'Disability welfare reforms could leave us worse off'

Stef Benstead said there is a lot of uncertainty about how the reforms will affect people

Some people with disabilities in the Greater Manchester have told how they fear the government's proposed reforms to the welfare system could leave them isolated and even worsen their conditions.

Labour have said the changes will help more people back into work and save £5bn by 2030.

They include making it harder for disabled people with less severe conditions to claim Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and cuts to the sickness-related element of Universal Credit.

Stef Benstead, from Manchester, is chronically ill and believes the plans could make people with disabilities "far more ill" and is calling on MPs to vote against the reforms.

The government said people with more severe health conditions will be protected and will not be reassessed, and could even receive increased income.

Ms Benstead, 35, has hypermobility Ehlers-Danlos syndrome which affects connective tissue which provides support in skin, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, internal organs and bones.

The condition leaves her constantly fatigued and needing to use a mobility scooter.

She feels there is no prospect of her working currently but worries the new proposed welfare assessments would find that she can.

"I'm always exhausted, I often find it really difficult to think and I'm in pain all the time," she said.

"If I do too much I get all sorts of other illness symptoms."

Kevin and Alison Greenan fear they will be left worse off

She said she also worries any cuts to her benefits would mean she cannot afford to pay for her assistant who helps her with cooking, washing and cleaning.

Ms Benstead said: "By taking money away from us and by telling us we have to go to the job centre and by giving us no certainty over what we are going to be allowed to do with our lives is going to make us far more ill.

"That will be far more costly in the long run."

'We don't know'

Kevin and Alison Greenan, from Middleton, who are both blind, are also concerned about the changes.

They use their PIP money to pay for taxis as they cannot use public transport.

"We don't know exactly what they are trying to do," 70-year-old Mr Greenan said.

"We know they want to reduce it, whether they want to completely take it off us, or will it be only given to certain people for certain things?"

Mrs Greenan, 59, said: "We're not given information about it. They said they're going to reduce it, but to what?"

The government has said a new scheme as part of the reforms will give disabled people the right to try employment without the risk of losing their benefits.

However, the plans have been widely criticised.

Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft has resigned as a government whip over the reforms and dozens of Labour MPs have expressed concerns ahead of a vote on the proposals in Parliament next month.

Kirith Entwistle, MP for Bolton North East, told BBC Radio Manchester she fully supports the stance the government is taking around people who want to get back to work and who want to work.

But she added: "I do feel we should absolutely be helping and supporting those people who definitely need it and who do need it the most."