Tom Hunter’s phone did not stop ringing last week.
The psychotherapist received calls from people across Northern Ireland whose “anxiety has gone through the roof” over a UK government plan to cut disability benefits to make £5 billion (€5.97 billion) in savings.
Hunter (62), a former corporate broker in the City of London, knew from personal experience what the callers were going through; in 2008 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and moved home to the coastal townland of Islandmagee in Co Antrim, where he began navigating the benefits system.
Now reliant on a crutch, wheelchair and mobility scooter – “my hands, fingers and legs don’t work properly,” he says – Hunter volunteers for Northern Ireland’s MS Society and offers free counselling.
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“I had 40 to 50 calls from ex-clients and many were in tears, saying, ‘what does this mean? Am I losing my car? Am I losing my independence? Is everything going to be taken away from me?’” Hunter says.
“It’s put an absolute fear into people.”
Unveiled last Tuesday and described in Westminster as the “biggest shake-up to the welfare system in a generation”, the measures include a tightening of eligibility criteria for those receiving a benefit known as a personal independence payment (Pip).
Latest figures show there are just under 218,000 people claiming Pip in Northern Ireland.
Anxiety and depressive orders are the most common reasons for those in receipt of Pip, according to Stormont’s Department for the Communities, with anti-poverty activists pointing to the impact of the North’s Troubles across generations of families.
At its top end, Pip payments are £184.30 per week. It also has a separate mobility component, with claimants eligible to lease a car, wheelchair or scooter.
Although social welfare payments are a devolved matter for Stormont ministers to decide on, it is expected that what happens in London will be replicated in Northern Ireland.
Simon Matchett (44) from Bangor, Co Down, says he is “terrified” at the thought of losing his disability benefits and believes more stringent assessments will disproportionately affect those with “invisible illnesses”.
The former operations systems manager was forced to give up his job in Edinburgh and move back to the North after being diagnosed with MS 12 years ago.
Matchett struggles to sleep due to spasms in his leg and his mobility has deteriorated.
“My left leg could go from under me at any time. That nerve signal is broken. I wouldn’t know what’s happening until I’m going down,” he says.
Following an assessment in 2017, Matchett had his Pip benefit reduced and car withdrawn.
He successfully appealed the decision and the benefits were reinstated “but only after four months”.
During that period, the loss of independence and feeling like he was “trapped in his house” led to him being prescribed antidepressants by his GP.
“In order to receive this benefit, it’s dependent on so many questions and they’re all so dehumanising. They make you feel like you’re begging,” Matchett says.
“I didn’t ask for this condition – it’s changed my world. When you go from being someone who went road biking and running, I was a fit, active guy. I had a good job and life was good ...
“But I’ve come to accept my condition and adapt to it as best I can. This payment is important for me to continue doing that.
“Ultimately, I know my condition is not going to get better.”
The controversial proposals faced a backlash within the Labour Party, with some backbenchers branding them “cruel”.
During prime minister’s question time last Wednesday, there were audible gasps in the House of Commons when Foyle SDLP MP Colum Eastwood asked Keir Starmer “what was the point of Labour?”. He cited the case of a disabled constituent, who had to be fed and toileted by her children, who would lose her benefit under the new reforms.
Carer Christine McClements from Coleraine has a severely disabled 16-year-old daughter, Lilia, who is in receipt of the Pip benefit.
McClements fears that, as part of the welfare shake-up, her daughter will fall victim to cuts linked to a separate top-up benefit for under-22s with long-term illnesses and disabilities.
The UK government said it will reinvest the money it saves from stopping this payment (it is in addition to the Universal Credit benefit) into training for young people.
“These plans will affect Lilia in that she won’t be able to claim the incapacity element until she’s 22. So when she’s 18 to 22, that will be a cut to what she’d expect.
“Our expectation is that she would live a full and dignified life; she should have the ability to do that. Her disabilities are on the severe and profound side.
“So this feels like a punishment, really, for her level of disability.”
Last May, Lilia underwent emergency surgery after she was diagnosed with a rare childhood form of ovarian cancer. She is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair.
“She has come through so much and is such a bright and social little girl. She loves to be surrounded by people and just enriches our lives. We are in awe of her,” adds McClements.
“For us, we’re all about including Lilia in society and ensuring that she is a full and equal citizen.
“You judge a society by how it treats the most vulnerable and at the minute it’s as if a child like Lilia is going to be under these removal of supports that she really needs to function.”
Anti-poverty charity The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, warned the unprecedented nature of the cuts would have wider implications for the North’s public services, “which are already fraying”.
There is also a “concerning lack of detail” around how many people will be affected and the extent of the savings, according to Ursula O’Hare, the charity’s NI head.
A spring paper is due to be published this week by the UK government and there will be a vote on some of the proposals – one Labour MP warned it could lead to the “mother of rebellions” – when it comes before Parliament in coming weeks.
“It’s really hard to fathom how these cuts will do anything other than push people with disabilities into even greater levels of hardship,” adds O’Hare.
“It’s going to be especially difficult for young people – and that is a real worry. Their benefits will be restricted. For some 16 to 18 year olds, that support is pivotal and could make a massive difference to that transition period in their lives.
“People with significant level of health needs will be caught up in this. It will also affect their carers.”
For Matchett, who volunteers for the MS Society and is a former client of Tom Hunter, there was optimism when the new Labour Party government came into power last year.
“I thought, Labour has come in – and them being the party that started the welfare system – so it would all change for the better,” he says.
“But these proposals, in my opinion, are going to be a hell of a lot worse than what the Conservative government ever did.”
