DLA - PIP to be included in the Benefits cap ??

Jane_gs

Actually this is the right place to put this.

Does this mean that eventually your benefits cap might include your DLA and PIP payments, aswell as the other things ??

The £350 per week for single people ?
The £500 per week for couples...?

(So PIP + DLA will be included in the above green caps?
- possibly in years to come ? 2015+ )

Osborne’s benefits spending cap will include DLA, PIP... and ESA

Two key benefits for disabled people will be included in a new “welfare cap”, even though new government research has revealed only a tiny minority of people want to cut spending on disability benefits.



The chancellor, George Osborne, announced last week that he would introduce the cap from 2015, and that it would include spending on disability benefits.

The Treasury was unable to say last week exactly which benefits would be included in the cap.

But this week, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that both disability living allowance and its working-age replacement, personal independence payment (PIP), would be included.

It also revealed that spending on employment and support allowance (ESA), the replacement for incapacity benefit, would be included in the cap, even though jobseeker’s allowance will be excluded.

It is still unclear exactly how the cap will work, but the Office for Budget Responsibility will be told to issue a “public warning” if social security spending approaches the limit set by the government.

If such a warning is issued, the government will “be forced to take action to cut welfare costs or publicly breach the cap”, which will be set for the first time at next year’s budget.

Labour has still not commented on the welfare cap, and its affect on disabled people, despite several requests from Disability News Service.

The confirmation of the benefits the government intends to include in its strict limit on social security spending came as a research report – published quietly this week by DWP – revealed new figures that will give a boost to disabled campaigners fighting spending cuts.

The survey found that nearly half (47 per cent) of more than 2,200 non-disabled people who were questioned thought the government should spend more on benefits for disabled people who cannot work, while only four per cent thought they should spend less.

The figures came from the latest Office for National Statistics Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, which measures changes in attitudes towards disabled people, and will feed into DWP’s disability strategy, Fulfilling Potential.

DWP also confirmed that new rules which will force anyone who loses their job to wait for a week – rather than the current three days – before claiming jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), will apply to many people claiming out-of-work disability benefits.

The Treasury said last week that the new rules would not apply to those claiming the contributory form of JSA or ESA, but DWP has confirmed that it will apply to those on the means-tested, income-related version of ESA.

The measure is part of another £4 billion to be cut from spending on benefits in 2015-16, on top of previous cuts of £18 billion a year.

Meanwhile, the Treasury has again been unable to explain why it failed to take any account of the impact on disabled people of the “welfare cap”, the seven-day rule, and the cuts of 10 per cent to local government spending, in an equality impact analysis published alongside last week’s Spending Round 2013 report.

Does this mean that eventually your benefits cap might include your DLA and PIP payments, aswell as the other things ??

The £350 per week for single people ?
The £500 per week for couples...?

(So PIP + DLA will be included in the above green caps?
- possibly in years to come ? 2015+ )


Source:
http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/07/osbornes-benefits-spending-cap-will-include-dla-pip-and-esa/

rogerblack

There have also been comments made by Osborne (?) that 25K cap is too high outside london.

It's too soon to say what will be final policy in this area.
I would not say that it's at all beyond conception that DLA/PIP might be included in the cap.
I haven't seen comments about DLA and PIP being included in the cap, the release you quote does not give a source for this remark.

On rereading - yes - this is not about indicidual benefit caps - in principle.
However, the question arises - what if this overall spending cap is breached.
There are only so many things that can be done to lower the expenditure.
One would be to reduce the cap on individuals.

Another would be to go from indexing benefits by inflation, to indexing them by the total spending.
This would have very severe effects.

Ames

This isn't about the benefit cap that individuals are subject to.

This is about the announcement in the spending review that there'll be a cap on how much the government pay out in benefits each year overall.

Jane_gs

rogerblack wrote: »

There have also been comments made by Osborne (?) that 25K cap is too high outside london.

It's too soon to say what will be final policy in this area.
I would not say that it's at all beyond conception that DLA/PIP might be included in the cap.
I haven't seen comments about DLA and PIP being included in the cap, the release you quote does not give a source for this remark.

On rereading - yes - this is not about indicidual benefit caps - in principle.
However, the question arises - what if this overall spending cap is breached.
There are only so many things that can be done to lower the expenditure.
One would be to reduce the cap on individuals.

Another would be to go from indexing benefits by inflation, to indexing them by the total spending.
This would have very severe effects.

Here is a source

Source:
http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/07/osbornes-benefits-spending-cap-will-include-dla-pip-and-esa/

and if it is about the overall spending, howcome they say
"It is still unclear exactly how the cap will work" ?

Making it sound like a cap scheme/calculation ?

Could the rates for PIP reduce? lower/higher/ enhanced etc ? or nothing like that. ??

Ames

Ok, I'll try and be clearer. There are two benefit caps being talked about.

The first one, which is already in place in some areas, is a cap on the amount of benefits a person or family can receive. This doesn't currently include DLA/PIP. Of course it's possible that in future it will include them, because in the future anything is possible.

The other cap is only being talked about, it hasn't come in yet. This is a cap on the whole benefit bill to the government. It includes DLA/PIP, because that's a relatively stable benefit as far as claimant numbers go. It doesn't include JSA, because that fluctuates throughout the year and economic cycle. The information all says 'it's unclear how it'll work', because it's only at the planning stage.

It's really not anything to worry about. When it was announced, the 'penalty' for going above the benefit cap is that the minister for the DWP has to write a letter saying sorry. That's all. They're not going to mess about saying 'we're spending x% above the cap this month so need to reduce DLA by y%'. That's totally impractical, and expensive to administer.

All this policy is is a nice soundbite. Or should I say a soundbark - because there's no bite to it at all.

Jane_gs

Ames wrote: »

The first one, which is already in place in some areas, is a cap on the amount of benefits a person or family can receive. This doesn't currently include DLA/PIP. Of course it's possible that in future it will include them, because in the future anything is possible.

Cheers.

Do you think in the future they will include Dla/Pip in the benefits cap? (£500)

or you think there will be so many complaints from carers, letters send to MPS, etc in the next few years due to this 'current' benefit cap ? (of £500 week) that they will have a huge resistance and might reject including dla and pip?

enabledebra

Jane_gs wrote: »

Cheers.

Do you think in the future they will include Dla/Pip in the benefits cap? (£500)

or you think there will be so many complaints from carers, letters send to MPS, etc in the next few years due to this 'current' benefit cap ? (of £500 week) that they will have a huge resistance and might reject including dla and pip?

There are no current plans to include it and/or remove the exemption from the cap for households with a DLA claimant. Never say never but a recent FOI request got this response

"All households which include somebody who is receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are exempt from the benefit cap. This is because DLA is awarded in recognition of the additional financial needs the recipient’s disability can bring."

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-living-allowance-claimants-with-other-benefits-who-are-affected-by-the-benefit-cap-26732013

Ames

Jane_gs wrote: »

Cheers.

Do you think in the future they will include Dla/Pip in the benefits cap? (£500)

or you think there will be so many complaints from carers, letters send to MPS, etc in the next few years due to this 'current' benefit cap ? (of £500 week) that they will have a huge resistance and might reject including dla and pip?

I really, honestly don't know.