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GOVERNMENT
HITS PENSIONERS AND DISABLED IN MARCH TOWARDS MASS MEANS
TESTING
Local Lib Dem MP, Edward Davey,
today challenged the Government to justify a massive new
expansion of means testing. As a result of three separate
changes, almost a quarter of a million more pensioners
and disabled people will be forced on to the means test.
- 20,000 new claimants of Incapacity
Benefit with a meagre occupational pension of
just £85 per week will have that benefit means
tested at a rate of 50p in the pound.
- 16,000 disabled people will be
affected by the abolition of Severe Disablement
Allowance.
- 200,000 more pensioners will be
pushed onto means testing with the increase in
the Minimum Income Guarantee.
Edward Davey MP said:
"This week sees
another giant stride in the Government’s long march
towards mass means testing.
"Almost a quarter
of a million people will be hit by a triple whammy of
means tests. 20,000 disabled people with company pensions
will be means tested for the first time; over 10,000
severely disabled people will lose benefits they used to
get as of right and will be forced on to the means test;
and 200,000 pensioners will now need to claim a special
top-up to get a decent standard of living.
"The Government
should realise that means testing is for the few and not
the many. It is wrong to force the disabled and
pensioners in Kingston & Surbiton to jump through
hoops for a decent standard of living that is theirs by
right."
Notes
- On Monday 9th April new
rules, introduced in the Welfare Reform and
Pensions Act, will mean that 20,000 new claimants
of Incapacity Benefit with an occupational
pension of £85 per week will have that benefit
means tested at a rate of 50p in the pound. This
means a massive 50p of benefit is taken away for
every £1 per week of pension. For example, a
disabled person with an occupational pension of
£100 will lose £7.50 in benefits.
- Severe disablement allowance (SDA)
will also be abolished. The Government estimates
that about 16,000 people who would previously
have been able to claim Severe Disablement
Allowance will be affected although about 70% of
these will qualify for Income Support. For the
30% whose other income means they do not qualify
for Income Support, the average loss was
estimated at £50 per week.
- Also today, the Minimum Income
Guarantee is set to increase by £13.70 from
£78.45 to £92.15. Current take-up rates would
suggest that of those additional 200,000 who
qualify for the Minimum Income Guarantee 85,000
will not apply. Independent research by the House
of Commons Library shows that up to 200,000 more
pensioners will be forced onto means tested
benefits.
- Between 27,00-30,000 pensioners
live in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
at any one time. This figure was supplied by Age
Concern.
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