100 days to save DLA & AA from the axe

[nonyanomemory]

Hi just noticed your post as cannot sleep but won't bore with the whys and wherefore's. The thread below talks about this very important issue also.

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9296&start=0

Best wishes
nonya

[SAMMY]

Yo peeps. The last petition I signed, I got an email back saying thank you very much and DLA is not under threat. Is this still the case? SAMMY

[Englishgremlin1]

victory on dla - official! now just AA to save.

[aheaps]

Hi everyone,

just wanted to let you see the email I received from Benefits and Work on 20th October :

The last two weeks have finally removed any uncertainty about whether DLA is under threat, but they have also brought real cause for optimism.

Lord McKenzie of Luton, the parliamentary under secretary of state for work and pensions, was asked last week in a House of Lords debate which disability benefits the government are ‘considering integrating into the wider social care budget in England’.

Lord McKenzie replied:

“At this stage, we do not want to rule out any options and so are considering all disability benefits.”

Even when care minister Phil Hope’s claim that DLA is ‘not under threat’ was referred to and Lord McKenzie was specifically asked to rule out the using DLA as a source of funding for social care, his response was “no particular benefit is ruled out of consideration.”

So, whilst we can’t say why Phil Hope made his ‘be very happy’ statement, we can now say with certainty that it does not reflect the government’s stated policy. For more, see:

Senior minister confirms DLA is under threat
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/l ... der-threat

But that same Lord’s debate also brought a real ray of hope in the form of a champion prepared to fight for DLA and AA.

Lord Ashley of Stoke warned the minister that “any attempt by the Government to withdraw these benefits, or any benefits at all, will be very strongly resisted by disabled people, by their organisations and by many Members of both Houses of Parliament.”

Lords warn attack on DLA and AA will be “very strongly resisted”
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/l ... y-resisted

Lord Ashley – former MP Jack Ashley - is a formidable campaigner, with victories dating right back to the thalidomide campaign of the 1970s. It will not have brought any joy to ministers’ hearts to see Jack Ashley, and a number of other noble Lords, lining up against them. And it’s a tribute to the efforts of Benefits and Work campaigners that this issue has gone from being almost entirely unacknowledged – or dismissed as scaremongering - to being debated in the House of Lords in less than three months.

Elsewhere, the No 10 petition has perked up again, now reaching over 17,000 signatures. As few as another 1,000 signatures should see it getting into the top 10 petitions before the care consultation ends on November 13th. Do you know people who haven’t signed yet? Try and encourage them along to:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AttendanceA


So sorry but DLA is still under threat and we need to keep fighting. Can anyone who has not signed the petition please do so, we need all the signatures we can get.

Claire

[curlysue]

I just want to second what Claire said, that DLA is still under threat. So keep harrassing your friends and family to sign the petition!

It would be interesting to see how many people actually claim DLA and AA versus how many people have signed the petition to safeguard them...

CSx

[Englishgremlin1]

Does this government speak with one voice ever - one def no to affexting DLA then in print not the case - anyone else find this confusing?

[SAMMY]

Hey guys. Sorry for this!! I am trying to get these DLA links onto another site but don't know how. I have posted for help on another thread but no reply. Pleas PM me so this site doesn't lose track. SAMMY

[aheaps]

Hi guys,

just wanted to post an email received today from Benefits and Work:



Health secretary Andy Burnham has said that he has ‘heard the concerns and worries about disability living allowance’. As a result, he has announced that:

“I can state categorically that we have now ruled out any suggestion that DLA for under-65s will be brought into the new National Care Service.”

Good news indeed . . . for some . . . for the moment.

But definitely not for the one and a half million people who depend on AA.

Nor for the for the three quarters of a million people aged 65 and over who receive DLA.

Not even for the 400,000 DLA claimants currently aged between 60 and 64, many of whom will have reached the age of 65 by the time labour’s proposed National Care Service is introduced.

Because, of course, DLA is not just paid to people under 65. You have to make your claim before you are 65, but you can then go on claiming indefinitely if your needs do not change.

Unfortunately, many organisations who should know better seem to have forgotten that – perhaps just as the government hoped.

Because Mr Burnham made no secret about why he made this announcement: he wants to shut people up. He said in his speech, given at a conference in Harrogate on 22nd October and also published on the Big Care Debate website:

"One avenue I do want to close down, however, is the debate and controversy over Disability Living Allowance.”

In that ambition, he seems to have succeeded, at least so far as some disability charities are concerned.

Immediately following Burnham’s speech, Disability Alliance sent out a press release stating that:

“. . . the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) benefit will not be affected by Government plans to merge some benefits with social care funding . . . Andy Burnham's announcement will reassure disabled people that DLA is safe – for now at least.”

The Disability Charities Consortium told the media:

"This represents a real victory for disabled people who felt very strongly that the DLA should be retained and made their collective voice heard on this issue. "

Macmillan Cancer Support also issued a press release saying that:

“Whilst we are pleased the Government has said Disability Living Allowance (DLA) will not be used to meet the shortfall in social care funding, we remain deeply concerned that Attendance Allowance (AA) is still under threat.”

But that isn’t what Andy Burnham said at all. He said DLA for under 65’s is not being considered.

This was echoed by Yvette Cooper, the DWP secretary of state who told a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on ME on 21st October that DLA for people of ‘working age’ is not under review.

It was also made clear by Burnham that there will be no transitional protection of existing awards for current claimants. Instead, ‘an equivalent level of support' will be provided by your local authority.

Burnham’s announcement seems to have had the desired effect, however – the ‘debate and controversy’ over DLA appears to be over as far as some disability charities are concerned. Yet, in a little over two weeks time the deadline for submissions on the green paper ends.

It’s vital that the case for saving DLA for all claimants is still made. Only now there is a real worry that not only have the disability charities relaxed, but also that Burnham will claim that because 3,000 submissions to the Big Care Debate were made before his announcement that DLA for under 65s is safe, they should mostly be discounted.

If you don’t want the government to get away with closing down ‘the debate and controversy over Disability Living Allowance’ there are things you can do.

Contact disability groups you have a connection with and warn them that they still need to respond to the green paper in relation to both DLA and AA.

Respond to the Care Green paper yourself, again if necessary, making it clear that you are aware that DLA for under 65s is not under consideration and giving your views on axing AA and DLA for people aged 65 and over.

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

Email: careandsupport@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Rouse people to sign the No 10 petition, which is gathering real momentum again: it now has over 19,000 signatures and is at number 8 out of over four and a half thousand petitions on the site. Not bad going for a petition that has been running for less than two months.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AttendanceA/

Tell your MP what you think or, better still, go and visit them and tell them face-to-face.

One final thought. The revelation that the government is considering slashing the income of 2.5 million older disabled claimants was made by Andy Burnham in a keynote speech last week.

The subject of that speech?

Outlawing ageism in the NHS.




So DLA is safe for the moment for the under 65's. Lets just hope that they don't backtrack on this decision.

Claire

[Englishgremlin1]

I have been back to the consultation site - and said I still think the proposals are flawed and take away personal choice and freedom.

[curlysue]

Not sure if any of you has seen this; it's the Govt's response to the petition to save AA and DLA -

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page22353

It's pretty much hot air as you would expect. It says that they have ruled out cutting DLA for those under 65, but it looks like disability benefits for those over 65 would still be under threat of being 'integrated' into the new system.

CSx

[SAMMY]

As you can probably tell I am not so good at the mo. 43 and really fed up of giving the government loads of money to get nothing back! How much more do we have to lose??? The gov makes it sound like we are living cushty lives! Sorry for the rant!! I have signed up for more notifications. Don't know what one more person can do but I hope I am not alone.

[Englishgremlin1]

I got the response fro no 10. as usual full of waffle and excuse. It held little promise to me or anything concrete

[serenity79]

I got replies yesterday for two separate petitions I had signed, this one and another unrelated one. I was astonished by how both answers managed to use so many words to basically say nothing at all. Load of twaddle and like Englishgremlin1 says, no real promises made.

[barkingmad]

Hi guys,

We have just had a response from our patron, MP Norman Lamb, who also wrote on behalf of us to the Secretary of Health(I think it was him ) I will find the letter and put up the finer details, but both Norman's and the Secretary of Health(?) stated that DLA is not being considered in the Green Paper proposal, as they wish to continue to offer choice to disabled people within this age group.

However, AA will be included in the proposal as the government believes that older people do not currently receive a fit for purpose service or equal access to any services for older people and that it is fairer for the local authorities to assume responsibility for this.

I will put up the paper but I didnt want you to think we haven't received a reply.
Thanks Donna

[NeoMorph]

Under the previous govt DLA and AA was under threat... Then the other week I noticed that Mr Osborne is looking to cut DLA too...

One thing brought it home to me more than anything else. The squeeze on people claiming disability living allowance is predicted to save the government £1.4bn by 2015. This is the weekly allowance that can be claimed by people so physically or mentally disabled they cannot wash or dress themselves; can't eat unaided or use the toilet independently. It helps them pay for a helper. Just last December, Andrew Lansley, the new health secretary, launched a Commons motion to defend DLA when the Labour government was thinking about abolishing it to pay for a new social care system. Now a Conservative chancellor cheerfully announces a big cut in the DLA budget, with no improvement at all in the social care system. Surely, hitting the disabled and the elderly is not what constitutes "fair".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... s-not-fair

The more things change, the more they stay the same...