Disabled group calls Labour's benefits overhaul 'cruel cuts'

AN OVERHAUL of the welfare system will see the assessment process for some health benefits scrapped in a plan expected to save billions by the end of the decade.

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Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the current social security system is "failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back".

But groups representing disabled people have condemned the "cruel cuts" as "immoral and devastating", arguing the changes will "push more disabled people into poverty, and worsen people's health".

Ahead of yesterday's announcement, MPs on Labour's left and the party's trade union backers hit out at the plans, arguing they would punish the disabled and the poor.

Addressing Parliament, Ms Kendall announced the "work capability assessment" for universal credit which is used to determine eligibility for incapacity benefit payments based on someone's fitness for work will be scrapped in 2028.

Instead, she said, extra financial support for health conditions will in future be based on a person's health or disability, rather than their capacity to work.