OCD Action

Do any of you claim Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance, or know somebody who does? I'd like to draw your attention to this article, which describes how these allowances may be at risk. After a public outcry the Government has agreed to keep DLA for those under 65. But they are less forthcoming about the future of AA, or of DLA for those over 65.

Anyway, here's the article. It's taken from the newsletter of the home education charity Education Otherwise. Unfortunately the petition it mentions closed before I got the newsletter, but the rest of the article still applies.

Disability Living Allowance Saved - For Some by Judi Wilson
Huge cuts in public spending will have to take place in the next few years as a result of the credit crunch and global recession. Political parties are desperately looking for the softest targets to be the victims of these cuts.
A Government Green Paper revealed proposals to stop paying "disability benefits, for example, Attendance Allowance (AA)" and hand the cash over to social services instead.
Under the plan, current claimants would have their disability benefits converted to a "personal budget" administered by local authorities and used to pay for services - not to spend as they wish.
36 meetings have already been organised around the country for people working in government and the caring professions to be told about the setting up of a new National Care Service which
would oversee the system. In addition, a stakeholders panel of more than 50 voluntary sector organisations, trades unions and academics has been established to offer advice to the government.
Following a campaign by disability groups asking 1,000 claimants to respond to the green paper protesting about this threat to DLA, Health Secretary Andy Burnham 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.
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."
Burnham's announcement seems to have had the desired effect: the 'debate and controversy' over DLA appears to be over as far as some disability charities are concerned. But what
Andy Burnham said is that 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.
It's vital that the case for saving DLA for all claimants is still made. Now there is a real worry that not only have the disability charities relaxed, but also that Burnham will assert 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 still things you can do.
Contact disability groups with whom you have a connection, 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. Email: careandsupport@dh.gsi.gov.uk
Encourage people to sign the No 10 petition, which is gathering real momentum: in mid November it was sixth out of four and a half thousand petitions on the site, with almost 22,000 signatures.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AttendanceA/
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to recognise the vital support that Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) provide to disabled people, and to ensure that these benefits are secured and are not removed as part of any future reform of the social care system in England.
Submitted by Peter Hand of Mencap - Deadline to sign up by: 07 December 2009
Tell your MP what you think or, better still, go and visit them and tell them face to face.
One final irony: 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. The subject of that speech was: "Outlawing ageism in the NHS". Find out more about the proposed abolition of DLA and AA and how you can join our campaign to fight back:
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/disability-livingallowance-(dla)/ dla-aa-cuts
Information in this article from Benefits and Work press release.