Mencap responds to select committee report on housing benefit changes

Thursday 23 December 2010

David Congdon, Mencap's head of policy and campaigns, said:

"The committee has acknowledged there are barriers for people with a disability entering employment. The government must now address our concerns that reducing housing benefit for people on job seekers allowance for more than one year may disproportionately affect people with a disability because they find it harder to get a job.

"The committee has also recognised that people renting in the private sector may have to move to cheaper areas and cheaper properties. This means people with a learning disability may have to move away from their families and support networks, which will make it more difficult for them to live independently.

"Just before Christmas, when most of us are looking forward to spending time with our families, we ask that the government considers the negative consequences for people with a learning disability if they have to move."

ENDS

For more information please contact Nicola Thompson on 0207 696 5603 or email nicola.thompson@mencap.org.uk.

Notes to editors

• About Mencap

Mencap supports the 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK and their families and carers. Mencap fights to change laws and improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities, supporting thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.

We are also the largest service provider of services, information and advice for people with a learning disability across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. See http://www.mencap.org.uk/ for more information.

• About learning disability

A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops before, during or shortly after birth. It is always lifelong and affects someone's intellectual and social development. It used to be called mental handicap but this term is outdated and offensive. Learning disability is NOT a mental illness. The term learning difficulty is often incorrectly used interchangeably with learning disability.