Big Issue North’s response to proposed PIP cuts

The government’s cuts to support for ill and disabled people could reach £9 billion per year by 2029-30, according to the New Economics Foundation.

Disability is defined under the Equality Act 2010 as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities – including work. Over 16 million people in the UK – around 24 per cent of the population – are classed as disabled. Of those of a working age, 47 per cent are currently unemployed, compared to 18 per cent of non-disabled people.

This is sometimes due to discriminatory hiring practices, such as the barriers to employment for autistic applicants recently reported by The Big Issue. But others simply cannot maintain a mainstream job as a direct result of their condition.

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is currently available to disabled people both in and out of work. Disabled people face average additional costs of £975 per month compared to non-disabled people, ranging from higher heating bills to pain relief to deliveries and transportation to specialist equipment, such as mobility aids and computer software. They are consequently significantly harder-hit by the cost-of-living crisis than their non-disabled peers – especially if they are unable to work as a result of their disability.

But with the cuts to disability benefits – already hard and humiliating to access – proposed by Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, this gulf in quality of life could grow exponentially.

The Big Issue North Trust supports those who are able to work some of the time by offering flexible opportunities to earn an independent income. Around a fifth of all vendors and 47 per cent of British vendors are disabled, with conditions including asthma, COPD​, diabetes​, mobility issues​, chronic pain​, arthritis​, epilepsy​, osteoporosis​, learning difficulties​, hepatitis and PTSD.

Sara, 24, who sells the magazine in Southport, was diagnosed with a genetic liver condition when she was just 16. “Sometimes, the pain is so bad that I cannot get out of bed in the morning,” she says. “I tried a different job, but it was really hard. Because I am sick, it is hard for me to stick to a different job. I feel dizzy if I stand up for too long and I feel weak as well.”

Selling The Big Issue enables her to work when she is able to – a freedom not offered by most mainstream employment. “Selling the magazine helps me a lot,” she says. “The money I make selling the magazine helps me buy things for my children.”

Elsewhere, vendors face barriers to mainstream employment due to a lack of formal qualifications, having entered the workplace at a young age due to parents’ ill health. “My mum and dad are both sick,” says Rahela, 22, who sells the magazine in Heaton Moor. “When I was 16, I dropped out of school to help them out.”

She is among the 94 per cent of female vendors, compared to 63 per cent of male vendors and 18 per cent of the general population, without any formal qualifications. This is often due to taking on care responsibilities, including working to support sick relatives, at a young age.

Others, like Gheorge, who sells in Warrington, have to support adult children while also navigating around their own ill health. “My second boy has problems with his stomach,” he says. “He has Crohn’s disease. He is very sick, and he might have to have an operation.

“I sell the magazine because I need to make money, and I can’t get another job. I have a very bad back so I cannot find other work. I used to work on a building site, and I was lifting heavy things, and one time, something cracked in my back. It can be very bad. But I can’t claim any benefits because they say I should be able to find work.”

The Big Issue North Trust supports the rights of all people to a sufficient independent income. To make a donation to support our work, please visit justgiving.com/bigissuenorth/donate or text BINORTH to 70970 to give £5.