Tag Archives: DLA

Changes begin for disability benefit

April 8, 2013   benefits, Carers, disability, ukcuts

8 April 2013 Last updated at 10:57

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.

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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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Anger and fear over change from DLA to PIP

February 25, 2013   Carers, disability

Paralympics stars express concern over losing disability allowance

Medal-winning British athletes say benefit provided them with vital support during training for Paralympic Games

 

Sophie Christiansen celebrates winning one of her three gold medals for dressage at last summer’s Paralympic Games.

British Paralympic stars have voiced anger about the imminent disappearance of the Disability Living Allowance, a benefit they say provided them with vital support during training.

The athletes have expressed concern that they may not be eligible for its replacement – the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – which will be available to fewer claimants when it is introduced in April with tightened qualification criteria.

Disability Living Allowance (DLA), worth between £20 and £131.50 a week, is designed to help disabled people meet the extra costs of disability-related care and mobility. It is not means-tested and is available to those in or out of work.

The new system is designed to cut payments by £2.24bn annually by 2015-16, resulting in 500,000 fewer claimants. More than 2 million people will begin to be reassessed from this April to gauge their eligibility for PIP.

Sophie Christiansen, who has cerebral palsy, won three gold medals at the Games in dressage. She is worried that under the new criteria, she may find herself no longer eligible for the benefit, depending on how assessors judge her ability to get around.

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