Disability Living Allowance reform – public consultation

peecue

This consultation seeks your views on the Government‘s proposals to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit – Personal Independence Payment. The Personal Independence Payment will continue to be a non-means tested, extra costs benefit. It will help disabled people remove the barriers they face to leading full and independent lives. This consultation asks for views to inform our policy for reforming DLA and introducing a new objective assessment. The consultation applies to England, Wales and Scotland.

The consultation is aimed primarily at disability organisations and disabled people, but they would like to hear from anybody who is interested.

As reported by Community Care, DLA's replacement – personal independence payment – will be a non-means-tested and non-taxable benefit, available to people in and out of work, like its predecessor.

However, the reforms will tighten eligibility in several ways:
• Claimants will have to have had an impairment or health condition for six months, not three, as at present.
• A wider range of aids and adaptations will be taken into account in the assessment process, meaning that some disabled people who can get, may become ineligible.
• There will no longer be automatic entitlements for people with specific health conditions.
• All claimants will be assessed by a healthcare professional approved by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The changes are designed to implement proposals in the Budget to reform the assessment system for DLA, in order to reduce expenditure and the number of claimants by 20%.

The existing mobility and care components of the benefits will be replaced by similar measures looking at people's level of independence and ability to carry out the activities necessary to participate in everyday life.

The reforms will be introduced for new and existing claimants of working age from 2013 and could be extended to children or pensioners.

For more details on the consultation visit dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2010/dla-reform.shtml
The consultation on the proposals closes on 14 February 2011

[Deleted User]

looks like the condems are window dressing to try and make the proposed changes palitable,personally i would suggest that if the exercise is just about saving 20%(and lets be honest thats what its about)then why not do the 2 easiest options
1)means test dla
2)tax dla

Indie_Kid

peecue wrote: »

• A wider range of aids and adaptations will be taken into account in the assessment process, meaning that some disabled people who can get, may become ineligible.
• There will no longer be automatic entitlements for people with specific health conditions.

No different to now then. DLA is currently based on needs. The only automatic entitlement is for people who are expected to live less than 6 months.

Hammyman

It will help disabled people remove the barriers they face to leading full and independent lives.

So no different to the status quo then. You can already claim DLA and have a job.

Oh wait...I see the sting in the tail which means I and everyone else who is not in a wheelchair is stuffed....

• A wider range of aids and adaptations will be taken into account in the assessment process, meaning that some disabled people who can get, may become ineligible.

GlasweJen

There are no aids or adaptations to stop someone from collapsing and doing themselves an injury, not even a wheelchair can do that

You'll probably find that high rate mobility will be cut back so that it's only people who can't self propel a wheelchair who can get it, that's the route ESA is going down.

In terms of aids, they will probably only consider people needing help with getting dressed if there is a reason why they can't use devices to help do up buttons or put socks on, things like that.

Pile of nonsense anyway, it's just more hoops to jump through. No medical examiner on the planet would know what was wrong with me in 10 mins, it took a specialist several years and lots of expensive tests to do that.

Indie_Kid

GlasweJen wrote: »

Pile of nonsense anyway, it's just more hoops to jump through. No medical examiner on the planet would know what was wrong with me in 10 mins, it took a specialist several years and lots of expensive tests to do that.

Same for me pretty much. One specialist "accidently" discovered what was wrong with me. Given that the shortest time I've waited is 6 months, I'd love to know how someone can make (or attempt) a diagnosis within 10 minutes.

I've been prodded around with too much this year (which generally causes some form of pain) to rule out and confirm certain conditions - why do I need to go through it again?

pwales_2

im a para and can self propel ! looks like i wont have my motability car long then, if i go to low rate mobility

Indie_Kid

Isn't (or wasn't) the idea of HRM and therefore, the motability scheme to give people more independence? How will that work if a wheelchair user can't access a bus? (In Plymouth, we still have buses with steps)

pwales_2

im going to sit back and wait on this white paper, it will be madness to panic yet, at the end of the day i cant walk, s*it myself and p*i*s myself daily,
if the new rules say i am no longer disabled enough , well what can i do!
complete money saving exersice nothing to do with helping disabled, transparent is the word!!!!!!!!!!!!