Budget Cuts Threat

posted: 26/08/2010

Amid the renewed criticism that the June budget affects the poor and people with disabilities such as HIV worst of all, despite government claims that it is ‘fair,’ and 'progressive,' Britain's equalities watchdog has now warned it could take action. If ministers have failed to carry out the legally required assessment of the impact on vulnerable people, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now threatened action.
 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies described the budget yesterday as "clearly regressive". The respected and impartial think tank did a far more detailed study than it could just after the budget, and has now taken into account things like changes to Disability Living Allowance, Housing Benefit and Tax Credit, and has found that these and all the other changes mean people with incomes in the poorest tenth of the population are the biggest losers in the budget.
 

Equalities warning

Neil Kinghan, the EHRC's director general, issued his warning after Mark Hoban, the Treasury minister, stonewalled questions on the BBC Radio4 Today programme about whether the government had carried out a statutory assessment of the impact of the budget on women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and the elderly.
 

Kinghan said: "It is for the Treasury to demonstrate it has complied with legislation and assessed the impact of its decisions on vulnerable groups. If it cannot do so, then the commission will have to consider appropriate enforcement action."
 

Source

Report on Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis of the affect of the budget on different parts of the population
Institute for Fiscal Studies' own analysis of the budget

Permalink

---