Universal Credit (Exceptions to the Requirement not to be receiving Education) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 — House of Lords, 2021-12-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael John Storey (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, disabled young people need all the support and help that our society can give them. Those disabled young people who have become students—who are learning and want to progress in education and who want to go to college and university—should not be facing barriers. They should not be facing checks and counterchecks, making it as difficult as possible for them to get the financial support that they need. It strikes me as strange that we hear from the Government so many times that there should be no barriers to learning or supporting young people, when these very young people have barrier after barrier against them Tomorrow, sadly, the new regulations come into being, and that will have dire consequences for disabled people in education, as they will be prevented from claiming crucial universal credit. The new regulations will prevent disabled people who are receiving education accessing a universal credit claim if they have not established what is called a "limited capacity for work" status before they started receiving education. This effectively means that many disabled people will be unable to receive universal credit if they are in education, which creates the risk that certain groups of young people will be unable to finish their education, limiting their employment opportunities in future Of course, this is not the first time that the Department for Work and Pensions has misinterpreted the needs of disabled people. Disability Rights UK stated that 30,000 disabled students could have been affected by the DWP’s misunderstanding of the law which prevented thousands of disabled students from claiming benefits essential for their cost of living in the past seven years. Testimony of numerous disabled students has described cases where education has been put beyond their reach In 2013, around 8.6% of higher education students were disabled, yet in an NUS survey from that year, 59% of disabled respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had been worried about not having enough money to meet basic living expenses, compared to 47% of non-disabled respondents. Only 33% agreed or strongly agreed that they were able to concentrate on their studies without worrying about finances, compared to 45% of non-disabled students, and 55% have already seriously considered leaving their course, compared with 35% of non-disabled respondents. Among those, 54% reported that it was because of financial problems, 36% because of a health problem, and only 20% that it was because of a disability issue Although this data is from 2013, it shows important patterns in the difficulties that disabled students have faced in the past and continue to face today in financing their studies. The current proposed changes will only exacerbate obstacles faced by disabled students in accessing high-quality education, forcing certain disabled students to choose between staying in education, but without being able to access crucial resources in sustaining themselves, and dropping out altogether, which will create immeasurable strain on their current well-being as well as future prospects. Overall, cutting off access to universal credit for many disabled students who are currently in education would create additional obstacles and severely impede the Government’s objective of empowering and supporting disabled people across the UK Even before the regulations come into force tomorrow, the current rules make it difficult for disabled people in education to claim universal credit, and the new rules will restrict access even further. Students are caught in an impossible situation; they need a work capability assessment to get a "limited capacity for work" status, but the main way in which to access that assessment is by starting a claim for universal credit, and they need "limited capacity for work" status before they can get universal credit. It is not clear how refusing disabled people means-tested support through universal credit, because they do not have "limited capacity for work" status before receiving education, would support them in achieving their potential or starting, staying and succeeding in employment This is not an area of strength for me, and I have struggled to understand many of the issues—so God help those poor students who are trying to work their way through this. In reality, the regulations will force many young disabled people who cannot go without financial support from universal credit to drop out of education altogether. What the Government are doing is, frankly, appalling: disabled students already face so many barriers to engaging fully in education, and now the Government plan to callously rip away the additional support offered by universal credit. This truly is penny-pinching of the worst kind. As Child Poverty Action Group has warned, this change in the rules will close off the only route for young disabled learners, meaning that many could be forced out of education altogether. We need to support and empower everyone living with a disability to achieve their full potential, not pull the rug out from underneath them. I beg to move.