Written evidence from Director of Policy, Leonard Cheshire [UCW0097]

Thank you for inviting me to give evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, on Universal Credit and the five-week wait. It was positive to see the committee’s interest in how the five-week wait, and the current processing of Universal Credit, impacts upon disabled people.

I am writing to add some further detail to one of the answers I gave to the committee, highlighting the additional costs disabled people are having to meet during the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the evidence session, I informed the committee that we have received reports of disabled people facing the five-week wait for their first payment having to use their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) awards to pay for food and utilities, rather than care, support and equipment to live independently.

From our survey of disabled people on their experiences of the pandemic, respondents claiming PIP cited examples of their daily living costs soaring, due to the need to buy Personal Protective Equipment for themselves and their carers. Some individuals have also needed to buy additional specialist equipment, as services like physiotherapy are temporarily not available.

Taken together, these issues mean that at a time when disabled people are facing even greater financial burdens due to the pandemic, the support they receive to address these costs is instead having to be used to pay for basic necessities disabled people cannot afford during the five-week wait. As articulated in the evidence session, people claiming Universal Credit may be unable to access advance payments, or unwilling to do so due to concerns about longer-term debt.

For this reason, alongside our calls to end the five-week wait and offer non-repayable grants rather than advance payments, Leonard Cheshire is calling for legacy benefits such as PIP to receive the same £20 uplift as Universal Credit, to ensure disable people can meet those additional costs of living.

I would be happy to speak further to you or other members of the committee on this matter if that would be helpful.

Thank you again for the opportunity to engage with the committee on this important issue.

June 2020