Incompetent Mordaunt made ‘false promises’ on WRAG cut mitigation

Last Updated: April 7, 2017By

What are we to think about this?

The minister for disabled people has been accused of making “false promises” that she would reduce the living costs of people facing cuts of nearly £30 a week to their out-of-work disability benefits.

From this week, new employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants placed in the work-related activity group (WRAG) will receive about £73 a week – the same as those claiming jobseeker’s allowance – instead of the £102 per week paid to existing ESA WRAG claimants.

The highly controversial cut will save the government more than £1 billion over the next four years.

Ministers had tried to justify it by claiming that receiving nearly £30 less a week would “incentivise” sick and disabled people in the WRAG to find work.

But Penny Mordaunt had also promised fellow MPs on the work and pensions select committee in November (pictured) that she was working on a package of measures to “mitigate the £30”, which she said would be in place “before April”.

But when Disability News Service (DNS) asked this week what Mordaunt had managed to achieve in the four months since November, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggested that her only success was ensuring that new WRAG claimants would be told by their jobcentre work coaches how to secure the cheapest BT telephone tariff.

Source: Exposed: Mordaunt’s ‘false promises’ on WRAG cut mitigation

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8 Comments

  1. Gary April 7, 2017 at 12:23 pm - Reply

    Hi Mike, I’m going to give you my life story, not quite, but if you have the time could you bear with me.
    I am 56, at in 2012 I had a motorcycle accident which resulted in what was described as very serious arm injuries the 2 forearm bones came out through the humerus.I continued to work until 2015 when following several operations I was told I had been considered for a replacement elbow but it was deemed unsuitable as it wouldn’t last and there is insufficient bone for a second shot. They opted to fuse the elbow and leave any work on my shoulder until it becomes intolerable, so my arm is now fixed at 70° and I have restricted movement in my shoulder. Following the fusion I have been left in chronic pain which my GP has told my only option for pain relief is Morphine which I take daily in 12 hour slow release capsule form with a liquid top up as required. 2 months following the accident I developed epilepsy, possibly as a result of huge doses of Tramadol and Codeine. So now I take heavy duty pain relief and anti epileptic medication. I also have a long standing depressive and anxiety disorder and have recently been diagnosed with PTSD as I can no longer walk anywhere near the accident site and when out if anybody looks at me I am paranoid that it is the driver of the car. So now add anti depressants to the mix and I find I am screwed up. Concentration is bad with overwhelming exhaustion hitting me at random times.I have seen a further 2 orthopaedic surgeons and both have independently and without sight of each others report have stated that manual work is out of the question due to the risk of the fusion breaking down leaving only one option also due to the shoulder complications to use a keyboard or mouse will also be out of the question. Sorry if I sound like I have a case of terminal hypochondria. I have recently filled out my ESA reassessment form and if anything, the symptoms and prognosis are worse than on my original claim.
    I will keep you posted as to the reassessment and whether I will be sent for another WCA, which I suspect I will and whether I have a benefit cut.
    We need a few more people to document their experiences and compile some evidence as to the positive or negative outcomes of their assessment and present cases to local MP’s and the DWP.
    We can’t do anything in isolation but with a unified effort perhaps we can raise the profile of the treatment of disabled people in the public psyche,

  2. Dez April 7, 2017 at 1:55 pm - Reply

    Where do they find these lying morons who cannot even tell the truth to their customers and worse the voting public. They live in la la land. Keep
    swigging your “bolly” toffs the poor and vulnerable know they are in safe hands.

  3. Samuel Miller (@Hephaestus7) April 7, 2017 at 4:37 pm - Reply

    DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) will strive to take the government to court over these harmful cuts; see:
    Potential Legal Challenge to £30 p.w. ESA Cut – defendants needed – DPAC http://dpac.uk.net/…/potential-legal-challenge-30-p-w…/.

    It would appear that there are neither measures in the DWP Personal Support Package (//www.gov.uk/government/news/welfare-reforms-and-330-million-employment-package-start-from-april-2017) to financially offset the ESA WRAG cuts, nor help with subsistence needs, such as heating or eating. New claimants in the WRAG will be hard-pressed to survive on a JSA-level benefit. Many sick and disabled claimants in the WRAG will not be able to depend on the PIP benefit, either. Nearly half of disabled people subject to “planned reviews” of their eligibility for PIP are having their existing award either cut or removed completely, according to new figures obtained by Disability News Service (//www.disabilitynewsservice.com/nearly-half-of-pip-reviews-saw-award-cut-according-to-unpublished-dwp-figures/).

    The DWP’s disregard for the subsistence needs of future ESA (WRAG) claimants is shocking. When sick and disabled people don’t have enough money to live on, let’s not pretend that by focusing solely on getting them into work but leaving them still choosing whether to heat or eat, we are actually tackling the disability employment gap.

    The ESA WRAG cuts started on April 3 and tragically coincide with the triggering of Article 50 (Brexit); employment opportunities for sick and disabled people will rapidly disappear—the DWP’s additional financial support to Jobcentres will be ineffective and wasted.

    See also: Ekklesia | ESA cut – where is the promised mitigation? http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/23862.

    It is evident that Penny Mordaunt, the Minister of State for Disabled People, has misled Parliament, new claimants in the ESA WRAG, and even MPs on the Commons Work and Pensions Committee.

    MPs in Britain were misled twice with regard to the ESA (WRAG) cuts: first, by Stephen Crabb, former DWP Secretary, and now by Mordaunt. See:

    Stephen Crabb got his facts wrong on disability aid cuts – time to make amends | Jonathan Portes | Opinion | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/…/stephen-crabb-facts… (critical sentence: ‘Now, it transpires, many Conservative MPs simply had no idea what they were voting for.’)

    See also: Frank Field MP to Penny Mordaunt re Disability Employment Gap 30-3-2017 – Frank-Field-MP-to-Penny-Mordaunt-re-Disability-Employment-Gap-30-3-2017.pdf http://www.parliament.uk/…/Frank-Field-MP-to-Penny…
    [PDF, 4 pages]

    In other words, you cannot compare the needs of healthy, able-bodied jobseekers with those who have serious disabilities and health conditions, who are in the ESA WRAG and classified as not fit for work. They have additional financial needs, as cited in this article: What are the extra costs people face? | Disability charity Scope UK https://www.scope.org.uk/campa…/extra-costs/what-are-costs.

    Nor are we dealing here with people with minor illness. Charities report that 45% of people who put in a claim for ESA, and had Parkinson’s, Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis, or Rheumatoid Arthritis, were placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG).

  4. jeffrey davies April 7, 2017 at 5:10 pm - Reply

    still a good ploy how many more have died at their hands denied benefits on it goes

  5. Florence April 8, 2017 at 3:07 pm - Reply

    ! Speechless !

  6. Giri Arulampalam April 8, 2017 at 7:45 pm - Reply

    “Tory Navy girl” Lt Penny Mordaunt is very proud that she also a serving Officer in the Royal Navy in addition to being the MP for Portsmouth North!

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