News that thousands of disabled people will no longer lose the mobility component of disability living allowance

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Mencap responds to news that thousands of disabled people will no longer lose the mobility component of disability living allowance

Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Sense have been leading campaigning on the issue of Disability Living Allowance mobility component.

Mencap comments on this morning’s report in The Times: ‘Mobility allowance will not be cut, says minister’:

Mark Goldring, Mencap’s chief executive, said:

This is a positive example of the Government listening to disabled people, who have been among the hardest hit by national and local authority budget cuts.

The Low Review highlighted  the highly detrimental impact that scrapping mobility payments would have had on the independence, wellbeing and rights of the 78,000 disabled people living in residential care, whose mobility needs would not otherwise have been met.

People with a disability are entitled to live full and independent lives, and disabled people, campaigners and disability organisations are working hard to ensure that the Government continues to listen to and take into account the needs of disabled people when considering all further welfare reforms.

• Background

According to The Times, the Government has announced that it will not go ahead with previous plans to remove the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is replacing Disability Living Allowance, from people living in residential care

The mobility component provides vital support to allow disabled people who live in residential care homes to get out independently by allowing them to meet some of the extra costs of accessing suitable transport or to purchase appropriate mobility aids.

The Low Review, chaired by Lord Low of Dalston CBE, was an independent review into how the personal mobility needs of people living in state-funded residential care are met.

Leonard Cheshire Disability and Mencap asked Lord Low to conduct the 12-week review, which gathered more than 800 submissions.

The key findings of the review were:

• Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility component, or its successor under Personal Independence Payment (PIP), should be retained. Its removal would lead to a loss of independence for disabled people
• The report found no evidence of a duplication of funding in relation to the mobility needs being met by local authorities and those being met by DLA mobility.
• There needs to be greater clarity of local authorities’ responsibilities for funding mobility needs and the role played by DLA mobility.

http://www.mencap.org.uk/news/article/news-thousands-disabled-people