The letter follows on from the chancellor announcing a six-month extension to the Household Support Fund. The letter outlines the fact that six months is not long enough and risks plunging Disabled and marginalised people further into the abyss of poverty as other cost of living payments begin to end. This comes as we hear the news that nearly half of all Black children grow up in poverty - there is no excuse for inaction at the hands of such inequality.
Contrary to the elation from MP Andrea Leadsom that the cost-of-living crisis is over, we can assuredly tell the Government that it is not. The reports of extreme poverty and desperation to survive keep appearing in inboxes, reports, and the media from Disabled people everywhere. Cutting off the last real avenue of support for people on the brink of destitution is not the answer.
It does seem all help to lift Disabled people out of poverty and give them a chance to survive this crisis are being taken away. We recently heard that the energy social tariff, which would have lifted thousands of Disabled people out of poverty, has also been quietly dropped. We are sensing a theme that the community is being cut adrift by the state and being allowed to suffer in silence.
The facts can no longer be ignored, the Disabled community is suffering unimaginable depths of poverty and social isolation, even UK rapporteurs, who sit on the UN Committee for the Rights of Disabled People, this week accurately represented the systemic barriers and discrimination that Disabled people are facing, and it is for all these reasons that we implore the secretary of state for work and pensions not to make the situation worse.
The DPCG as always, have requested to meet the minister to discuss the matter.
The Household Support Fund must be continued until poverty no longer exists. Read the DPCG's full letter to the minister attached down below.