By Becky Johnson, social affairs correspondent
The stark impact of welfare cuts is 250,000 more people will be living in poverty, including 50,000 children.
For some people already struggling to get by, losing benefits could be the difference between being able to put food on the table for their families – or not.
And the fact that sick and disabled people are those set to lose out adds to a sense that the vulnerable are being targeted.
Few would argue the welfare bill doesn’t need looking at. Spending on sickness and disability benefits has ballooned since the pandemic. It stands at around £65bn, with one in ten people of working age now claiming.
Almost a million young people are not in employment education or training. A welfare system that means people signed off sick get around double the amount jobseekers receive has been blamed for incentivising more people to opt out of the workplace.
But an attempt to tackle those perverse incentives will mean many who desperately need the money will lose out.
In Wolverhampton, 57-year-old Winston told me life would be a real struggle if he loses part of his PIP. He thinks he’ll probably have to turn the heating off. It’ll be okay in the summer, he says, but he’s worried about the winter.
At a mother and baby group, one woman agreed that more people should be working. But she can’t, she says, due to childcare costs. And as for people off sick she asks where are all the jobs for them?
People with very little feel like they’re losing out. They question why the wealthy weren’t targeted instead. And don’t understand why the chancellor couldn’t have broken her self-imposed fiscal rules.
Viewed from Wolverhampton, the chancellor’s statement in Westminster appears to target those who can least afford it.
