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More than 180,000 people have lost disability payments because of cruel Tory benefit reforms.

The government began phasing out the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in favour of controversial Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in April 2013.

Assessments carried out by infamous private contractors Atos and Capita have led to 125,000 and 64,000 claims being disallowed respectively.

In total, 19% of claims assessed by Atos were rejected by the DWP, while for Capita it was 24%.

Up to 31st July 2017, 649,480 claimants underwent a Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) reassessment with Independent Assessment Services (IAS), previously known as Atos.

Of these claimants, 125,680 were disallowed PIP and 523,800 were awarded PIP by the department.

Capita carried out 262,500 assessments of which 64,280 were disallowed PIP and 198,220 were awarded PIP but he department.

Labour have previously described the assessments as "not fit for purpose".

Labour MP Toby Perkins, who uncovered the figures, told HuffPost UK: “These figures reveal the extent to which the new regime is impoverishing severely disabled people.

“Already over 20% of DLA recipients have lost out on payments they did receive.

“It is also chilling to see that the disallowance rate of Capita is actually higher than those assessed by infamous Atos assessors.”

(Image: PA)

Labour MP Toby Perkins asked the question after a number of constituents raised the issue with him.

“We are talking about a very substantial number of people whose claims have been disallowed, and I think many people even expected the figures to be higher,” he added.

A DWP spokesperson said: “We introduced PIP to replace the outdated DLA system. PIP is a better benefit which takes a much wider look at the way an individual’s health condition or disability impacts them on a daily basis. Under PIP, 29% of claimants receive the highest rate of support compared to 15% under DLA.

“Decisions are made following careful consideration of all the information provided by the claimant, including supporting evidence from their GP or medical specialist. Anyone who disagrees with a decision can appeal.”