Osborne’s benefits spending cap will include DLA, PIP… and ESA Two key benefits for disabled people will be included in a new “welfare cap”, even though new government research has revealed only a tiny minority of people want to cut spending on disability benefits.
The chancellor, George Osborne, announced last week that he would introduce the cap from 2015, and that it would include spending on disability benefits.
The Treasury was unable to say last week exactly which benefits would be included in the cap.
But this week, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that both disability living allowance and its working-age replacement, personal independence payment (PIP), would be included.
It also revealed that spending on employment and support allowance (ESA), the replacement for incapacity benefit, would be included in the cap, even though jobseeker’s allowance will be excluded.
It is still unclear exactly how the cap will work, but the Office for Budget Responsibility will be told to issue a “public warning” if social security spending approaches the limit set by the government.
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