Trussell Trust warns of rising hunger as 3.2 million face benefit losses

DISABLED people across Wales are facing what campaigners have called “brutal” and “terrifying” cuts to their benefits after the Chancellor’s Spring Statement revealed sweeping welfare changes that will leave millions worse off.

Rachel Reeves, delivering her first Spring Statement as Chancellor, claimed that the changes would help restore a £9.9bn surplus by 2029-30. However, the Department for Work and Pensions quietly published figures showing that 3.2 million families – both current and future claimants – will lose an average of £1,720 a year.

While Reeves defended the changes as part of a plan to grow the economy, critics say the cost is being passed to the most vulnerable – particularly disabled people who are already struggling to afford basic necessities.

In a statement to The Herald, Jo Harry, network lead for the Trussell Trust in Wales, said the cuts would push more people into poverty and hunger.

“These brutal cuts to already precarious incomes won’t help more disabled people find work, but they will risk forcing more people to skip meals and turn to food banks to get by,” she said.

“Disabled people are already three times more likely to face hunger, and over three quarters of people in receipt of Universal Credit and disability benefits are already struggling to afford the essentials like food. This will only get worse.”

‘Terrified’ by cuts

David, 46, who lives in Wales and has a painful bone disease, said he now relies on a Trussell Trust food bank and fears for his future.

“I am terrified now that the Chancellor has confirmed that my disability benefits will be cut,” he said.

“The bone tumours in my hips cause me pain every day and force me to use crutches. In cold weather, my symptoms worsen – but I already can’t afford to put the heating on.”

“Life costs more if you’re disabled. Things like specialist equipment and travel to healthcare appointments all add up. PIP – which the government is brutally cutting – is there to account for these extra costs. It is not a luxury.”

Warnings from experts

The British Medical Journal this week published a warning that cuts to disability benefits could lead to an increase in mental health problems, NHS pressures, and even deaths. In a previous wave of cuts between 2010 and 2013, over one million people had their benefits reassessed – resulting in an estimated 600 suicides.

Meanwhile, the Office for Budget Responsibility warned of a slowdown in living standards growth. Real household disposable income is forecast to grow by just 0.5% in 2027, with inflation expected to rebound to 3.7% in mid-2025.

Campaigners say the Chancellor could have chosen to tax extreme wealth instead of cutting benefits.

Caitlin Boswell from Tax Justice UK said: “Inequality is soaring and people are being left behind, struggling to make ends meet, while the very richest get richer. Choosing to make cut after cut to the poorest and most marginalised, while leaving the vast resource of the super rich untouched, is immoral and harmful.”

CAMPAIGNERS from across west Wales are planning to lobby a meeting of the Dyfed Pension Fund Committee at County Hall, Carmarthen, this morning (Wednesday Mar 26).

Groups from Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire under the banner of Solidarity with Palestine say they will hand in petitions as part of their ongoing campaign calling on the fund to divest from companies they claim are complicit in Israel’s war on Gaza and military actions in the West Bank.

Research by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), published in February, claims that Dyfed Pension Fund holds £235 million in investments in companies that “produce weapons and military technology used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians; provide technology and equipment for Israel’s infrastructure of military occupation; or are active in illegal Israeli settlements based on stolen Palestinian land.”

Campaigners are calling on the committee to divest from all such companies.

The Herald understands that Solidarity with Palestine Pembrokeshire will be handing in a petition with more than 500 signatures, which was previously rejected by Pembrokeshire County Council.

Campaigners also cite a recent statement from UNICEF that said at least 200 children have been killed within four days of renewed Israeli bombing. According to them, hospitals in Gaza are so under-resourced that amputations and other emergency procedures are being carried out without anaesthetic or pain relief.

They say that since March 18, at least 673 people have been killed in Gaza, including 200 children.

PETITIONERS called for a public inquiry into a government-backed insulation scheme that left people thousands of pounds out of pocket in “one of the biggest scandals of devolution”.

The botched Arbed/CESP energy efficiency scheme, which aimed to cut bills, was sold to people living in Caerau in the Llynfi valley, near Maesteg, as the “best thing since sliced bread” in 2012.

But people quickly encountered problems, raising concerns about “terrible” workmanship, and some families’ homes remain in a “disgusting” condition 13 years on.

Now, Rhiannon Goodall, one of those affected, has submitted a petition to the Senedd, calling for a fair deal for people left to live with “extreme damp and mould”.

She told the petitions committee: “Our fight has been ongoing for many, many years. We are now 13 years later and the condition of our homes that have been left in due to this insulation is absolutely disgusting.”

Ms Goddall told Senedd Members she has spent £20,000 or more trying to rectify issues, replacing kitchens repeatedly ruined by dampness.

In a letter to the committee, she said: “I can’t have open foods in the cupboards; tins rust. I’ve gone through multiple small kitchen electrical items due to rusting and failing. I am not the only one in this predicament.

“Other residents have also spent unscrupulous amounts of money trying to rectify the faults, and we cannot keep doing it. Some residents do not have the money at all to try to do this and they live in derelict homes.”

Ms Goodall pointed out that some people have died without seeing the issues put right since the Welsh and UK Government scheme more than a decade ago.

“There were significant failings,” she said. “I would also like there to be a public inquiry into what took place and how this was allowed to happen.”

The campaigner added: “I appreciate that finally, after 12 years, work started to remove the faulty insulation; however, that is all that is being done.

“No rectification work is being done to our homes; walls are not being replastered, carpets and some furnishings are not being replaced, and there is no compensation.

“After all we have been through as residents, such an arrangement is an insult. We are being left to recuperate the costs of a badly mismanaged energy scheme.”

At a committee meeting on March 24, Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher said: “I would argue that this issue has been one of the biggest scandals of devolution and I don’t say that lightly.

“It’s been ongoing now for 13, 14 years where residents have been living in houses that aren’t fit for human habitation….  It’s a scandal and it’s genuinely heart-breaking that residents are still in this position.”

Mr Fletcher, who represents South Wales West, welcomed Welsh and UK Government funding awarded to Bridgend council to undertake remedial work on 104 homes in Caerau.

“That’s been a long time coming,” he said. “I know residents are increasingly anxious about how long it is taking for these things to be put right.”

Mr Fletcher pointed out that fixing the insulation does not take into account all the money families have spent replacing everything from kitchens and curtains to carpets and clothes.

He said: “We’re talking here about a scheme that was sold to residents as a way of saving money but, ultimately, has cost them far more money than they would have expected.”

He warned people could be put off the Welsh Government’s new Warm Homes programme, saying he would “probably run a mile” after what happened in Caerau.

Raising the petitioners’ call for a public inquiry, Mr Fletcher said: “I think it’s that we get down to the problems and why they happened and how this was allowed to happen.

“We know … other schemes are coming down the line because it is the ambition of the Welsh Government to retrofit housing, so I think it’s important we learn lessons from this and restore … a bit of faith in these programmes.”

He told the meeting: “Residents in Caerau have felt that they have not been listened to … this is genuinely a community that is being forgotten.”

The Plaid Cymru politician added: “It’s important for us to recognise that this has been a traumatic experience for a number of residents.”

Senedd Members resolved to write to the Welsh Government, asking its position on a public inquiry, and to Bridgend council for an update on remedial works. The petitions committee also agreed to invite those affected to the Senedd to hear their experiences first hand.