THE Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) has just issued a hard-hitting report entitled Pathways To Poverty, which condemns the government’s Pathways To Work green paper. This well-researched 44-page report totally undermines the many flimsy arguments put forward by the “red Tories” to justify their killer cuts.

The report goes through the effects of restricting Personal Independence Payment (PIP) eligibility, cutting the universal credit (UC) health element and making PIP daily living the gateway to UC health. As the CAB points out, over 1.6 million people, which is nearly half of those currently receiving the daily living element of PIP, stand to lose out with an average loss of £4,500 a year.

Its opening paragraph blasts Keir Starmer and company for their sham consultation over the £7 billion worth of proposed cuts: “By refusing to properly consult on its plan to cut billions from disability benefits, the government is choosing not to ask questions it doesn’t want the answers to.

“The cuts will have a devastating impact on disabled people (and their children), sending hundreds of thousands into poverty, and many more into deeper poverty. This will result from a series of arbitrary reforms that have been designed around savings targets rather than improving outcomes, inflicting hardship on people in ways that the government doesn’t yet fully understand.”

The CAB report totally undermines the claim repeatedly made by our “red Tory” Chancellor that benefits cuts will not push people further into poverty and hardship: “The government used a dubious sleight of hand to reduce the number of people likely to be pushed into poverty. It counted people who would have been affected by the Tory work capability assessment changes which never happened as having been lifted from poverty they were never actually put in.

“So, rather than 250,000 being pushed into relative poverty by Labour, Citizens Advice thinks it could be as many as 400,000. The green paper doesn’t attempt to work out how many people will lose both PIP and the UC health element as a result of the changes, or how much they will lose.

“The government document doesn’t analyse how many people already in poverty will be more deeply entrenched in poverty as a result of the cuts, although an FoI request has suggested this will be 700,000 people.”

CAB further points out that scrapping the work capability assessment means the PIP daily living component will become the gateway to receiving the health element of universal credit. This means that those who are not eligible for PIP daily living will also not be able to receive the UC health element. This double whammy means that up to 900,000 people could lose up to £10,000 a year.

Of course, this does not factor in the terrible impact of the cuts on disabled people’s families. For example, the loss of PIP will mean that other benefits such as carer’s allowance, worth £4,300 a year, will be lost. CAB estimates that 150,000 people will lose their carer’s allowance, driving families with disabled members into deep poverty.

The proposed justification for the cuts, the alleged desire to help disabled people get jobs, totally ignores the fact that PIP is not an out-of-work benefit. It is designed to help disabled people cope with the higher costs of living that they face.

The terrible irony of these cuts is that they will have the effect of driving many disabled people out of the workplace. CAB notes that in 2024, nearly one in four of those seeking help with PIP were in jobs and for many, the benefit enables them to stay in employment. PIP helps many disabled people cover extra costs related to working.

For example, it might include, as it did in my own case from 2013 to 2016, paying for taxis to the workplace if someone is unable to use public transport. Many disabled people receiving PIP use it to help pay for health treatments and therapies which are crucial to them being able to work.

As the CAB points out, just cutting people’s income isn’t going to help them get a job: “For those who are pushed into poverty as a result of the reforms, this will only make it harder to work. When someone struggles to pay for basics like food, clothes and transport, it becomes tougher to find and keep a job.

“The link between poverty and ill-health is well established. If you can’t afford food, heating or health costs, your health is likely to worsen, pushing you further from work.”

The “red Tories” in power also ignore the fact that disabled people face widespread discrimination in the world of work, which makes it difficult to get a job. The CAB reports notes that in 2024, 41 per cent of those seeking help with employment issues were disabled. If disabled people tell a potential employer about their disability at interview, then in many cases the employer will not hire them.

The CAB report quotes one of its advisers who commented: “We see many clients who struggle to access employment, we don’t see an abundance of work opportunities for clients with health issues. It will simply push more clients into poverty, and we’ll see an increase in mental health issues.”

We should also bear in mind the fact that the Disabilities Minister Stephen Timms has admitted in Parliament that the government plans to make cuts to Access To Work, which helps disabled people get into — and stay — in work.

The government’s determination to force disabled people into looking for work totally ignores the underlying reasons why more people are claiming health-related benefits.

As the CAB report notes: “A DWP survey of disability and incapacity benefit claimants found that 41 per cent of respondents were on a waiting list for treatment for their health problems, and 50 per cent who were currently out of work felt their ability to work was dependent on receiving treatment.”

Finally, the CAB report makes the point that cutting billions from disability benefits is a false economy as it will merely make many disabled people even more ill, dramatically increasing the demands on the NHS, social services, education and voluntary sector. Besides this, there will be a growing number of disabled people made homeless by these cuts, never mind the increase in the suicide rate which will inevitably follow.

The CAB report concludes with a call on Labour to abandon its cuts, which are a devastating attack on some of the most vulnerable people in our society: “The government must reconsider its current approach. We are calling on the government to cancel proposed cuts to disability benefits.

More immediately, we’re asking the government to: Reverse the decision not to consult on cuts to disability benefits. Delay parliamentary votes on disability benefit cuts until all relevant impact assessments have been published. This should include the impact on other public services and the voluntary sector, and estimated employment outcomes from measures proposed in the green paper.”

Of course, it does not have to be this way. The “red Tories” in power could stop the Bank of England selling government bonds at a loss, which the ONS estimates will cost the public purse an eye-watering £150bn by 2030.

Never mind the fact that this reactionary government refuses to entertain the idea of wealth taxes on the millionaire/billionaire class, which could raise tens of billions for public services. Starmer could also save billions by stopping his support for the proxy war in Ukraine and ending the bombing of the Houthis in Yemen.

The Work and Benefits campaign group, which is doing excellent work opposing the proposed cuts, has made the following impassioned call to arms for all those disgusted by Labour’s inhumane measures:

“The report is a must-read for anyone campaigning on this issue and should be compulsory reading for any MP voting on it — though sadly they are the least likely group to ever open its pages.”

Dr Dylan Murphy is an activist in DPAC and Unite Community.