PIP would cost less if politicians invested in making life easier for people like me

Every time I hear politicians call the PIP and wider disability bill “unsustainable,” I wonder why they choose, year in and year out, not to make the investments in inclusive services and infrastructure that would reduce this bill.

My daily life is full of evidence of why I “cost” so much: I can’t use my local tube station because it has no step-free access, and neither do nearly two-thirds of stations on the underground. I can’t find an accessible flat to rent because so few are built, regardless of what regulations require. And I can’t build up savings, because then I would lose access to social care funding for the carers that help me shower and get out of bed in the morning.

These aren’t choices I make. They are the result of politicians’ annual refusal to acknowledge the true causes of disability costs and make the tough choices to solve them, instead throwing their hands up at a growing benefits bill and blaming disabled people for it.

This is why benefits spending is so high: when train stations have no lift, disabled people pay for taxis - one of the costs PIP exists to offset. When employers won't consider disabled applicants, people who want to work end up relying on out-of-work support. When social care is underfunded and people like me have too few care hours to use the toilet, families give up jobs to fill the gaps.

When will a Prime Minister’s “tough decisions” mean, for example, rerouting money into making train stations accessible, of which 39% are not? The Institution of Mechanical Engineers says this would add £176bn a year to the economy by enabling disabled people to work and shop, for a one-off rail investment of £20–24bn. Yet these improvements are delayed year after year. In 2018, the Government promised disabled people equal access to transport by 2030. At the current rate, it will take around 100 years.

If Government wants to spend less on disability benefits over time, it has to remove the daily barriers that create these costs. That means step-free stations, accessible homes, a properly funded care system, and enforcement against employers who break the law. That is investment, and it pays back in people who can work, travel, save and contribute. The public already understands this: only 7% support cuts to disability benefits and 49% support more spending, even if it would mean higher taxes.

I pay my taxes, and I'd like to pay more of them - from a job I can get to and a home I can live in. Fix disabled people’s barriers after decades of unkept promises, and the benefits bill will start to come down.

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Anna Landre is an internationally-recognised disability justice activist and researcher.

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