‘A cruel penalty’: disabled people face lower benefit payments if conditions not deemed lifelong

Key Points

Forthcoming rules mean debilitating conditions may not meet strict ‘severe and lifelong’ criteria, say charitiesHundreds of thousands of severely ill and disabled people making new claims will have their benefits cut if the government assesses that their condition might improve, charities have said.In April, the health element of universal credit – an extra payment for people assessed as too unwel…