Category Archives: Carers

The sick and carers fear the benefit changes

April 4, 2013   Carers, disability, ukcuts

Change to disability benefits appeals process could leave people penniless

A double whammy of a revised appeals process and the abolition of legal aid threatens to deny benefits to vulnerable claimants

 

Disability campaigners fear that jobcentre staff will be ill-equipped to make judgments about people’s work capability.

Amid the avalanche of welfare reforms being implemented by a government intent on reducing the benefits bill by £18bn, one controversial measure that seems to have fallen below the radar is a change to the appeals process for welfare benefit claimants.

There are fears that the change, which will deny people the right to appeal decisions about sickness and disability benefits until the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has first reconsidered their case, could leave claimants penniless. Moreover, its introduction, just as legal aid is abolished for many welfare benefit cases, could leave thousands of vulnerable people unable to access the law to secure the income they are entitled to. The double whammy has been attacked as “a disgrace and a scandal”.

The revised appeals process, called “mandatory reconsideration”, will be applied to anyone who, from October, fails the controversial work capability assessment (WCA) and wants to challenge the decision to deny them sickness benefits.

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Banks offered new guidance on dealing with family carers

April 3, 2013   Cancer, Carers, dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, Older care

Banks offered new guidance on dealing with carers

  • By: Joanna Faith
  • 03 Apr 2013
  • All banks and building societies in the UK have today received new guidance to support carers and relatives who manage accounts on behalf of other people.
care-home-web

The framework – and the complementary consumer guide which accompanies it – aims to help these people have a better and more consistent experience, reducing their burden at what can be a very difficult time.

Arranging to run an account on behalf of a loved one is a challenge faced by thousands of people every year. Since 2007, 536,941 Lasting Powers of Attorney have been registered in the UK to manage property and affairs, which includes the management of financial matters. In 2012 there were around 800,000 people in the UK suffering from dementia with this number forecast to rise to more than a million by 2021.

The guidance framework has been jointly developed by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), the British Bankers Association (BBA) and the Building Societies Association (BSA), working in collaboration with the Law Society, Alzheimer’s Society, Solicitors for the Elderly and Age UK.

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‘Equal Lives ‘new name for Norfolk Disability group

April 3, 2013   Carers, disability, Norfolk, Uncategorized

“This government has torn up the rule book and targeted disabled people” says chief executive of relaunched Norfolk disabled rights group

By DAVID FREEZER Wednesday, April 3, 2013
6:30 AM

 Anna Abraham, who spoke at the Time for Equal Lives event at the Forum, Norwich. Photo: Steve Adams
Anna Abraham, who spoke at the Time for Equal Lives event at the Forum, Norwich. Photo: Steve Adams

Rights for disabled people were the main topic of conversation at the Forum in Norwich as the Norfolk Coalition of Disabled People was relaunched with a new name, Equal Lives.

 

The group’s new identity and services were unveiled yesterday with a presentation of upcoming plans and priorities in The Curve digital theatre, which was attended by around 250 people.

There was also a series of stalls with information, advice and activities from Equal Lives and its member groups.

Chief executive, Mark Harrison, said: “Over the last 25 years consecutive governments of whatever colour talked to people and acted on what was said, or at least tried to.

“The Disability Discrimination Act was brought in under the last Conservative government but this government has torn up the rule book and targeted disabled people in a completely unfair way for some of the sharpest cuts.

“So the demand for our information and welfare rights services are going up as our funding is reducing.”

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