Blue Badge Threat:
"In a recent development, Conservative Party MP Danny Kruger pressed the Labour Party to "consider the benefits to which PIP is a gateway, such as Motability, disability premiums, Council Tax discounts and Blue Badges" and called upon Sir Stephen to "promise at least that those entitlements could come down"." 🥺😥💔
I think the mistake lies in not recognising the reality of ambulatory wheelchair users, dynamic disabilities, and invisible conditions. The PIP system absolutely does make mistakes, and it’s deeply ableist to expect disabled people to be continually scrutinised when they are already under constant assessment.
The idea of widespread “fake claimants” is a media-driven narrative – official figures show that fraud rates for PIP are only around 0.1%. In other words, the overwhelming majority of claimants are genuine and are being unfairly put through unnecessary hurdles.
I also want to point out that not all disabilities are treated equally in the system. For example, I’m prescribed medical cannabis, but unlike those with cancer or terminal diagnoses, I must pay for it privately as the NHS does not cover it. This highlights the inconsistencies in how support is provided.
Rather than spending more public money on extra checks that penalise disabled people, we should be fixing the flaws in a broken system and ensuring support is delivered fairly and efficiently. Disabled people already face enough barriers in daily life – the benefits system shouldn’t be one of them, yet it already is without others attempting to make things worse.
Sarah Wingfield
Independent Disability Advocate
#disabilityinclusion #strongertogether #disability #disabilityawareness #disabilitysupport #disabilityrights
Alt text: A screenshot of a news article from Yorkshire Live, it is a red brick wall with a blue square shaped metal plate pinned to it, on the square is the person and wheelchair symbol of Disability and it has a white arrow underneath. Under the image is a thin blue line separating a white banner that takes up the lower half of the image. The thin blue line becomes a blue rectangle with the letter 'Y' in white text on: in reference to Yorkshire Live. In large black letters against the white banner it reads " DWP could seize blue badges from PIP and Universal Credit claimants - in shake up." ♿
