‘I’m LGBTQ+ and disabled – losing my benefits means I will lose my independence’

Amie, a queer woman who has been chronically ill and disabled since childhood, is worried.

The Norfolk local is one of roughly 3.6 million Britons who receive Personal Independence Payment (Pip), a benefit designed to support disabled people whether or not they are in work.

Work is something Amie finds tricky to do full-time. She lives with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome), a group of inherited disorders that affect the body’s connective tissues; ME/CFS (Myalgic encephalomyelitis), causing brain and spinal cord inflammation; POTS (Postural tachycardia syndrome), which restricts blood circulation leading to lightheadedness and confusion and PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder), an extreme and debilitating form of PMS.

To help her get by, Amie was awarded the lowest rate of Pip, £72.65 a week, in 2023.

But under plans announced by the government to restrict who is eligible for Pip, Amie and other LGBTQ+ disabled people – among the closest to falling into poverty – will lose their ‘independence’.

‘If I lost my Pip, I simply lose my job,’ the 29-year-old, who did not wish to be fully named, told Metro.

‘The next time I can’t cook, I’ll be too ill to get to work the next day. The next time I can’t take the bus home after a shift, I’ll be stranded and get sicker instead of affording a taxi.’

Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, outlined a shakeup to Britain’s benefits last week.

Under the new system, people who cannot cook a simple meal for themselves but can heat food in a microwave would not be eligible for Pip unless they have other needs to be taken into account. 

The plans from Labour, the party that created the welfare state, would see up to 1,200,000 disabled people lose up to £6,300 by 2030.

Today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined the government’s ‘final adjustments’ to welfare cuts. This includes Universal Credit, or UC, which bundles several types of welfare payments into one.

‘The Universal Credit standard allowance will increase from £92 per week in 2025-26 to £106 per week by 2029-30, while the Universal Credit Health element will be cut by 50% and then frozen for new claimants,’ she told the House of Commons today.

By ‘health element’, Reeves is referring to when people cannot work because of sickness or disability. She added that Labour is investing £1,000,000,000 to provide ‘personalised employment support to help people back into work’.

This, however, has done little to reassure Amie.

‘I’m really hurt and offended by Labour’s actions,’ she says. ‘I’m also so disgusted and scared by the rhetoric that Labour has been using for months, calling us fakers, Micky takers, scroungers and skivers.

‘It feels callous and cruel.’

Amie, who also has dyslexia, anxiety and depression, says she has been fired or had to quit her job eight times because of the negative health effects from working.

For Amie, her Pip cheque is liberating. She can order food instead of going hungry when she’s too ill to cook, pay for a cab to make hospital appointments and can hold down a part-time job.

LGBTQ+ Britons earn less on average and are more likely to experience poverty than their straight counterparts. Bisexuals have among the lowest amounts of wealth and are more likely to experience financial woes.

Queer men are more likely to claim working-age benefits, lesbian parents claim parenting benefits and bisexual people claim disability benefits.

Researchers from the University of Stirling say that queer people may not even apply for welfare out of fear of discrimination, a sense of stigma only worsened for those who are also disabled.

The government has said there is a strong ‘moral case’ for helping people off benefits and into the workforce – all while saving £5,000,000,000,000.

However, anti-poverty campaigners struggle to see the ‘mortality’ of the plans.

‘Disability benefits like Pip and Universal Credit are a lifeline, not a luxury,’ Conor Lawlor, a benefits expert with Turn2us, told Metro.

‘These reforms risk deepening mistrust, worsening inequality, and increasing an already widening barrier for disabled LGBTQ+ people to claim the support they are entitled to.’

Ayla Ozmen, policy and campaigns director at the charity Z2K said disabled people may now see their incomes drop by 60%.

‘The government claims the cuts won’t affect people “in genuine need” but evidence from our advice services shows people affected include double amputees and people with psychosis,’ she added to Metro.

Parts of the government’s welfare shakeup may not apply outside England, including Scotland, which has the power to set its welfare policies.

Sophie Molly, a trans woman who lives in Aberdeen with her partner, has a neurological condition that impacts her coordination and ability to walk.

The songwriter receives about £291 a month in adult disability payment, a benefit for disabled, working-age Scots akin to Pip.

‘My disability means I can only work part-time. So without adult disability payment, I’m completely dependent on my partner and others for food,’ Sophie told Metro.

‘It was a horrendous process to apply for it. A very long and complicated application to receive very little money of £72.75.

‘I know the payment is devolved, but with austerity looming, I’m worried. I feel for all those on benefits right now.

‘These cuts are draconian and savage. Tax the billionaires. Don’t punish the poor and vulnerable.’

As Sophie lives with her partner, she is no longer eligible for Universal Credit.

The political campaigner had no choice but to sign up for adult disability payments after years of living off of soup tins and food bank parcels and being too scared to switch the lights on.

It’s a ‘soul-destroying life’ that Amie fears she may soon be living.

‘Pip gives us independence,’ they said, ‘it is illogical for the Labour government to accuse us of being too dependent on our independence.’

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