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Islanders to lose nearly £1.7 million in benefits 24/10/10
Sir,
I was lucky to have delivered to me the Scottish Local Government Forum Against Poverty’s excellent report “People, Councils, The Economy” and was horrified to see the amount of money the Western Isles will have taken away from its economy due to the recent benefit changes.
These changes are due to the Westminster Government’s recent Comprehensive Spending Review and include changes to Housing Benefit, Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit.
- £68,000 will be lost yearly to the Western Isles due to the changes in Housing Benefit this will hit single people especially.
- £1,039,319 will be lost yearly due to changes in Disability Living Allowance of which there are 1,360 claimants in the Western Isles this will be cut by 20% due to changes in the care and mobility criteria.
- The scrapping of Incapacity Benefit and introduction of Employment Support Allowance for a maximum of one year will see the loss of £569,947 in the first year rising to £990,080 yearly after that.
- The total lost to the Western Isles’ economy over the next year will be in total £1,677,335.
- The loss in subsequent years (not allowing for inflation) will be £2,097,499.
- Over the five years of this review period the Western Isles will lose £10,067,331.
I am sure you will agree this is a massive loss to our already cash strapped local economy, and will affect the poorest people the most.
I would suggest everyone read this report and write to Danny Alexander to register their disapproval.
Kevin Paterson
Chair
Western Isles Forum of Tenants and Residents’ Associations.
38 Macdonald Gardens
Leurbost
Lewis