THE Scottish Government has been warning for years now that thousands of people in Scotland would lose their disability benefits as a result of UK welfare reforms and now we have some idea of the potential numbers involved.
According to new research by the Scottish Government, 30,000 disabled people will lose their entitlement when disability living allowance (DLA) is replaced with the personal independence payment (PIP). It is not as many as Nicola Sturgeon originally said would be affected, but it is still a disturbingly high number.
Some have asked why, if the Scottish Government is so concerned about the issue, it is delaying the devolution of disability benefits until 2020, which is a fair question. But the question we should really be asking is: what does this tell us about our system of welfare and what it is designed to achieve?
The answer is that, from the start, the primary purpose of PIP was to save millions of pounds as part of the wider austerity agenda rather than ensure people who need help receive it; this has led to the suspicion that the medical assessments are geared to minimise people’s problems and push them out of welfare.
If the Scottish Government is serious about reform, it will have to tackle that central issue. Tests should be based not on the desire to save money but an attempt to assess what people really need.
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