Incapacity Benefit, 2008 Budget and TV

RADAR 2008 Budget Response

Your RADAR blogmaster had his first ever TV interview, nerve-rackingly live, on Thursday.

I was on immediately after the man with the rucksack on Heathrow's runway which, considering I was talking about incapacity benefit reform, was always going to be a hard act to follow but I'd like to think I pulled it off with a certain panache. If anyone who happens to have been watching BBC News 24 at around 3.45 wishes to burst my bubble, do leave a comment.

Anyway, my subject was the new Work Capability Assessments (WCA), announced in the budget, which the Government claims will lead to the IB roll being reduced by 1 million. We all know some people dishonestly claim IB and that many people are stuck on IB despite wanting to work.

The question is: will these reforms tackle those problems without unfairly penalising people who genuinely need IB? In and of themselves, the new assessments seem to be a step in the right direction: more personalised interviews, an increased focus on what people can do, not what they can't... In RADAR's opinion, however, herein lies the problem: they are very much in and of themselves.

Where, for example, is the focus on transport to give job seekers, especially those with learning disabilities and neuro-diversity, for whom commuting can be very difficult at present, a wider range of jobs to choose from? While there has been some progress of late, inadequate transport can still greatly restrict the choice of jobs available.

Support and benefit entitlements vary between local authorities, so moving house to be nearer a job may not be an option if the chosen authority does not offer the support people need. It must be fairly obvious that if someone needs something in Exeter they are also likely to need it in Newcastle - portable support is not rocket science, but this Budget brings us no closer. Moving house is also predicated on there being suitable housing available, which there very often isn't. We are still campaigning for Lifetime Standards to be made mandatory for all new houses - watch this space on that one.

Where is the focus on education, skills and career progression? Young disabled people are twice as likely to be NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training) as their non-disabled peers, half as likely to go to university, and one third of unqualified people in Britain are disabled.

Forcing people into a limited range of dead-end jobs will lead to people bouncing back and forward from Incapacity Benefit, will still cost the taxpayer a fortune and will not bring the benefits of increased self-esteem and security which we know work can bring.

Knee-jerk measures which lack joined-up thinking, but make the tabloids think politicians are being tough on "scroungers", will not help anyone. Disabled people have talents and ambitions - creating a million more lift attendants and shelf stackers, then ticking a box to say 1 million more disabled people are in work is not good enough.

What do other people think?

5 Year Independent Living Strategy

Chris Brace, RADAR's Director of Campaigns, gives his reaction to the Government's Independent Living Strategy:

"Improving Services for Disabled People

The Government is producing a plethora of legislation, strategies and papers about health and social care and Independent Living at present. Although this focus is welcome, RADAR believes that the only way to ensure disabled people receive choice and control over our support and equipment needs is to pass legislation which would give us a legal right to Independent Living.

What is Independent Living?

Independent Living is not about disabled people doing everything for ourselves. It is about having the rights and entitlements that would ensure that disabled people enjoy the same substantive freedoms everyone expects in order to lead the lives we wish to lead. It is about being able to choose where and with whom we live. It is about taking a leading role in defining the things we require to take part in society. It is about these requirements being met and services and support being seen as a means to that end, not as an end in themselves. It is about promoting the respect for dignity, privacy and family life, which collectively secure human rights, and ending inequality.

The Independent Living Strategy

On 3rd March the Government published its long-awaited Independent Living Strategy, which sets out a five-year cross-government plan for closing the gap between Government policy and the real experiences of disabled people. The Strategy sets out a strong vision for services that support disabled people to live the lives we choose and to participate fully in society.

RADAR welcomes the pledges to:

review charging policies against the Disability Equality Duty;
remove disincentives in the benefits system to disabled people taking up public appointments; and
‘initiatives’ to promote better understanding of Independent Living, boost disabled people’s leadership and involvement and develop user-led advocacy and brokerage.

Unfortunately, there is no mention of a radical reform programme. There is nothing about eligibility criteria, protection against involuntary institutionalisation or the lack of portable support packages.

The Government continues to state that change can be brought about through the existing framework, saying that the need for legislation will be reviewed if ‘sufficient’ progress (which is not defined) has not been made by 2013.

This goes against advice from the Review’s Expert Panel that, without a new legislative framework rooted in Independent Living principles, guaranteeing a minimum standard of support and providing for individual redress, the strategy risks having a limited impact and failing to meet the aspirations of disabled people. Nor does the Strategy talk about Independent Living as a human rights issue, or explain how it is crucial for gender equality, ending state exploitation of carers or safeguarding the rights of children.

RADAR does not believe the Strategy represents a watershed moment, but it could be an important milestone. It needs legislative underpinning, but may hold the seeds of real progress, if we actively engage with it and hold the Government to account.

Once the Government publishes its Green Paper on Social Care, due out later this year, we will have full details of how the Government aims to fulfil its vision, laid out in the Life Chances report, that by 2025 disabled people have full opportunities and choices to improve our quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society.

Is it worth it?

One of the main arguments against a legislative commitment to Independent Living is the prohibitive cost. However, RADAR argues that investment now will bring returns to the Government significantly exceeding anything that it might cost. To take three examples:

On unemployment, the Government is aiming to get 1 million disabled people off Incapacity Benefits and back to work in the next 10 years. The Incapacity Benefits claimant figures remain stubbornly high, despite the Labour Government having consistently worked to reduce them. At the moment, if a disabled person is receiving a support package in a specific Local Authority, it can be very difficult to move. If there were portable support available, people would find it easier to relocate to take up work. And if we were able to purchase our own care through Individual Budgets, we could buy the support and equipment that we know we need, rather than that we are deemed to be eligible for.

On adaptations, the “Better outcomes, lower costs” report from the Office of Disability Issues finds that:

Falls leading to hip fracture cost the UK £726 million in 2000. Housing adaptations, including grab rails and better lighting, reduce the number of falls for a fraction of the cost;
Providing adaptations and equipment can speed up hospital discharge or prevent hospital admission by preventing accident and illness. The Welsh Care and Repair Agencies’ Rapid Response programme estimates savings of up to £40 million for a £2.3 million expenditure;
Good housing adaptations can enable seriously disabled people to move out of residential care, with estimated potential savings of £10 million a year on residential care costs in England;
Home modifications can prevent or delay residential care for disabled older people. One year’s delay will save £26,000 per person, less the cost of adaptation which averages at £6,000.

On informal carers, there are an estimated 6 million in the UK, with 1.25 million providing at least 50 hours of care a week without pay. Many carers are unable to work because of their caring responsibilities. Reducing the burden on informal carers is not only just, but would enable people to work and provide a financial return to the economy as well.

And finally…

It’s not just about costs and return to the economy. Providing coherent and effective Independent Living support enables disabled people to live the lives we want to live, in homes that are accessible to us, participating in leisure activities, social activities, our communities, or our family life without our family having to be our carers."

RADAR's full briefing on the new Independent Living Strategy can be viewed here.

Equality: It Does Exactly What It Says On The Tin

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

When commenting on the incredibly difficult issues surrounding IVF and embryo screening, it is wise to bear this phrase in mind. But these issues will not go away, ignoring them will not make them any easier, and difficult as they may be they are crucial to the place and value of disabled people in society, so here goes…

Tomato Lichy has drawn much media and public attention in the last couple of days. He and his wife, both deaf, are objecting to the clause in the forthcoming Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which they claim would compel them, in the event of IVF and embryo screening, to choose a hearing embryo over a deaf embryo.

They contend that this clause automatically assumes that a deaf person is worth less than a hearing person, and should therefore be scrapped as discriminatory. They have a point. However the debate, broadcast on the Today programme on Monday, also touched on the question of actively selecting a deaf embryo, and this thorny issue raises hackles on both sides.

RADAR agrees with Mr. Lichy up to a point; selecting deafness out, on the assumption that it would be better for a deaf child not to be born, is discriminatory. But why would selecting hearing out be any less discriminatory? The more Mr. Lichy talked about a hearing child not being able to experience the richness of deaf culture, and said that from his point of view hearing was the disability, the more those of us who have campaigned for equality for disabled people experienced a worrying sense of déjà vu.

If, and this is by no means clear from the press coverage, Mr. Lichy believes that he should be able to ensure that a hearing child would not be born, because from his point of view the child would be disabled, then Mr. Lichy would be guilty of exactly the same discriminatory views that RADAR and many other disability organisations have been campaigning against for years. To believe that deaf parents have a culture which a hearing child cannot possibly share in is to write off through assumption the chances of that child participating. Children who do/do not walk, talk, hear or see can live fulfilling and happy lives regardless of whether their parents can or cannot do the same things, and have the same rights, values and responsibilities as individuals. That is what equality means.

So have your child, Mr. Lichy, and if they are hearing, and you feel they are disabled, then love them, care for them, enjoy them as individuals and bring them up steeped in the rich culture of the deaf, and as you see it non-disabled, community, as we would encourage any parent of any disabled child to do. Equality is for everyone, not just some.

Welcome to the new RADAR blog!

The theme of this blog is disability and society.

RADAR works with business, the media and politicians to ensure that the rights and opinions of disabled people, regardless of age or impairment, are taken into account. Through this blog we plan to share our work with you, to comment on topical issues and to encourage debate about the ways in which we can build an inclusive society.

Opinions, feedback and information are essential to our work, so please post comments to let us know what you think or to tell us about your experiences.

The way in which society responds to human difference affects every one of us, and we hope that this blog will appeal to anyone with an interest in society and current affairs, whatever their experience of disability may be.