Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) – we need your help in speaking up about the cuts

The Chancellor is due to make his budget announcement on 8th March. One week before, on 1st March, Disabled people, Disabled People’s Organisations and the charities are all coming together to call on him to stop this cut.

What you can do:

Write to your MP – you can download a template letter below
Template-letter-to-your-MP-To-oppose-ESA-cut

Visit your MP – We are asking all London DDPOs who have Conservative MPs to arrange to visit your MP on Friday 3rd March to talk to them in person about the impact that the cut will have.

Come to Parliament – join us outside Parliament on 1st March for a photo stunt with supportive MPs from 10.15am.

Social media – tweet selfies with the hashtag #ESAcuts

We are again asking for your help in speaking up about the cut to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) (and equivalent under Universal Credit) due to come in this April.

The Chancellor is due to make his budget announcement on 8th March. One week before, on 1st March, Disabled people, Disabled People’s Organisations and the charities are all coming together to call on him to stop this cut.

Sending an email to your local MP will take no more than a few minutes while the cut will be devastating to the Disabled people it affects.

Under Government plans, new claimants in the Work Related Activity Group will receive the same amount per week as Job Seekers Allowance (JSA). This is £29 less per week which is nearly a third of the current benefit. JSA is only intended to be a short term measure and is set low accordingly. Deaf and Disabled people face many barriers to employment which means we are more likely to be unemployed and for longer. The government says cutting the benefit will “incentivise” Deaf and Disabled people to find work. There is no evidence to back up this claim. There is evidence that cutting people’s income this much will actually move them further away from employment.

Findings from a survey conducted last year by the Disability Benefits Consortium found that:

  • Almost 7 in 10 (69%) of disabled people say cuts to ESA will cause their health to suffer
  • Almost half say they would return to work later
  • A third say they couldn’t afford to eat on the current amount they receive from ESA

For more information:

Inclusion London briefing: WRAG-cut-briefing

DBC briefing doc: Disability Benefits Consortium briefing on cuts to ESA and UC 16.02.2017

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