Thousands of people in West Devon are likely to see their disability benefit frozen, figures show, as the Government plans to unveil welfare reform.

The Department for Work and Pensions is reportedly set to reveal £6 billion worth of potential benefit cuts, as laid out in measures seen by ITV News last week.

These measures aim to push more people claiming disability benefits into work. Under the plans, stricter criteria will be imposed on those who can receive Personal Independence Payments and the payments will not rise with inflation next year.

PIP is non-means-tested and helps with some of the extra costs caused by long-term disability, ill-health or when a person is approaching the end of their life due to a progressive disease. It is not an out-of-work benefit.

RADAR analysis of the most recent DWP figures show 2,873 people in West Devon were receiving PIP as of October last year – up 68% from 1,706 in 2019.

Across England and Wales, the number of PIP claimants has increased from 2.1 million in 2019 to 3.6 million last year.

Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK, warned: "The effects of these proposals are obvious – they will make more people sicker, further undermine everyone's right to a decent quality of life and further entrench the barriers to access, employment, and social inclusion that many disabled people face."

He said the Government continues to wrongly focus on the "symptoms of our sick and broken society".

He added: "The potential freezing of PIP, a benefit to recognise the extra costs of disability – nothing to do with someone’s working status – at a time when disabled people are amongst the worst affected by increasing costs of energy, housing, food and transport, is devastating.

"PIP payments are already known to be too low – why is the Government focused on cuts, when it costs an average of £1000 per month extra for disabled people to live the life of a non-disabled person?"

PIP is made up of two awards – a daily living rate and a mobility rate. People can be entitled to either or both of these.

The current standard daily living rate is £72.65, while the enhanced rate is £108.55. The standard mobility rate is £28.70 and the enhanced rate is £75.75.

In West Devon, 57% of people receiving the daily living payments were on the enhanced rate, and 64% claiming the mobility payments received the enhanced rate.

James Taylor, the charity's executive director of strategy, said: "We've had three years of bank-busting prices across the board, and energy is set to go up yet again in April.

"PIP exists because life costs more if you are disabled. Those costs won’t disappear if the Government freezes its value."

He added many disabled people use PIP to get to and from work and to pay for essential equipment like mobility aids.

"Making life harder will just push even more disabled people into poverty, not into jobs," he warned.

A DWP spokesperson said the current welfare system is "broken" and needs reform to help long-term sick and disabled people who can work to find employment. They added it will ensure people receive the support they need while being "fair to the taxpayer".

They said: "Without reform, more people will be locked out of jobs, despite many wanting to work. That is not just bad for the economy, it's bad for people too.

"We have a duty to get the welfare bill on a more sustainable path and we will achieve that through meaningful, principled reforms rather than arbitrary cuts to spending."

They said part of the Government's Plan for Change will bring forward proposals to help reach its ambition of an 80% employment rate.