SNP Government promises not to cut Adult Disability Payment after UK benefit changes
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the Scottish Government "will not let disabled people down or cast them aside".
The SNP Government has promised not to cut the Adult Disability Payment (ADP) after Labour published its plans to slash welfare.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the Scottish Government "will not let disabled people down or cast them aside".
The UK Government published its plans to cut benefits in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon.
Somerville said: 'The reforms do not reflect the Scottish Government's values. We will not let disabled people down or cast them aside as the UK Government has done. We will not cut Scotland's Adult Disability Payment.
'The UK Government should follow our lead and protect the social security safety system, rather than dismantling it. If they do not, then disabled people can draw no other conclusion than the UK Government remain content to balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable.'
The UK Government's bill will tighten the criteria for personal independence payment (PIP) as well as cut the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC) and delay access to those aged 22 and over.
The vast majority of people in Scotland on sickness benefits are on the devolved ADP rather than PIP.
But the cuts mean Scotland is likely to be have less money available.
Somerville added: "The UK Government's proposed reforms will be hugely damaging to those who rely on social security support, particularly during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
"These plans have yet to be passed at Westminster, so there is still time for the UK Government to step back from this damaging policy and I strongly urge them to scrap their harmful proposals.
'The UK Government's own analysis highlights how the proposals will push 250,000 more people across the UK into poverty - including 50,000 children.
"With around half of all children in poverty in Scotland living in a household with a disabled person, the changes threaten to undermine the progress that we are making to reduce child poverty, and the work of the UK Government's Child Poverty Taskforce.
'That the UK Government is prioritising deep cuts to disabled people's support is made even worse by their failure to abolish the two-child limit, which is estimated to have pushed more than 35,000 children into poverty since July last year."
The Labour Government is set for a stand-off with its own MPs over the cuts, with many opposing them.
UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: 'Our social security system is at a crossroads. Unless we reform it, more people will be denied opportunities, and it may not be there for those who need it.
'This legislation represents a new social contract and marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity.
'This will give people peace of mind, while also fixing our broken social security system so it supports those who can work to do so while protecting those who cannot – putting welfare spending on a more sustainable path to unlock growth as part of our Plan for Change.'
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