Urgent - Government Proposals To Axe Dla And Aa

[littlewillie]

It is not just a matter of signing a petition. Organisations and support groups for the disabled want, and need to hear, your views on how the changes will affect your living.

Contact the most appropriate group that represents your disability and give a brief example of how the changes will affect you.

EG. if you have Epilepsy, contact "Epilepsy Action".

It would help them if you cite examples that will prove hardship. I could suggest that,

1) how are those that have illnesses that require extra heating in the colder months going to afford their gas or electricity bills?

2) if someone is incontinent. Extra detergent for washing AND if your water is metered, an increase is inevitable.

 

Now, when you need to write what ever you feel, bear in mind that MP's expenses allowed them to claim £100 for groceries, TV licenses, community charge and a host of other benefits, that the injustice should make you that angry and compelled to write what is needed.

Also, in my particular borough, 24% of community charge/council tax pays for staffs pensions.

Is it not more truthful that Central Government is handing the finances over to local authorities to support their pension pot?

[Leahkins]

I will be writing to everyone possible as the difference this money makes to me is enormous. I have worked for 35 years until I could not stand the pain anymore and I am determined no government is going to leave me in poverty. It helps me feel independent as I can pay my way when everyone is so good to me travelling miles everday just to look after me. They would all do it without getting petrol money but I like to contribute, not put other people in financial trouble. I am getting so angry now.

[littlewillie]

Hi,

This weeks update from; www.disney.go.com/mickey/

Dear Will,

Just a brief update on what's happening with the campaign, which now has 22,692 members.

 

GREEN PAPER CONSULTATION

The number of responses on the government's own green paper website has more than quadrupled since we asked you to post there last Tuesday. The number of posts on the executive summary page - where the vast majority of responses are published - has risen from 133 to 640 in the course of the last week. The overwhelming majority of posts are strongly against any changes to disability benefits.

You can read the responses, and add your own, here:

http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/

 

We would strongly urge you to have your say here if you haven't already. The green paper argues that:

"And because the decision is so fundamental to our society, we believe that there must be a clear consensus across society on which option is preferred before we decide which is the right option for England."

This is your chance to make it clear that there is absolutely no consensus for a raid on disability benefits. So, please, keep those responses coming. Anything from a single sentence to hundreds of words is fine, just so long as you have your say.

CAMPAIGNERS EVENTS

Campaigners in Cornwall ran an excellent petition signing event last week. They got coverage on local tv and radio and even managed to oblige a minister in London to make a statement on the issue. You can watch the impressively produced video and learn more about planned events in:

Bristol 28 September

Taunton 29 September

at www.politicalcripple.com/d/

GOVERNMENT EVENTS

Meanwhile, the government's own green paper events, the "Big Care Debate public roadshows, where members of the public can discuss and have their say", are happening around the country. The next events are in the North East (including Darlington tomorrow), the East Midlands and the North West.

The 'debates' include the chance to watch videos, talk to representatives and post on the green paper website. The events are likely to be carefully stage-managed and positive feedback from them may well be used to justify aspects of the eventual government decision.

If you want to attend and help ensure the feedback is genuinely representative, a full list of dates and venues is available from:

Care Support Independence Archive Big Care Debate roadshow schedule

MPs RESPONSES

 

Welfare Watch now have a forum dedicated to responses from MPs, so please consider adding any reply you get to those already on their free forum at:

http://welfarewatch.myfineforum.org/forum6.php

 

KEEP UP WITH THE NEWS

The Benefits and Work office will be closed for annual leave for the next two Tuesdays, so there won't be any more emails from us before Tuesday 22 September. But remember that you can post your news in the Benefits and Work forum, if you're a member, at:

www.disney.go.com/mickey//forum?func=showcat&catid=13

and/or in the free welfare watch forums at:

http://welfarewatch.myfineforum.org/index.php

You can also keep up with news about opposition to the green paper at the Carer Watch campaign blog:

http://carerwatch.com/cuts/

Good luck,

 

Steve Donnison

Please feel free to forward or publish this email.

Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd

Company registration No. 5962666

© 2009 Steve Donnison. All rights reserved.

[splish]

Received the following reply from Arthritis Charity

 

Dear Mr Minns,

Thank you for your recent email regarding Government proposals to remove Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as part of a wider review of social care services.

Both AA and DLA offer nationally-set, non-means tested benefits which are often vitally important to help keep people with arthritis active, independent and in work wherever possible.

Arthritis Care is opposed to any attempts to remove or subsume such benefits into mainstream social care services.

We have written to the Government asking for urgent clarification of these proposals, and we will be making a full response to the overall plans to review social care services in due course.

There is in any case no risk of AA being removed imminently: there are a number of stages these proposals have to go through before they might affect you, and people are invited to have a say throughout this process.

At present, the government has made no explicit proposals to review DLA in the same way.

You can find out more about the Government's plans around the future of social care and support by going to the care and support website at Care Support Independence.

If you wish to express your concerns around Attendance Allowance or any other issues in these plans directly to the Government you can email careandsupport@dh.gsi.gov.uk or write to Care and Support Team, Room 149, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2NS.

The consultation on the green paper closes on the 13 November 2009.

Many thanks for writing in.

Kind regards,

Policy and campaigns team

[AA99]

But sign where? All I can see is a list of comments on that site, nothing to sign at all! Or am I being dumb?

 

Sorry, me too, just spent 20 minutes following link to link, can we have a re-post of the actual link to sign the petition please

[mkb]

Here it is:

 

Disability living allowance and attendance allowance threat

[Bookworm]

This is the response from the National Autistic Society:

 

Dear all,

 

 

 

The Government's Green Paper on social care reform, published last month, mentions the possibility of moving some disability benefits http://www.autism.org.uk/benefits> from being a cash benefit and incorporating it into social care funding, administered on a person's behalf by a local authority.

 

The NAS will be responding to the Green Paper. We will produce a summary of how the Green Paper proposals could affect people with autism.

 

 

 

The NAS would like to know what you think of the possibility of DLA being moved from being a cash benefit to being integrated to social care funding. To give your views on this issue, please email policy@nas.org.uk .

 

 

 

The NAS has made the following statement:

 

 

 

What we think

 

DLA in its current form, or elements of it, is a crucial benefit for many people with autism and their families. Integrating DLA into local authority social care funding would have a profound effect on those people. We have serious concerns about the possibility of such a policy being introduced.

 

Many people with autism and their families rely on the money they receive from DLA, and to abolish DLA in its current form would have disastrous consequences for these groups. DLA is a non-means-tested, cash benefit, with no restrictions on use, introduced to help disabled people to cover the additional costs incurred by having a disability. Those additional costs still exist. The Green Paper does not make clear how people with disabilities would be expected to cover costs under an alternative system.

 

We also have concerns that people with autism and their families who have traditionally struggled to access local authority support would have similar problems accessing any new support paid for with DLA, but at the discretion of the local authority. We could experience a 'postcode lottery' based on local decision-making, and are concerned that some people with autism would miss out.

 

Furthermore, integrating DLA into local authority funding seems contrary to the Government's personalisation agenda, as it would be taking control over spending away from individuals.

 

The other side of the argument is that some people who receive Attendance Allowance and DLA are already financially well off. In an environment in which local authorities are cash-strapped and using eligibility criteria to provide care to only those with the very highest support needs, perhaps this money could be better spent on making sure that lower-level services are available to those who need them?

 

Further information

 

Here are some points to consider:

 

* This is a Green Paper at present. This means that it is a proposal by the Government which will be consulted upon and debated. It is not legislation. The consultation period runs until mid-November 2009. At the NAS, we understand that the way the Green Paper has been reported on some websites may lead people to assume that after the consultation period, their DLA will stop. This is not the case. If you get DLA or Attendance Allowance at the moment, we would seek to reassure you that there is no immediate threat to your entitlement within, or at the end of, the consultation period. Any changes, if any are made at all, could take years to come into force.

* The Green Paper refers to 'disability benefits'. This is often taken as referring to Attendance Allowance and the care component of DLA (the mobility component is usually left out of this definition). The focus of the Green Paper though, is far more on Attendance Allowance than DLA. The inclusion of DLA is hinted at rather than made explicit, but we will monitor the situation closely to establish any proposed changes to DLA.

* The Green Paper consultation ends in November 2009, and will be followed by a White Paper before it can begin the legislative process. Therefore, there is very little chance that we will see legislation before the next general election. A new government formed after the election may have different ideas.

* There is currently no legislation, or even guidance, about what DLA or AA should be spent on. It would, therefore, be a major U-turn by the Government if they were to stop DLA and Attendance Allowance being cash benefits. If Government attempted to make this change, it would undoubtedly face strong opposition from individuals, organisations, and some politicians. It could also be challenged in the higher courts, quite possibly the European courts.

* The Green Paper mentions protection for existing DLA/Attendance Allowance recipients and this is a characteristic of benefit changes. 'Transitional protection' is quite common and means that if a benefit is amended or phased out, existing recipients of that benefit retain their entitlement to it. Again, though, this is something we will monitor closely.

 

You will find this statement on the NAS website by clicking on the link below:

 

 

 

http://www.autism.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=647&a=20232

[AA99]

Sorry, me too, just spent 20 minutes following link to link, can we have a re-post of the actual link to sign the petition please

 

 

Found it, thank you, and have signed up and had email reply. Thanks for the thread:)

[seanamarts]

have signed

[Undercover-Elsa]

Having already had one pension axed due to Government incompetence, this would be the final straw to me. Duly signed.

I'm sure many of us have experienced the difficulties of convincing Social Workers with the true care needs of the elderly or mentally/physically disabled. Doesn't augur well for the proposed system when they consider that an 84 year old lady with Lewy Body Dementia, who had visual and audio hallucinations making her follow non existant children down the street in her nightgown, wanting to give them breakfast, or who thinks a whole bunch of people with suitcases are sitting in her room waiting for dinner and tries to cook meals for them...is fine with just meals on wheels!

Elsa x

Edited September 6, 2009 by Undercover-Elsa
spelling!

[seanamarts]

I actually feel discriminated against, and feel the government just want to herd us all in one place so that they can keep an eye on us. Its hard enough that we have to fight to get these benefits and feel degraded in doing so, but at least we have a certain amount of freedom to make our own choices, having these benefits taken away has that freedom taken away, and our choices made for us. I hope that makes some sence.. i have written to my local MP and await his reply.

[AA99]

I have a 10-year old son who received DLA. They shall receive a hefty invoice from us when only professionally qualified people have to attend to him on a 24/7 basis.

[Undercover-Elsa]

This is the problem..what Social Services considers to be adequate care and what IS adequate care are poles apart. They don't do too well in the Child Protection department, and are already overstretched in all other areas. Stands to reason they don't have a cat in hells chance of administering this fairly or effectively.

My neice is a District Nurse and has chosen to go part time, losing a full days pay in order to spend a full day caring for her 94 year old grandmother..from housework and shopping to helping her get bathed, setting her hair etc. Along with daily visits from other family members, this keeps her able to stay in her warden controlled bungalow. My neices wage precludes Carers Allowance, but Grandmas DLA is used to offset the days wage she loses. If this arrangement ended and Grandma had to go into a care home, the Government would have to bear the full cost

(no property to steal). Wouldn't they be better sticking to DLA?

Elsa x

[alanfromderby]

I think this is a key point to argue - the government forget that the present system allows for a high level of personal care at a very cheap price. If the TRUE cost of the care we give was to be quantified I am sure this dreadful Green Paper would be consigned to the waste paper basket very quickly.

[The GodMother]

Alan i very much agree with u. My FIL get top wack on care and mobility. IF he was to pay for a carer to come in and look after him his carer componant would last the maxamium of a week.

[The GodMother]

URGENT SIGN THE NUMBER 10 PETITION

 

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AttendanceA/

[fedup74]

Signed GM:)

[The GodMother]

ok then thanks

also those who have signed can they please pass it round. We wont cause a big enough stink without other ppls help.

[skegleg]

done

[seanamarts]

signed. I had a reply from my MP, not impressed . He is for this paper and thinks I will benefit from it.

[Leahkins]

What shall I do without my allowance? Dear Social Services, please can you spare me a few bob so I can go out this weekend. Dear Leahkins, No, we require 300 forms of identification and a medical. Yes I know you had one last week but we have to be sure that the money is going to the right people. Having nightmares about the entire thing. Better start learning to whistle.

[Bookworm]

signed. I had a reply from my MP, not impressed . He is for this paper and thinks I will benefit from it.

Name and shame!

[AA99]

Signed

[sisternumber1]

Signed - grown daughter who is chronically ill and disabled depends on family to look after her and to remain independent take away DLA and she would have to come live with one of us which she does not want.

[Undercover-Elsa]

Its horrifying to think that the people on here are just the tip of a huge iceberg, many will not even realise the implications. People who may not be disabled today but will in the future wouldn't see the significance.

Another scenario that comes to mind is when I was looking after my terminally ill oh who got DLA under the emergency rules. He was a very proud man who would only let me see to his personal needs - which were many..incontinence, vomiting blood, etc etc. I needed the money for taxis, and special foods to tempt his appetite, protein supplements, vitamins, several complete new sets of comfy clothes as he couldn't stand anything constricting, loads of pairs of PJ's for hospital, extra heating, extra bedding, vast amounts of laundry etc etc etc.

Where would all that come from under the new proposals?

It's disgraceful and ill thought out.