MORE than 3,000 disabled people in the city face having their benefits slashed under a government shake-up, campaigners have warned.

The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) - replacing it with 'personal independence payments', while carrying out fresh assessments on claimants - will have a "devastating impact", they argue.

Ministers have announced they plan to cut 20 per cent from the "caseload and expenditure" for DLA - but without saying where the savings of £2.4 billion will be made.

A parliamentary petition has raised fears that DLA support will be simply stopped to 20 per cent of claimants, which would mean around 3,500 people in Plymouth.

There are a total of 17,500 claimants in the city, who receive between £20 and £125 a week to help care for themselves, pay for help and get out of the house. There are a further 3,520 in the South Hams and 30,720 in Cornwall.

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."

In its response to the Government plans, it stated: "Failing to ensure the implications of the proposals are fully understood risks catastrophic consequences for disabled people and their families.

"It also risks significant additional demand on both the NHS and local councils at a time of considerable expenditure constraints across public services."

A Commons motion, tabled at Westminster, called for the DLA changes to be removed from welfare legislation currently going through Parliament.

It warned that 620,000 people - 20 per cent of the 3.1 million DLA claimants - could be "denied support", arguing: "The government is yet to make a convincing case for reform."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "The new Personal Independence Payment like DLA will be a non-means tested cash benefit to help disabled people with the extra costs they have.

"We have just finished one of the largest ever DWP consultations about the reforms and we continue to work closely with disability organisations.

"DLA is confusing for people to understand, complicated to apply for with no inbuilt system of review.

"We want to make sure that the £12 billion we spend on DLA every year does what it should and we will continue to provide essential support for disabled people."

The DLA shake-up has received far less attention than tough new tests for incapacity benefit claimants, but has the potential to affect more people.

Concerns include doubling the wait before people can claim, from three months to six months, and the suggestion new payments will be limited to bare essentials - such as washing - rather than enabling people to be as independent as possible.