It’s immoral that disabled people are being sidelined during this energy crisis

Editorial: Once again, those with disabilities hardly figure in the national debate on the cost of living crisis. And once again, they are treated as an afterthought at best

The rise in energy bills alone might wipe out the value of certain social security payments (Getty)

As Boris Johnson remarks, in a still-rare moment of candour, “It is going to be tough in the months to come... it’s going to be tough through to next year.” And what does the man who is still formally, and otherwise, prime minister offer? An unspecified “package” of further help (which may well amount to tokenistic measures) and advice to people that they should have a sense of “hope and perspective”.

None of that will pay the gas bill. It will certainly be tough for many, particularly for larger and less-well-off families in larger, older properties; for the elderly, more at risk of hypothermia and less inclined to seek the help they are entitled to; and for a group of people who are too often neglected in so many areas: those with disabilities. Once again, they hardly figure in the national debate on the cost of living crisis. And once again, they are treated as an afterthought at best.

In the case of disabled people who are in receipt of social security, the outlook is bleaker than for most of their fellow citizens. In the first place, many have a lower income simply because they cannot work as easily as others, and society often fails to make the reasonable adjustments necessary to help them to get better-paid jobs.