Maria Miller today asked disabled people and their respective organisations to join the debate on reforming the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as it will be scrapped and replaced with a benefit which is clearer; more targeted and has tighter eligibility criteria.
The Minister for Disabled People said: “we want the views of disabled people to be fully reflected in any change we make to DLA and we remain fully committed to the principles of DLA as a non-means tested cash benefit to assist with the extra costs incurred by disabled people”.
Maria Miller also stated that: “Personal independence payment will maintain the key principles of DLA, providing cash support to help overcome the barriers which prevent disabled people from participating fully in everyday life, but it will be delivered in a fairer, more consistent and sustainable manner. It is only right that support should be targeted at those disabled people who face the greatest challenges to leading independent lives.”
Under Government plans the DLA is to be simplified; made more objective and better reflect disabled peoples’ needs and costs they may incur in society, in order for them to participate more fully in society. The DLA will now be known as Personal Independence Payment.
The DLA assessment can be subjective and can also act as a barrier to work rather than enabling people to live independent lives. “Rather than being a poorly targeted and unsustainable benefit, DLA needs to help disabled people live independently and help meet the cost of the barriers that they face in day-to-day life.”
More Information:
– The reforms will be introduced for new and existing claimants of working age from 2013 and could be extended to children or pensioners.
– Claimants will have to have had an impairment or health condition for six months, not three, as at present.
- There will no longer be automatic entitlements for people with specific health conditions.
- All claimants will be assessed by a healthcare professional approved by the Department for Work and Pensions.
- The Disability Living Allowance is the Department for Work & Pensions’ second most expensive working age benefit, with the 3 million people currently receiving the benefit, costing £12 billion per year.
To view the publication please go to: this link
Jason McGee-Abe
Project Support Officer
http://www.yesminister.org.uk/yesminister.org.uk
There might be something wrong with your links. You should have a web developer have a look at the site.
I’m concerned they will say, “what do you spend your DLA on?” and then say, “sorry, we don’t think you should be spending it on that. You can no longer have DLA”.
As has been said, the individual knows the best way to spend the money. I particularly object to the unspoken insinuation that people on benefits are spending it on drink and drugs.
It is so wrong for the Government to suggest that somehow DLA gets in the way of people working – it is the kind of welfare benefit that is fully in line with the whole personalisation agenda. It is not means tested which is why for many people it works so well to support them to work, or train or study. And it can be spent on what disabled people know is best for them. I know many disabled people who use their DLA to enable them to work (paying for accessible transport, extra support, IT) and for people who can’t work, it allows for some quality of life. The Government is hypocritical to say is supports “personalisation”, “person centred care” and removing the barriers to disabled people working, and then seeks to save an estimted £366 million from a benefit that does all these things.
Currently I get DLA and have been awarded it for life as I have mobility problems that include Osteo-arthritis in both knees and arthritis in both hands, i’m guessing that struggling day to day isn’t enough, as it is I have to prove that I need a carer just so that I can claiming housing benefit for a 2 bed house so when my dad stays over to look after me he has a bed to sleep in instead of on the sofa! and now DLA is being messed with, those of us who are genuinely disabled are being treated as though were not disabled, what has this country come to when a disabled person has to PROVE that they are disabled.
And Thomas, exceptions should be made for those in general who have cancer and are struggling, my mum has lung cancer and can not do many of the day to day things that others can, she has been registered disabled for years (also due to mobility issues) but she is now not able to a lot of the things that she just struggled to do before, I don’t see how she would not be classed as disabled.
Just because my dad earns a certain amount each year they can not get a chair lift installed which would help my mum to have some kind of day to day normality because the route we have to go down for this is means tested, instead they now have to struggle to try and find the money else where! So even when a disabled person who is struggling needs it they can not get the help!
We might be disabled but are we not entitled to our own independence? or is this to be non-existent in coming years and there be more people in care homes than there are already because they can’t get the rent for their own home or the help they need to get around the house!
Here, here Lucy
I feel sorr sorry for you, being ill is no fieldtrip.
This Country is more like nazi run than than anything.
My sister suffers from mental illness due to bullying by horrible men. And sadly will never recover but they expect her to work. She said she is treated like someone who is just dodging work, when these poor people are really ill. Lesson learnt never vote Conservative they destory peoples lives.
I don’t like the sound of “tighter eligibility criteria”. It is already extremely hard to claim.
As someone with a mental health problem I have benefited from having the stress of lack of money removed.
The extra money helps me get out in the community – taxi fares (because public transport can cause great anxiety for people with mental illness) or lunch with friends. These might not seem like life-or-death requirements, but socialising and keeping active are among the things that help people recover from mental illness.
The availability of talking therapies on the NHS is very limited, and DLA allows people to pay for therapy if they feel it would be helpful.
By helping us get better more quickly DLA can mean we can return to the workplace rather than being reliant on sickness benefits (IB) for years on end.
Here, here
My sister is ill and I know just how much pain she goes through. I wish I could do something to help. If only Bill Maloney got to be the Mayor of London he could have shook things up for the working class and people in need.
Sharon
I agree!
My sister is ill and I know just how much pain she goes through. I wish I could do something to help. If only Bill Maloney got to be the Mayor of London he could have shook things up for the working class and people in need.
Sharon
I would be nice to see such apply to people as they need it over 65 when they really need help, having ad a relative go off his legs at 90 was too old to apply yet lived till he was 96 others, totally unmobile needing hoisting for everything . those on it as soon as they finish work say with bad knees then have a knee op ten years later and start walking clubs or cycling 20 mile a day and those sort can still keep it ?????
how come ??? the system definately needs a shake up to help older people who have worked and paid in all their lives .
donna
I hope that this will be for the individual person with a disability requirements whether they live with a partner/spouse as there needs are over and above the normal household income.
I sincerely hope that exceptions will be made for those who are in the stages of terminal illness (cancer).
Yours
Tom