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alwaysonthego_2

healy wrote: »

I think she means the poster Government Slave at post 114, it confused me at first too!

I did !!

purplecatlover

may i go a bit OT and ask what is this about a tory government coming in? i dont recall voting in anything other than the european elections recently.

spikeysoul

no its to do with labours cntinued changing of the benefit system (ESA ect) - not sure wether it's to try to save money - I suspect it is (they have to pay for the banks somehow). However it all comes under the heading of improving care - as care at the moment is in dire circumstances as the budgets have been cut so tightly you need to be classed as 'critical' in a lot of areas to recieve any help. This is leaving a lot of vunerable people in very awful situations.

They are suggesting that this will be a better/fairer system, as a disabled person I'm sceptical that anything they do will be better until they have proved it will be. We were all fed the lies that we would be better off on ESA - even if they ported me across into the support group i would be down in income (in fact my benefit is at the same level as last year becasue it is now tied to ESA levels till it comes into line with them. If I end up in the work activity group I'll be something like £40 a week worse off! I for one want proof it will be better before they even start suggsting taking away money that pays for my independance. It's AA that seems to be more at risk - and that needs fighting a as tjhe over 65's do not need to be worse off either. however if they take AA (and becasue of the wording of the consultation it) DLA would be the next easy target.

I do believe the conservatives have promised to keep DLA (though not AA) and I can understand why - it's got to be a lot cheaper than having everyone individually assesed by SS and then having to justify every last grain of anything you want. In my mind it's madness.

[Deleted User]

purplecatlover wrote: »

may i go a bit OT and ask what is this about a tory government coming in? i dont recall voting in anything other than the european elections recently.

I for one am assuming that the tories will win next years GE,i really dont see labour winning,do you?

healy

woodbine wrote: »

I for one am assuming that the tories will win next years GE,i really dont see labour winning,do you?

I second that ( not because I want them to win) but because it seems pretty unlikely that Labour will.

Bogof_Babe

Can anyone explain on what basis they are thinking of scrapping AA?

My mum gets this, and as she is self-funding in her care home it helps a great deal. I can envisage that if AA is scrapped, a lot of very elderly and frail folk might find themselves having to move into cheaper care homes, or throw themselves on the mercies of government funded care.

She has already sold the family house btw, all she has coming in is AA, savings interest (ha :rolleyes:), the state pension and a couple of small employment pensions from my late dad's jobs. She currently pays £500 a week for her care.

It seems they are picking off the easy targets first, as the very old are in no position to fight for themselves.

spikeysoul

This is all part of a green paper consultation on care the AA would be put into a funding pot for care that SS would asess you for and then distribute. It all looks very nice and reads well on paper - but nobody really knows how it would work or what the criteria would be and the majority of the consultation focuses on how to fund the changes not what the changes would be or how to assess them.

To me it looks like they are consulting on getting rid of AA - with the possibility of moving onto DLA without telling us what it will be replaced with and what we can expect. There is a lot of nice sounding rhetoric - but little substance apart from the funding question.

Here is a link to download the green paper apparently it's very busy at the moment

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_102338

Also direct gov website for the green paper

http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/

Interestingly on another site I go to (BBC Ouch!) it has been pointed out there is another piece of consultation on welfare reform being looked at that would effect this too. it's called 'the right to control' - it's at this point I start to get a little overwhelmed, however I'm sure some people will be able to put the two together.

http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk/working/right-to-control.php#rtc-eoi

Happy reading!

Bogof_Babe

the AA would be put into a funding pot for care that SS would asess you for and then distribute.

That's what confuses me. I mean mum is already getting full time residential care, so the only way they could leave her no worse off would be to reduce the cost of her care home fees. Bet they don't intend to do that though .

dmg24

So to summarise the past seven pages:

* Nobody really knows what the ultimate effect of these suggested reforms will be
* Nobody has any evidence that AA and DLA will be scrapped

BenefitsandWork still not scaremongering?

NASA_2

dmg24 wrote: »

So to summarise the past seven pages:

* Nobody really knows what the ultimate effect of these suggested reforms will be
* Nobody has any evidence that AA and DLA will be scrapped

BenefitsandWork still not scaremongering?

Never!

Why would a special interest group scaremonger?