Ex-servicemen and women found to be mobile in a new assessment face losing up to £120 a week
| Artificial hand: Ben McBean says the idea is a joke |
Injured army heroes could lose disability cash under Government plans to slash welfare costs.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is set to strip 500,000 people of Disability Living Allowance and that could include hundreds hurt in the line of duty.
Ex-servicemen and women found to be mobile in a new assessment – even if they have a prosthetic limb – face losing up to £120 a week.
Former Royal Marine Ben McBean, who lost a leg and an arm on tour in Afghanistan, said yesterday Mr Duncan Smith’s plan was a “joke”.
He said: “The idea is ridiculous. He should come back and have a chat with some of the lads rather than come up with this idea.”
People must be physically or mentally disabled and need care help to get disability living allowance. Mr Duncan Smith plans to replace the benefit with one called a Personal Independence Payment.
He claimed that too many people on DLA were “just allowed to fester”.
| Ball guy: Ben meets David Beckham in 2009 |
He added: “It’s not like incapacity benefit, it’s not a statement of sickness. It is a gauge of your capability.” Ben, 25, who met football star David Beckham in 2009 to discuss his injuries, currently gets £80 a week disability living allowance.
He is able to walk – albeit in constant pain – with a £7,000 prosthetic limb he had to buy himself but he fears he would be judged as mobile under the new benefit.
He said: “Every penny counts. For someone like me £80 is quite a lot of money. It all adds up.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne said yesterday: “This government has approached the vital reform of disability benefits with a mix of contempt and carelessness.”
A DWP spokesman said: “Disability living allowance is an outdated benefit.
"Under PIP, support will be focused on those who need it most.”
Mirror
