Liz McInnes speaks up for residents losing Motability vehicles

Liz McInnes, Labour Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton

Liz McInnes, Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton, has urged the Minister for Work and Pensions to take action to help residents who are losing their Motability vehicles due to government changes to disability assessment procedures

Speaking in a parliamentary debate about work and pensions, Ms McInnes told Penny Mordaunt MP, Minister for Work and Pensions, that residents have lost their Motability vehicles following a reassessment of their needs under the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) scheme which has replaced Disability Living Allowance. The Motability group said last year that 44% of those who had been reassessed under the PIP system had been told they were no longer entitled to the support.

Last summer, it was reported in national media that even Team GB Paralympians had been stripped of their Motability support. Other notable cases have seen sufferers of multiple sclerosis and cancer lose their support as well as a woman who has required support since suffering a brain tumour at just seven months old.

Ms McInnes said: "Many residents have contacted me for help with this issue since PIP assessments began, and I was visited at my advice surgery just last week by a resident who has had their vehicle taken away from them after more than five years. These are people who are incredibly reliant on their specially adapted vehicles for their independence. It is utterly disgraceful that this government, aided and abetted by their friends Atos and Capita who carry out the assessments, are targeting innocent people in this way.

"I was pleased to be able to raise the issue with the Minister but sadly her response completely dodged the issue. The changes to Motability criteria and the vicious assessment procedures are a cruel attack on people in genuine need and I will continue to do all I can to help residents who are being unfairly denied support."