'Children will starve' under Tory cuts plan

Around 100,000 disabled children stand to lose up to £28 a week when the Con-Dems' miserly new Universal Credit comes in, with families whose dependants do not require overnight care especially at risk.

Another 230,000 severely disabled adults who live alone will lose up to £58 a week.

And up to 116,000 disabled people in work could lose £40 a week in additional support.

Former Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said the findings in a joint report were "no easy reading."

The study, which combines surveys of nearly 3,500 disabled people and their families with data gleaned from parliamentary evidence, found "extremely severe" cuts for families with disabled children.

One in 10 told researchers they would not be able to stay in their own homes, while two-thirds said they would have to cut back on food and more than half said they would have to take on debt.

Ms Grey-Thompson said there was a "clear message" that disabled people and their families were struggling to keep their heads above water.

"The government says that people are protected but it is only for current benefit claimants, it is not for new claimants.

"There is no uprate for inflation and if family circumstances change, then people will drop out of that protection.

"The figure that we have is that it is up to half a million disabled people."

Disabled people wanted a simplified system of support - but the government had to think again, she said.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman accused the charities of "irresponsible scaremongering."

She said: "The truth is we inherited a system of disability support which is a tangled mess of elements, premiums and add-ons which is highly prone to error and baffling for disabled people themselves.

"Our reforms will create a simpler and fairer system with aligned levels of support for adults and children. More importantly, there will be no cash losers in the rollout of Universal Credit.

"Hundreds of thousands of disabled adults and children will actually receive more support than now, including paying a higher rate of support for all children who are registered blind."

But Disability Rights UK, which co-authored the report, said the government was being selective with the truth.

Chief executive Liz Sayce said the scheme "may benefit some disabled people" but would disadvantage thousands more.

The report comes just a week after the Resolution Foundation found nearly 1.2 million low-paid and part-time workers would lose out under Universal Credit unless they found longer hours, an extra job or a pay rise.

The scheme caps all government assistance for families at £500 per week and childless singles at £350.