PROTESTS are growing over a looming benefit cut that will leave 5,000 of the region’s disabled people “imprisoned” in their care homes.

The Government is being urged to rethink its plans to scrap a transport allowance of up to £50 a week for people with severe mental and physical disabilities.

The mobility part of the disability living allowance (DLA) helps people in residential homes to visit their families and be taken on trips in adapted cars or taxis.

Charities said disabled people would be trapped in care homes for 24 hours a day if payments were scrapped, because they were unable to use public transport.

A total of 80,000 people receive the weekly £50 grant, of which about 5,200 live in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

The 5,200 are among more than 200,000 disabled people across the region who receive DLA. The vast majority live in their own homes and would be unaffected.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said care homes were already given money by councils to provide transport for disabled people so are, in effect, being paid twice.

But 27 charities, including Mencap, Mind, RNIB and Leonard Cheshire, have written to the Government to dispute that claim, and said town halls, which face huge budget cuts, cannot plug the gap.

There are also fears children will miss out on lessons at special needs schools and colleges because the payments fund transport for education.

Mencap chief executive Mark Goldring said: “Removing this benefit will take us back to the dark ages, essentially stripping people of control over their lives and leaving them stuck in residential care homes. David Cameron promised to protect the vulnerable.”

A DWP spokesman said the cut would save £135m a year, and added: “We want to remove the duplication and make sure the system is fair.

“These changes will not come into effect until October 2012. We will continue to work with disabled people and organisations to ensure benefits meet the needs of disabled people.”

Disability campaigners said it was the latest in a series of cuts. They said Employment Support Allowance will be limited to a year, while benefit rates have been frozen and work support schemes are being scrapped.