Welfare cuts 'will trap the disabled into life on dole'

Disabled people will be "pushed even further backwards" in society as they are hit with more than £9 billion in welfare cuts over the next five years, a think-tank has warned.

The government's proposed benefit reforms will see 3.5 million disabled people lose about 9.2bn of support by 2015, according to a report from Demos.

Ministers' plans to move disabled people on to Job Seekers Allowance will account for half these losses, it said.

The report, titled Destination Unknown, argued that planned welfare reforms would result in more disabled people being trapped in long-term unemployment - costing the taxpayer far more than at present.

Demos warned that by 2015, families with disabled children would lose more than 3,000 each, and disabled adults whose partner is a full-time carer would also lose around 3,000.

Former Labour minister Kitty Ussher, director of Demos, said: "The emerging evidence is that the only way to get those furthest from the labour market back into work is through individual client-led support.

"Cutting the welfare bill is attractive to government in the current climate, but without better support for individuals it threatens to just exclude people further, rather than transforming their lives for the better."

Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said the figures were "alarming".

"With such dramatic losses on the horizon, how will the government be able to 'protect' the people who need support the most?" he said.