Category Archives: ukcuts

The Carer: ‘I dread the budget every year – we can’t take any more cutbacks’

October 11, 2013   autism, Carers, cerebral palsy, disability, ukcuts

11 October 2013

Since the ‘Age of Austerity’ began, society’s most vulnerable have been hit hardest.

Today, Independent.ie spoke to mum-of-one Heather Hogan.

Heather is mother of teenager David (16).

Shortly after his birth, David was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

At the age of two, he was diagnosed with autism. In recent years, he has lost the sight in his left eye, with his remaining sight fading.

David needs care around the clock.

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There's no cure for brain damage so why test me?

October 9, 2013   Carers, disability, ukcuts

There’s no cure for brain damage so why test me?

Francesca Martinez’s War on Welfare petition calls for a new deal for disabled people

Campaign: Francesca with the Mirror’s Ros
Nick Bowman

Francesca Martinez, actress and stand-up comedian, is sitting in her local pub imagining the ­conversation she will have with ATOS when she is reassessed for her disability benefits.

ATOS: “Hi Francesca, how is your condition improving?”

Francesca: “Oh, well it hasn’t. I’m brain-damaged.”

ATOS: “Well yes, I can see you are still wobbly.”

Francesca: “Yes I am. Well, that was a waste of taxpayers’ money, wasn’t it?”

Like thousands of people in the UK, Francesca was awarded Disability Living Allowance for life when she was a child.

But now under new changes, she will have to be reassessed. Over the next few months, an estimated 500,000 people will lose their DLA.

During her birth, her brain had been starved of oxygen, and by the time she was two she had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

“So, I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and go ‘oh I’m not wobbly any more!’” Francesca says.

“I’ve no plans to go to Lourdes. I’m not going to wake up and find I can pick up a glass of water.

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Council cost-cutting on care a threat to human rights of elderly

October 8, 2013   Carers, Older care, Social care, ukcuts

Councils are abusing elderly people’s human rights by forcing down the price they pay agencies to provide care in their homes, the UK’s official equalities watchdog has warned.

Council cost-cutting on care a threat to human rights of elderly – watchdog

By , Social affairs Editor

8:00AM BST 08 Oct 2013

In a scathing report, it accused local authorities of actively creating “incentives” for private contractors for care to get worse rather than better.

The Commission found that in many cases councils are not even paying a rate which covers the “actual cost” of providing care.

As a result, it says, care workers are routinely being paid below the legal minimum wage when travel costs and time between appointments are included.

In turn morale in the industry is now so low that elderly people who rely on help simply to get out of bed or wash are faced with a constant turnover of staff, rushed appointments and basic tasks left undone.

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