Author Archives: Maureen
Lords back disability benefit shake-up
The government has headed off a House of Lords defeat over plans to replace the Disability Living Allowance.
17 January 2012 Last updated at 20:25
Ministers want to amend the system to make sure claimants have more medical tests, but opponents say this will mean 500,000 people will lose benefits.
A proposal to delay the scheme by carrying out an extended pilot project before it is implemented across the country was beaten by 16 votes.
The government suffered three Lords defeats on the issue last week.
Introduced in 1992 to help disabled people cope with the extra costs they face in their daily lives, Disability Living Allowance is paid to two million people of working age.
Deficit
If you are caring for relatives, you deserve the Government’s help
More than 6 million people care for family, friends and neighbours in Britain. It is time to support them, says Chris Skidmore.
By Chris Skidmore
3:58PM GMT 17 Jan 2012
The debate on social care so far has quite rightly been centred on how we fund care in the years to come, faced with an aging population and greater life expectancy. This was the main thrust of the Dilnot Commission’s report, and will be at the heart of the Government’s upcoming White Paper on the future of social care.
Dementia: A small taste of hell on earth
Dementia affects hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, yet few know how it feels. A new awareness course aims to help us to find out
I have been led into a room. It is unlike any I have been in before and I’m not at all sure of its topography.In one corner a television is blaring very loudly. There are other people milling around but I have absolutely no idea what they are doing. Cups and plates are clanking together nightmarishly and the sound is reverberating through my skull along with the disembodied voices that seem to be bellowing at me from the pit of hell.
I could not swear to it but there could be lights flashing somewhere, perhaps a strobe.
All is confusion. Every few minutes I am approached by someone who I can only assume has some kind of authority although it is a struggle to understand what they want. I find myself trying – and failing – to bundle some socks, pour a cup of tea and thread a belt through of a pair of trousers. The smallest task is almost beyond me.
