A group of 25 disability and children’s charities, including The Children’s Society, Barnardo’s and the National Autistic Society, has launched a petition through the new DirectGov e-petition website. Petitions that gain over 100,000 signatures could have their ideas debated in parliament.
The charities are aiming to get 100,000 people to challenge government to rethink its welfare reforms considering the needs of disabled children.
Bob Reitemeier, The Children’s Society’s chief executive, said: "We need the government to understand the significance of this change for disabled children and their families. One hundred thousand disabled children are going to face a substantial cut in benefits which could push them into poverty."
The charities claim that the government’s proposals for a universal credit will mean that 100,000 disabled children could face losing £27 per week in welfare support. They warn that because money is paid per child, families with more than one child could be hit by significant losses.
"£27 is more than half of a family’s average weekly food budget," Reitemeier added. "For a low-income family living on the breadline, this could mean the difference between meeting their children’s basic needs and finding themselves simply unable to cope.
"We launched this petition because we know that people power can make the government rethink this damaging change."
The petition, Don’t let disabled children pay the price of welfare reform, states that many families could be pushed below the poverty line by the changes.
