Those payments will land in people’s bank accounts in the summer. We will also shortly lay regulations that mean that this winter pensioner households will again get an additional £300 on top of their annual winter fuel payment, as they did last year.