UNIVERSAL CREDIT AND DISABLED CHILDREN

Motion Text

That this House notes with concern that, under universal credit, at least 100,000 families with disabled children will be worse off by some £1,750 per year; notes that this is due to the lower rate of child disability addition being set at £29.10 per week, representing a 54 per cent cut to the equivalent additional payment of £62.86 per week under the existing benefits system; further notes that families with more than one disabled child will be even worse off, as the addition is paid for each disabled child; acknowledges that families with disabled children face a range of extra costs associated with disability and caring, as well as the challenge of combining complex care and work, and that as a result many such families are already struggling to afford basic essentials, such as food and heating, as evidenced by Contact's Counting the Costs 2018 research; believes that the reduction in the level of support under universal credit can only lead to increased hardship, debt, stress and ill-health; and calls on the Government to set the lower child disability addition at £62.86 per week so that families with disabled children receive at least the same level of support under universal credit as now.