The Labour Party manifesto, published today, includes the most sweeping changes to social security law of any party so far. Many relate to provision for sick and disabled claimants.
Amongst the commitments given by Labour are:
- “stop the dehumanising Work Capability and PIP Assessments, which repeatedly and falsely find ill or disabled people fit to work, and make sure all assessments are done in-house.”
- “increase Employment and Support Allowance by £30 per week for those in the work-related activity group.”
- “increasing the Carer’s Allowance to the level of the Jobseeker’s Allowance.”
- “raise the basic rate of support for children with disabilities to the level of Child Tax Credits.”
- “ensure that severely disabled people without a formal carer receive extra support to enable them to meet the extra costs they inevitably face.”
- “scrapping the benefit cap and the two child limit”
- “scrapping the bedroom tax and increasing Local Housing Allowance”
- “restore all early legal aid advice, including for housing, social security, family and immigration cases”
Labour say that they will scrap universal credit (UC). However, they also say that it will take time to design an alternative system.
In the meantime, the party says it will immediately:
- stop moving people onto UC;
- end the five week wait
- introduce fortnightly payments
- pay the housing element directly to landlords
- end the digital only approach to claiming
