Disabled Set to Suffer from Delay in Welfare Powers
Shock new figures show 130,000 disabled people in Scotland could be forced to endure cruel UK Government assessments because the Scottish Government has delayed the transfer of social security powers to Holyrood. In Central Scotland alone 16,500 people will be impacted.
Mr Griffin, Scottish Labour's Social Security spokesperson, revealed the figures, which show that tens of thousands of working-age Scots currently in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are due to be assessed for the new Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
Last year it emerged that the Scottish Government asked the UK Government to retain responsibility for certain benefits in Scotland until 2020 .
Mark said:
“I have consistently called for an end to the cruel and inhumane assessments that have piled misery onto vulnerable people in our area and across Scotland.
"The decision to delay the transfer of responsibility for disability benefits from Westminster to Holyrood exposes an astonishing failure from the Scottish Government and means that 16,500 people in Central Scotland will be assessed under the current system. That is a dereliction of duty from Nicola Sturgeon and her ministers and shows the Scottish Government is not serious about taking a different approach.
“For years Scottish Ministers have rightly criticised the UK Government's cruel reforms to welfare. They promised that they would restore respect and dignity in the new Scottish social security system, but are now prepared to condemn some of Scotland’s most vulnerable citizens to the misery of the current system until the end of the decade.”
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