Tag Archives: ukcuts

Benefit reforms ‘will hit disabled’

August 17, 2012   Carers, disability, family, mental health, poverty

Low-income families and the disabled will be among the hardest hit by the pending abolition of housing benefit, a report has claimed.

Social tenants will “lose hundreds of millions of pounds” as a result of the UK Government’s welfare reforms, according to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA).

Housing benefit will be phased out from April 2013 and substituted with the new universal credit, a single payment which will replace the current range of working age benefits. But the new order could result in “significant financial losses” to tenants on low incomes living in housing association and co-operative properties, the SFHA said.

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Mental health spending falls for first time in 10 years

August 7, 2012   Carers, Depression, mental health, ukcuts

Total government expenditure on services down by £150m, the first reduction since 2001, says Department of Health report

 

 

More than 6 million Britons are estimated to sufer from depression each year.

Spending in real terms on mental health has declined for the first time in a decade, a report for the Department of Health has found.

Although one of the coalition’s first big policy announcements was to declare that mental health ought to have “parity with physical health in the NHS”, investment in mental health for working-age adults dropped by 1%, once inflation is taken into account, to £6.63bn. For the elderly the recorded fall in real terms spending was 3.1% to £2.83bn.

In total, spending on mental health services in England dropped by £150m, the first fall since 2001. However this drop comes after a decade of rising investment: in 2001 just £4.1bn was spent on working-age adults mental health.

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Carers set to be hit hard by tax relief cuts

August 4, 2012   benefits, Carers, ukcuts

CARERS are set to be hit by a council tax shake-up that could see them almost 20 per cent worse off.

Under the proposals, a carer for a disabled family member will lose about £210 a year in council tax relief when borough and district councils take control of the discount scheme next year.

  1. Paul Piper, 52, of Bellfield Road has criticised Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for proposed council tax benefits cuts

    Paul Piper, 52, of Bellfield Road has criticised Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for proposed council tax benefits cuts

Both Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council plan to reduce the amount of council tax support by 18.5 per cent.

The only group protected from the increase is pensioners.

Paul Piper of Bellfield Road, Pembury, a full-time carer to his 10-year-old autistic daughter, believes people in his situation should be protected from the cuts.

He said: “It is unfair. People don’t appreciate what you have to spend money on when you have a disabled child. We have lots more costs we have to pay for and the £10 a month we would lose under these plans is a lot of money.

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