Tag Archives: disability

Towns and cities that will be hardest hit by government welfare reforms

Welfare reforms ‘will take £19bn A YEAR out of economy and hit poorest hardest’

CONTROVERSIAL new welfare reforms to be implemented by the Government will take almost £19 billion a year out of the UK economy, researchers revealed today.

 Northern England will be hit hardest by the Government’s welfare reforms, research has shown
Northern England will be hit hardest, with residents in Blackpool set to lose out more than anywhere else in Britain when the changes to the benefits system kick in, academics at Sheffield Hallam University said.Former industrial areas including Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Glasgow will also be disproportionately affected.However, wealthier areas, predominantly in the South, such as Cambridge, Surrey and the Cotswolds, will see the smallest financial losses.

Researchers assessed the financial impact of changes made by the Conservative-led coalition to housing benefit – including the so-called bedroom tax on public housing tenants who have unused rooms – disability living allowance, child benefit, tax credits, council tax benefit and several other hand-outs.

Professor Steve Fothergill, from Sheffield Hallam’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, led the study, which was based on a range of official statistics.

Changes begin for disability benefit

Disability Living Allowance replaced by PIP scheme

 People with disabilities will eventually all move over to the new PIP system

Major changes to disability benefits for new claimants are being introduced in some areas of the country ahead of a nationwide rollout of the new measures.

It is the start of the replacement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) by Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the “ridiculous” system under which people were awarded benefit with no further checks must end.

But charity Scope says the changes have been designed just to save money.

That claim has been denied by the government, which says spending will not be reduced, but more help will be given to those who need it most.

The sick and carers fear the benefit changes

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.