Equity has warned that Labour’s welfare reforms weaken the already diminished safety net that sick and disabled people rely on. The union is urging the government to improve support for disabled people, including by reforming Access to Work and removing the minimum income floor which makes creative careers less accessible for disabled people.
On Tuesday (18 March) the Labour Government set out plans that could see up to 1.2 million disabled people lose thousands of pounds. Labour’s welfare changes will make it harder for individuals to claim Personal Independence Payment (Pip), a benefit which is currently paid to more than 3.6 million people who have long-term health conditions. Campaigners have warned that the cuts could have a devastating impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who rely on the benefit.
63% of Equity members have relied on social security at some point in their life, largely intermittently or for short periods and nearly 50% of Equity members subject to the minimum income floor said they had or were considering leaving the creative industries.
Responding to the reforms, Equity General Secretary Paul W Fleming says: “This government seems intent on pitting sick and disabled people against the taxpayer, placing responsibility for the failures of an underfunded system on those most in need of its support.
“The proposals set out in the Pathways to Work green paper only serve to weaken the already diminished safety net of support that sick and disabled people rely on.
“Due to the precarity of the arts and entertainment industry, almost two thirds of Equity's members have depended on support from the social security system at some point in their lives. Equity has repeatedly called on successive governments to invest to improve the support for disabled people to enter the workforce, such as Access to Work, and to remove the ineffective minimum income floor which makes creative careers less accessible for disabled people.”
Equity will be responding to the Government's Green Paper in full. Find out more about our policy work.
