Our priced out and forgotten campaign

The government ’s interventions are short-term solutions to long-standing problems. The government has pledged up to £2250 in support for people on low incomes and benefits. This is welcome but will not cushion people with a learning disability and their families from the combined rising costs of food and energy, let alone the additional costs that come with having a learning disability in the first place. 

In addition, delaying the uprating of benefits to April 2023 places people at greater risk this winter. 

We’ll keep fighting to make sure that people with a learning disability aren’t priced out and forgotten.    

These are the changes we want to see: 

1. The government must raise the minimum income guarantee in line with inflation to prevent people on benefits who receive social care facing real-term cuts to their income during the cost of living crisis. 
2. The government should deliver in-year benefit uprating to protect those on low and fixed incomes this winter – an uplift in April 2023 will be too late for many. 
3. The government must fully commit to ambitious long-term solutions to the significantly increased costs that people with a learning disability face, particularly focusing on working with Ofgem and energy providers to make energy more affordable for people on low incomes and with higher energy usage through a market-wide social energy tariff.  
4. The government, energy providers and local authorities need to do more to make sure they are providing information in accessible formats in line with their responsibilities under the Equality Act. 

Sources:

[1] Scope, 2019 (Disability Price Tag report)

[2] Department of Work and Pensions, 2021 (The Employment of Disabled People 2021)

[3] Social market foundation, 2021 (Time to think again: disability benefits and support after COVID-19)

[4] The Trussell Trust, 2021 (The State of Hunger, June 2021)