Farhana Manzoor, Camden and Haringey Socialist Party
I receive disability benefits. Doing so has become an extremely stressful, degrading experience.
When applying for these benefits, every aspect of life is scrutinised. Even if you have a profound illness, we have to jump through hoops of ‘proving’ how ill we are.
Under the Conservative government, benefits weren’t enough, particularly considering the high cost of living. Many disability charities stated this. As the Tories made the application criteria more stringent, many people died waiting to receive their benefits.
Privatisation in the government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) means that taxpayers’ money isn’t used to help. Instead, the system is further fragmented.
Now it’s the Labour government that is vilifying disabled people, treating us like a burden on society. This is a shameful approach from the government of the sixth-richest country in the world.
Initially, Keir Starmer’s government tried to save £4.8 billion by cutting disability benefits. This would have come from tighter regulations around Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
But PIP is actually a lifeline for many disabled people. It’s money to offset the high cost of being disabled, a necessary payment for disabled people to meet their needs.
My experience has been that clerical errors and the unaccountability of faceless agents, in benefits centres many miles away, have left me scrambling for money which, by right, is mine. I was made to attend sessions where I was supposed to be actively searching for work, despite having a long-term illness.
I spent hours on the phone to countless agents. Despite the underfunded, understaffed system, some were helpful and knowledgeable.
I entered this quagmire in the move to Universal Credit, through no fault of my own. Only to be told six months later of the human error that had been made with my claim.
Fortunately, I was able to challenge the initial decision. But only after hours of excruciating research into what the mistake was, and sheer luck in getting a few competent agents who put it right.
The benefits system is extremely fragmented, so different departments don’t know what is happening to a claim, and if an error is made, as in my case, no one picks it up.
How many other people will actually figure out what mistake has been made, like I did? People who are also dealing with decapacitating illness. It was tough on me.
Now, the Labour government claims it has U-turned on its benefit cuts. But I don’t see this at all.
Last September, inflation was low compared to the rest of the year. Benefit rates are set in September. This time based on this lower-than-average figure. So all disabled people lost out unfairly.
Living costs are extremely high. We should not have to fight for our right to a decent income, alongside being seriously ill.
The PIP reforms, as they stand, still penalise new claimants. Many people who need PIP will be put off from applying, as the process is so stringent and dehumanising.
All this while billionaires are evading their taxes, and enjoying financial gains that they will never be able to spend in their entire lifetimes. Gained often through deceit, and an unfair, unethical, corrupt system.
I want to see a fair welfare system that meets the needs of disabled people, and also gives them access to join employment, to the extent that they can, if they can, without being penalised. The system we are currently in is broken, ineffective, and highly unfair.
We need to kick out private companies. We need a system where knowledgeable staff are encouraged to be caring and to empathise with our needs. As it stands the welfare system is underfunded, understaffed, and under-resourced. Diabolical.
The Socialist Party, where I live in Haringey, is supporting Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates, who will fight for local councils to support residents in getting the right benefits, funding them if needed, and campaigning to get reimbursed from central government.
