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Cuts severely affecting the lives of disabled people and their carers |
Andy B
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|  Posted 14-01-2011 at 22:19
Forgive the off topic post but this is written to support a 'blogswarm' going on this weekend:
Today is January 14th, the start of "One Month Before Heartbreak". A month from now on Valentine's Day the flawed consultation aimed at severely curtailing Disability Living Allowance will end, the aim is to rebrand it as 'PIP', kicking at least 20% of vulnerable disabled people off the benefit in the process.
This is not Employment Support Allowance (ESA), - although other horrors are going on in the eligibility assessments for this - DLA is not an out of work benefit. It supports people in work as well like the Access to Work programme which has also has been axed.
Get out of your comfort zone, disability living allowance cuts are relevant to all.
More links:
http://benefitscroungingscum.blogspot.com/
http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2011-01-14 22:21 ]
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2012-01-10 23:23 ]
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sem
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| Posted 14-01-2011 at 23:48
I haven't checked the links for details but having worked with people with learning disabilities for the past 10yrs, I can only assume that it's the same old story. People who have relatives/friends etc who know the system will get more than their fair share, others will suffer.
Andy, the idea is not that much off topic. To get anything from the "system" you have to tick the right boxes and that is exactly the same in archaeology. Does MP get anything for being the biggest repository of of megalithic photos - don't answer that, you might end up bitter and twisted !
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Andy B
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| Posted 15-01-2011 at 01:13
I'm not bitter, we have enough funding to get by on as long as you paid members remember to renew (we'll be reminding you!) It's just galling reading that Wikipedia raised £500,000 in the UK alone from their fundraising, but then we've not tried inflicted you with my gurning mug at the top of every page yet!
More to get us back to this thread:
Disability living allowance cuts could confine disabled to homes, say charities
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/12/disability-living-allowance-cuts-charities
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sem
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| Posted 15-01-2011 at 10:27
When the psychiatric units were closed and people moved to private houses (normally rented accomodation run by housing trusts) a whole new industry was spawned. The ethos was that these people should be allowed to make choices and live as normal a life as possible. The "bad old days" is still a common theme on training courses.
However, noble as the original idea may have been, those who were resettled were denied a very basic choice of where and who to live with. This decision was made by the companies caring for them and, providing a few boxes were ticked and political correctness adhered to, had more to do with economics than personal choice.
When I first started in this "industry", the house I worked in had been the first house in Wales to take people out of institutions. Four people lived there and none would associate with another on a voluntary basis. The company concerned has recently purchased properties with 20 or so bedrooms, a good pointer as to where the idea of choice is heading!
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solsticedreamer
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|  Posted 15-01-2011 at 11:23
thank you for posting this here 
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Andy B
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| Posted 15-01-2011 at 16:48
Welcome to the forum Solsticedreamer, I'm pleased you know about our site
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coldrum
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| Posted 15-01-2011 at 20:20
Thanks for highlighting this. I know a few people with disabilities and it's disgusting the way they are being treated.
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Andy B
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| Posted 15-01-2011 at 22:09
One more:
The government claims that DLA is unsustainable. Do they have any idea how insulting it is to people like me to be told that? Do they realise that just because they decide not to pay everyone those illnesses won't just vanish?
DLA has the lowest fraud rate of all benefits simply because it is so hard to claim.
The government have also admitted they have not done any assessment to determine how these cuts will impact on disabled people. This means they have proposed a series of cuts without any idea of how they will affect the very people they are targeting. This is alarming as well as inherently unjust.
There is a miasma of fear that is very nearly palpable running through the disabled community. We are dependent on these benefits to lead any kind of ordinary life. Not a luxurious, jet set one, just an ordinary one.
The public consultation for DLA ends on Valentines Day. I beg you all to do what you can to prevent the reforms so me and people like me can continue to live a nearly normal life.
http://onemonthbeforeheartbreak.blogspot.com/search/label/HellsBells
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Runemage
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| Posted 16-01-2011 at 14:12
This situation is abysmal.
After seeing what happened with the Thornborough Henges petitions, I'm not sure how much notice gets taken of e-petitions or paper petitions come to that. Do the people who make the decisions get to read any of the comments? Or are the e-petitions just conveniently passed off as internet outrage where people who don't know the full facts of the matter feel compelled to sign and do nothing else because they think they are making a difference?
Writing to the MP for disabled people and your local paper as well as signing may have more effect.
Maria Miller MP
Minister for Disabled People
Department for Work and Pensions
Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9DA
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Andy B
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| Posted 16-01-2011 at 15:17
Runemage,
The other site co-ordinating the protests is
http://www.carerwatch.com
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Runemage
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| Posted 17-01-2011 at 21:48
Thanks Andy, I've been writing...
One of the most poignant quotes I thought among all the blogposts was from someone who said something along the lines of :-
Please don't ignore this, you may never think something like Disability Living Allowance will apply to you or someone in your family, I didn't, then something happened and now it's an essential lifeline that may be taken away.
Rune
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MikeAitch
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| Posted 26-01-2011 at 18:43
Ditto to everything already said above and thanks for the links.
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Andy B
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| Posted 26-01-2011 at 21:50
Save our Forests petition:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition
244661 signatures
DLA petition
http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/petition-the-minister-for-disabled-people-to-recall-the-public-consultation-on-dla-reform/569/0aa4fc2026635b34c32b57a1e644d746
3704 signatures
latest:
PCC Complaint Against the Daily Mail
Call for Investigation of Chris Grayling over misuse of statistics
http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/
If I can only get one point across to people not personally involved - 'do not believe what you read in the papers'. What's worse is that all the main three political parties are implicated, there is no visible 'opposition' on this issue.
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Runemage
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| Posted 27-01-2011 at 13:50
Forests - a bit more info from Philip Carr-Gomm's website.
http://philipcarrgomm.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/mass-lobby-of-parliament-tuesday-9-february/
https://philipcarrgomm.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/uk-government-will-back-down-on-forest-sales/
DLA - as Andy so rightly says, "If I can only get one point across to people not personally involved - 'do not believe what you read in the papers'. What's worse is that all the main three political parties are implicated, there is no visible 'opposition' on this issue."
The papers as usual are being inflammatory and misrepresenting the facts. I know three people who were awarded DLA after over a year of submissions and appeals. All of them would, if they had a choice, prefer to be healthy enough to work full-time and support or contribute to their families' income and just do what ordinary people do. None of them asked to be either born that way or to have something happen later in life that took away their independence.
Some disabled people cannot articulate their opinions and therefore are some of the most at-risk of losing their occasional trips out from residential care, please advocate for those who would if they could.
Rune
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Andy B
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| Posted 14-02-2011 at 21:22
The 'save the forests' campaign was greatly spurred on by support from the campaigning organisation 38 Degrees. They have a section where you can vote for what will be their next campaign. Could I ask that you give 3 votes to the suggested campaign:
"A campaign to stop the abolition of Disability Living Allowance - the measure of civilised society."
It's currently ranked second in the suggested campaigns. You don't have to register. Thanks.
http://38degrees.uservoice.com/forums/78585-campaign-suggestions/category/9189-poverty-welfare
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Andy B
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| Posted 10-01-2012 at 23:29
Revealed: New Report shows overwhelming opposition to coalition’s disability benefit reforms kept hidden by the government
Conservative Mayor of London heavily critical of government’s plans for Disability Living Allowance
The report was entirely researched, written, funded and supported by disabled people.
A report published today (9 January) finds that Government misled MPs and Peers over the hostility to disability benefit reform. It finds that Parliament has been given only a partial view of the overwhelming opposition to the Coalition’s planned reforms of a key disability benefit, Disability Living Allowance (DLA). It finds that this opposition was previously not released to public scrutiny by the Government.
It is based on the responses to the government's own consultation on its planned DLA reforms, which were only made public once disabled people requested them under the Freedom of Information Act. Findings included:
98 per cent of respondents objected to the qualifying period for benefits being raised from 3 months to 6 months
99 per cent of respondents objected to Disability Living Allowance no longer being used as a qualification for other benefits
92% opposed removing the lowest rate of support for disabled people
In all three cases, as well as many others, London’s Conservative Mayor, Boris Johnson also objected to the proposed changes. He said in his response
“The Mayor would call for the Government to retain the three-month qualifying period as the increase to six months will mean that people with fluctuating conditions have increased difficulty meeting the qualifying period. People with fluctuating conditions face the same barriers that all disabled face in relation to higher costs of living and DLA is essential to maintain a decent quality of life.”
“We would recommend that the passporting system remains the same as under DLA as it has worked well when signposting people to additional benefits to which they may be entitled.”
“The Mayor does not support this change, as those on the lower rate care component may have additional costs as a result of their impairment but may lose their access to this benefit as part of the proposed removal under the reforms.”
The Mayor also objected to the government's strategy for clamping down on disability benefit fraud, arguing:
"The government proposes imposing penalties if disabled people do not inform the government in changes in their circumstances. However, the Department of Work and Pensions statistics give the overall fraud rate for Disability Living Allowance as being less than 0.5%. For those with fluctuating conditions asking them to report every change to their condition would prove very stressful."
The Mayor’s views were representative of the overwhelming majority of responses to the Government’s consultation..
The new report, Responsible Reform, suggests that the government’s DLA consultation breached the government’s own code of practice and was “highly misleading”.
Researchers have used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain more than 500 responses to the consultation that were submitted by disabled people’s organisations, disability charities and other groups – including the response submitted by Boris Johnson – and have carried out the first detailed, independent analysis of those responses.
The analysis showed overwhelming opposition to replacing DLA with a new Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The government also plans to cut spending on DLA/PIP by 20%.
The new report has been researched, written and funded by sick and disabled people, thousands of whom contributed to the research through their use of social media.
Its authors now hope to use the report to persuade members of the House of Lords to back an adjournment debate calling for a pause of at least 6 months. In that time, plans for PIP should be reconsidered with the views of disabled people properly taken into account.
The report has already been backed by organisations and disability experts including
Disability Alliance
Mind
Papworth Trust
Scope
Bert Massie CBE &
Ekklesia
Disability Alliance - "The Government's mis-portrayal of the DLA consultation response is truly shocking and could represent a betrayal of the process of consultation and engagement with disabled people. The Government has refused to provide a justification for a 20% cut in DLA expenditure and we fear that the same faulty rationale, misunderstanding of disability and higher costs of living and poor judgement exposed in this report sadly underpin the basis of the entire reform plans."
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of the mental health charity Mind, said:
“The ‘Responsible Reform’ report is essential reading for everyone with an interest in Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reform including the Government and Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee. It is a vital contribution to the debate on reform and a huge achievement for the volunteers who have produced it.
“As well as forensically deconstructing many of the arguments offered by the Government for their proposed reform, the report shows that much of the rise in claimants over recent years has been down to better access to the benefit for people with mental health problems, whose needs are often fluctuating and invisible.
“Rather than getting out of control as the Government claims, DLA has been increasingly going to people who really need it. The proposed 20 per cent cut to the budget will have an enormous impact on many people with illnesses and disabilities, and we remain very concerned about the unintended consequences this could lead to.”
Papworth Trust supports this report's concerns that the decision to reduce DLA by 20% may have been based on incomplete or misleading data about the reasons for growth in DLA. Our recent survey found that almost 9 out of 10 people would have to cut back on essentials such as food or being able to get out and about if their DLA payments were reduced or stopped under PIP. We believe that the proposed 20% cut will push more disabled people into poverty.
Given that this report was entirely researched, written, funded and supported by the people that these changes will affect, we believe that the questions it raises should be answered by the Government.
Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity Scope said:
“This report once again reveals the very real concerns disabled people have about the government’s reform of Disability Living Allowance.
“We know that this benefit is a lifeline for millions of people and families.
“It gives them the opportunity to meet the extra living costs they incur as a result of living with a condition or impairment and we know that people are genuinely worried about the impact these reforms will have on their quality of life.
“We urge the government to listen and act on these concerns and to ensure its replacement takes into consideration all the barriers disabled people face in everyday life so they can live independently and play an active role in their local community.”
More here:
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/
Read the report
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/benefitsinfo/responsible_reform.pdf
Debate intensifies as controversial welfare reform bill enters crucial period in passage through Westminster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/blog/2012/jan/10/welfare-reform-bill-live-discussion
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Andy B
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| Posted 10-01-2012 at 23:51
This one's for those who think this might be 'typical Guardian reader nonsense'. Journalist and regular Mail blogger Sonia Poulton's contribution.
[David Cameron's] current big idea - the Welfare Reform Bill - may yet prove to be his Margaret Thatcher - Milk Snatcher moment. The point when people will look back and shudder at the sheer callousness of it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2084706/David-Camerons-Welfare-Reform-Bill-Hiding-truth-way-achieve-it.html
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sem
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| Posted 11-01-2012 at 01:29
What a load of etc.
Us "Support Workers" are still earning our £6.79 an hour.
There's nothing like extreme autism to suggest that megalith builders were normal.
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cerrig
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| Posted 11-01-2012 at 01:47
Shocking! Caring Conservatism is back.
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Sunny100
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| Posted 11-01-2012 at 18:04
Thankyou for highlighting this Andy. I have friends who may be affected by the cuts to DLA and also the problems with ESA which is already taking effect. 
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