Disabled people in South Yorkshire 'angry' over welfare cuts

Disabled people across South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire tell us they feel like 'they were unfairly targeted' in the Chancellor's spring statement yesterday.

Further reductions to disability benefits by the Labour government ended up getting confirmed on Wednesday - including a sharper-than-expected cut to universal credit payments.

David Hayes is a campaigner for Disabled People Against Cuts in Sheffield - He says the knock-on impact of the welfare cutbacks could prove to be 'devastating':

"People will be losing Motability cars and they'll be losing eligibility for carers allowance if family members who they were caring for lose their disability payments.

"It's going to affect people's ability to pay for special educational needs schooling; people will probably lose council tax support, and it will put a huge strain on other things like social care budgets and NHS budgets.

"A decent spring statement would've prioritised people's welfare.

"It would have listened to the concerns of disabled people.

"We're having to pay the price for every national crisis it seems.

"There's a feeling of anger and determination to fight these cuts.

"Disabled people will be protesting these changes."

On Wednesday, Rachel Reeves also confirmed Universal Credit health benefits for new claimants will be halved in 2026 and then frozen until 2030.

An impact assessment into the predicted effects of the reforms, published by the Government on Wednesday, estimated that "there will be an additional 250,000 people (including 50,000 children) in relative poverty after housing costs in 2029/30 as a result of modelled changes to social security, compared to the baseline projections".

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.