Category Archives: disability

Sick and disabled made to wait for more than six months to know if they will get benefit

March 18, 2014   benefits, Carers, disability

Controversial new benefits system.

People with disabilities and severe illnesses are being made to wait for more than six months to find out if they are eligible for financial support from the Government under a controversial new benefits system.

In a highly critical report, a committee of MPs described delays in processing the Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) as “unacceptable”. They called for ministers to invoke penalty clauses for the delays on the two private companies, Atos Healthcare and Capital Business Services, which provide the assessments.

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Care for the elderly: warning over £135m cash that could be squandered on admin

March 10, 2014   Carers, disability, Older care

Money intended to improve care for elderly and disabled people could end up being spent on bureaucracy, an alliance of councils and charities warns

 

£135 million for elderly care could be spent on admin, council and charities warn

By , Social Affairs Editor

7:30AM GMT 10 Mar 2014

Care for elderly and disabled people will be jeopardised by a £135 million gap in funding for a long-awaited overhaul of the system, an alliance of council leaders, care chiefs and charities is warning.

Details in the fine print of the Coalition’s Care Bill, which is going through its final Parliamentary stages, suggest that cash transferred from the NHS to the care system will have to be used to make the reforms happen, they say.

It means that money set aside to improve social care would be diverted into bureaucracy, the councils and charities fear.

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Personal Independence Payments: a failing system is trapping disabled people without benefits

February 18, 2014   Carers, disability

Bills still have to be paid and food still has to be bought.

By Frances Ryan Published 17 February 2014 13:34

Since the new Personal Independence Payments began to replace Disability Living Allowance, fewer than one in six people who applied have had their claims decided. While assessments drag out over months, bills still have to be paid and food still has to be bought.

While waiting for their claim to be decided, people are losing out on vital support.

Paul Richardson* has just got off the phone with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It was another phone call trying to check on the progress of his daughter Jennifer’s application for the new disability benefit, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), but it was another conversation that got them nowhere.

Jennifer has borderline personality disorder and has made two suicide attempts since she left school. She’s now 22 and this year moved back to live with her parents. She finds it difficult to talk to strangers and her mum and dad have been dealing with the PIP process as much as they can on her behalf. The process has been difficult from the offset when they had their first meeting at home in November.

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