Disability benefit cuts: Your stories

Plans to cut disability benefits could breach human rights laws, the government has been warned.

Ministers want to streamline the system and make cuts of 20% by replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new Personal Independence Payment.

BBC News website readers have been sending in their reaction to the plans.

Wendy Tiffin, Poole, Dorset

I use the mobility allowance for transport fees. My care home pays for a vehicle but I need the allowance to pay for the petrol.

My mother lives about 40 miles away and I use by mobility allowance to go home for Christmas or Easter. Without it, I would not be able to see my mother or the rest of my family.

I also have to provide and maintain my own wheelchair and I use the mobility allowance for this. If I cannot afford to maintain the chair myself, how will I get around?

I will become imprisoned in my own care home.

I think the government is right to try to weed out those who are falsely claiming disability benefit. But for the genuinely disabled like me, it is rather distressing to have to go through a series of interviews again in order to qualify for benefits.

I hope the government rethinks its plans.

Mandy Ellis, Kent

I cannot believe that this is being considered.

My 14-year-old daughter receives the high rate of DLA, which means she is entitled to the high rate of mobility. This allows us to have a car through the Motabilty Scheme.

When we first applied she was turned down. At the time she could walk but she had to have support. But as time has gone on she can't walk or stand.

We have a brilliant local carers association who helped us fill out all the forms again and she was then awarded the higher rate.

Today she is unable to stand and has to get around in a wheelchair. She is unable to speak so this makes life even more difficult, as she is unable to communicate her feelings.

Having a car allows us more freedom.

It allows me, as her carer, to give her more freedom. We know we have a reliable car we can use whenever. All we have to do is put fuel in it.

We can get her in and out really easily and we have break-down cover so if we have a problem and she's in the car we become a priority. It's a Godsend and a lifeline.

I really think there should be an assessment of everybody who claims and if it's found that you don't need it, it's taken away from you. Time and time again we hear of the people who really need this support being punished because of fraudulent claimants getting away with it.

Susie Mills, Kirkintilloch

I receive the mobility element of DLA. I work full time as an administrator in Glasgow. I have a motability car which enables me to get to work as public transport is not feasible where I live.

I have breathing problems and arthritis and cannot walk any distance.

I could not afford to own and run a car and would have to give up work if this benefit was withdrawn. I would not be able to afford my mortgage as I would be totally reliant on benefits.

If withdrawn, the government would not only lose tax and national insurance payments, it could cost them a lot more in benefits as I would have to sell my home and effectively become a prisoner in any house I could afford.

The government is supposedly trying to get disabled people into work. I don't understand how this cut would facilitate this.

Information about changes has also been unclear - it's come out in bits and pieces.

The government should look at this more closely and for a longer period.

Alex Srdarevic-Lewis, Salisbury, Wiltshire

I'm just shocked by the changes. I think it is unfair that money is being taken away from disabled people.

I would love to work but I can't. I have severe problems with my mobility and use a stick to walk.

I know the government says it wants to target those who need the money, but this doesn't reassure me at all. The government is playing with a system that is working at the moment. People are going to fall through the cracks. And I'm worried I'll be one of them.

We don't have much money - my husband took early retirement a couple of years ago, and we've had to spend a lot on items such as a stair lift.

I only started claiming DLA in the last decade, though I could have claimed before.