YP Letters: Benefit cuts will deepen mental health crisis

I AM writing regarding your front page article (The Yorkshire Post, May 13). The crisis is going to get worse due to increased demand for mental health care, because people suffering from severe mental illnesses are losing half of their benefits.

Until recently, most such people received Disability Living Allowance and Employment Support Allowance. DLA is being phased out and replaced by the Personal Independence Plan.

This benefit is only for people with physical disabilities; on the application form all the questions are about physical needs and not about mental health problems that can lead to increased financial costs.

Locally, only two out of 200 applicants with severe mental illness have been granted PIP.

Any stress, such as increased financial worries, can cause a relapse of the illness requiring help from mental health staff. This change in the benefit system does not give mental health patients parity with physical health patients, and could be said to be discriminatory.