UP to 1,700 disabled people across Swindon could be stripped of benefits under a little-noticed Government shake-up, campaigners fear.

The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) – replacing it with ‘personal independence payments’, while carrying out fresh assessments of claimants – will have a “devastating impact”, they have warned.

Ministers have announced they plan to slash 20 per cent from the “caseload and expenditure” for DLA – but without explaining how that £2.4bn will be saved.

Now a Parliamentary motion has raised fears that DLA will simply be removed from 20 per cent of claimants, which would mean around 1,690 in Swindon and 3,222 in Wiltshire.

There are a total of 8,450 claimants in Swindon and a further 16,110 in Wiltshire who receive between £20 and £125 a week to help them look after themselves, pay for help and get out of the house.

One of those is Beth Vaughan, 26, of Old Town who suffers from epilepsy and has been assessed as eligible to receive the allowance indefinitely.

She said she relies on her payment of around £62 a week as her main income.

“The money has to last a while and pays for my clothes, shoes, food and all my physical activity,” she said.

“I couldn’t do anything if they took it away.

“I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was five years old and have moderate learning difficulties and I get regularly assessed.

“They said I could get it permanently.

“I tried to work recently for one day a week as a teaching assistant and they took away my incapacity benefit, which meant I had to give the job up.

“I know lots of people on DLA and it is vital for them.

“I would be very annoyed if they took it away.”

The Disability Alliance, an organisation of around 250 self-help groups and charities, said: “Any cuts could have a devastating impact.

“If the new benefit reduces the amount of support people receive – and the number of people who can receive it – then there is a real risk that disabled people will lose out on the independence and opportunities non-disabled people take for granted.”

The motion, tabled by the Welsh Nationalists, called for the DLA changes to be taken out of the Welfare Bill, which is currently before Parliament.

It warned that 620,000 people – 20 per cent of the 3.1m DLA claimants – could be “denied support with no justification”, adding: “The Government is yet to make a convincing case for reform.”

But the Department for Work and Pensions pointed out that nearly a quarter of people had not had their claims reviewed for a decade – while two million received the benefit “indefinitely”.

Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people, said: “Severely disabled people who need extra help and support will always get it.

“We’ve listened to what disabled people and disability organisations have told us “We will be working with them to make sure that the new personal independence payment does what it should.”