The Prime Minister has claimed
disability organisations support the Government’s welfare reform agenda – and
the DWP Minister for Disabled People has suggested
disabled people are protected from cuts. These two myths need debunking.
Firstly, many disability organisations do support
welfare reform which delivers improvements in the way benefits are delivered or
which cut the bureaucracy involved. Some aspects of current reforms deserve
support – for example the taper in Universal Credit which allows people to keep
more of their earned income when starting work. But there is no disability
organisation supporting the total package of Government reform because the
combined effect is catastrophic. Just a quick recap on some headline figures:
-
100,000
disabled children to lose under Universal Credit;
-
600,000
disabled people 16-64 years of age to lose Disability Living Allowance
(DLA); and
-
300,000
disabled people to be cut off from all out of work support after just 365
days despite 75% receiving regular NHS treatment.
So it’s no surprise that the most representative group
– the Disability
Benefits Consortium (almost 60 national disability, advice and welfare
focused organisations) – doesn’t support the Government agenda. Nor is it a
surprise the Prime Minister can’t name any relevant, representative
organisation which does. If there was such an organisation Ministers would name
it.
Secondly, Esther McVey suggests
disabled people are protected from the cuts. Saying this may make the Minister
feel better about making drastic reductions in support but it is somewhat
undermined by the statistics above. Usually, Ministers suggest disabled people
‘with the highest needs’ are protected but here’s two points showing how even this
divisive technique (of suggesting some disabled people are somehow ‘more
deserving’ than others) is inaccurate:
-
The Government has confirmed that the Independent Living Fund (ILF)
will close in 2015 – the ILF supports 19,000 disabled people with the highest
care needs to live independently; and
-
Under the abolition of DLA and
introduction of the restrictive Personal Independence Payment, 430,000
disabled people with the highest mobility support needs lose out. This will
lead to thousands of disabled people losing Motability vehicles and will mean
many disabled people in work are made unable to
retain employment.
Sadly, we believe the UK is about to witness a vast rise
in poverty and social exclusion for disabled people and, with the NHS and
councils also facing a significant squeeze, the ability of the state to proffer
alternative assistance is reduced. With charities also facing a tough financial
climate and unable to fill the gap, the future’s far from bright – despite the
powerful and positive Paralympics in 2012.
Our request
for a better understanding of the impact of the Government’s plans has been
ignored to date. The Government appears to be in denial. It should come clean
about the lack of support for its welfare cuts and the severity of its agenda.
Neil Coyle –
Director of Policy and Campaigns, Disability Rights UK
9 comments:
A third point which completely undermines the governments line of "giving money to those with the highest need" is the abolition of the SDP (Severe Disability Premium) under Universal Credit.
230,000 disabled people who live alone and have high personal care needs will lose between £28 and £58 per week.
Although they will benefit from transitional protection to start with, this will erode with time, may be revoked with any minor change in circumstances and in any case will not apply to any new claimant.
After writing to my MP about this issue, a response from Lord Freud admitted that some would lose out, that this was "unfortunate" but "necessary in order to be fair to the taxpayer". It is time the government came clean on this and stopped this pretense that disabled people are being protected.
Fair my a--!
OK, here's a thought! Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Instead of targeting ministers & flunkeys, maybe we should be targeting the middle-men here? I, recently, posted a Facebook status, asking if anyone I knew worked for the DWP, Atos or the Jobcentres. I then asked how they could work for organisations that were deliberately targeting both myself personally and vulnerable people, in general. I likened this to the people who ran the Gas Chambers, for the Nazis, during the war. Maybe a little excessive, but it was how I was feeling at the time. Instead of protesting outside meeting of ministers, maybe we should be outside DWP offices, Atos buildings and Jobcentres? Show these people what the jobs that they are doing are doing to us all? They may tell you that "It's just a job"? Isn't that like "I was only following orders"? And, according to their generals, sorry, employers, there's plenty more work out there. At least stacking shelves would give some level of self-esteem?
Just a thought?
It is not just about money and vehicle and ability to work and avoid isolation, which is bad enough. Denial of disability, informed knowledge, support services re disability to prevent a cost to state/council/employer is just plan evil. Pindown Scheme is what PIP is albeit reborn and rebranded. Target those who can't defend themselves or whom can be prevented most easily.
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I consider the reason hat the government is targetting the disabled is because they can do this without incurring any EU issues. They are unable to prevent paying family benefits to Eastern european children not resident in uk and due to drastically under estimating this they have to find the money from someone. The next big problem when romania etc. get free reign. The families from these countries are large and we will be paying for it from disability cuts
An excellent blog. We need more people like you telling it like it is. Thanks.
It is probable that the removal of dla is to prevent legal action by claimants with life awards and the documents to prove it. Our devious politicians are changing the name to deny challenges in court? No dla, no life award!
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