Disability benefit cuts be aware of what’s going on

Today changes are being rolled out in disability benefits. The change from DLA to PIP enters another phase being rolled out in other parts of the country. • Concern? A new system of disability benefits has begun to take effect across England, Scotland and Wales. Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) are replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as part of the government's welfare reforms. The government claims PIPs will target resources more effectively towards those who need it most. But a charity warns that almost a fifth of claimants - 600,000 people - could eventually lose their benefits. Since April, thousands of new claimants in the north of England have already applied for PIPs. Now, new claimants of working age in the rest of Britain will also have to apply for a PIP, rather than DLA. Northern Ireland will join the system later. From October, PIPs will be extended further, when the government will start to re-assess existing claimants, but only those who circumstances have changed. The vast majority of the 3.2 million people who currently claim DLA will not be re-assessed until 2015 or later. Many disabled people fear having to be put through the new in-person tests to test their eligibility. Phil Sumner, a former postman who has multiple sclerosis, told the BBC that the prospect of an interview is "quite intimidating". "It's like being judged again. Filling out forms is bad enough. Face-to-face, I don't like anyway," he said. Savings Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) suggest that 450,000 will no longer be able to claim the benefit by 2018. But the disability charity Scope said that - including those who would have been new claimants between now to 2018 - some 607,000 people will miss out in total. The government claims the new system will better target those who need help. Under DLA, most people filled in their own application forms, and did not have to re-apply, even if their health improved. "Seventy-one percent would have indefinite awards, without regular checks," the disabilities minister, Esther McVeigh, told the BBC. "So this is about targeting billions of pounds a year at the people who n So we are told. I am currently on DLA and am not being reassessed just yet I don’t expect to be for sometime but it is a worry at the back of your mind. My eyesight is unlikely to ever improve so how is my situation ever likely to change? I was awarded my DLA for life when I got it and don’t see why this has to change. I will have to see what happens but I don’t see why I should be targeted while the rich laugh all the way to the banks evading billions in tax. Quite clearly this is an attack on disabled people who as we know can’t fight back so easily so are an easy target for this vicious and cruel government. All benefit cuts must be fought as best we can. Keep a watch on my blog for further updates on benefit cuts and disability news and views.

Welfare bill spells difficulty for many

This is a piece i have submitted to go in our paper the socialist this coming week. It may not appear as this may be jigged around here and there to fit in the paper but i thought i'd post my original version here for all to read if they wished.


So as the Welfare bill makes its course through the houses of
parliament going backwards and forwards between the commons and the
lord's disabled people such as me reflect on what will make our lives
harder than they already are.

For me the proposed changes are yet to be spelled out to me but I
understand the DLA is likely to be replaced with Pip which will surely
cost more in the long run to introduce and make the transition across.
I was granted DLA indefinably after I was told I may not see ever
again following the traumatic loss of my sight in 2004. From what I
understand PIP will be harder to claim and more and more strict tests
will have to be performed before you are granted help and support.

No doubt such profiteers such as ATOS will be there carrying out the
tests on disabled people with tough rigorous tests to carry out to
prove if you are fit for work or not.

With DLA this was not means tested so you could still claim it while
working which has been a great help to me as I only work part time and
receive working tax credits as a top up due to such poor level of
wages.

I know many cases of people who have already been through tough
screening and have lost out with attempts to get benefits to help them
live independently. Missing out and still not being able to find work
is extremely tough. I was unemployed a few years back after leaving
blind college in Here ford the RNCB which again receives local
authority funding for students to go there to study and receive
support in a residential environment.

I fear for others and myself who will have to face tough questions in
the coming months and years in terms of what we can and cannot afford.

Disabled activists may have been heartened by the role the house of
lords has played so far but we would air on the side of caution and
say the lords only oppose part of the welfare bill. As socialists we
would oppose the whole bill as it is a vicious attack on ordinary
working class disabled people.

With all 3 main capitalist parties Tories, lib dems and labour all
agreeing with the principle of the bill it is time disabled people
along with others in society say enough is enough and put our efforts
in to fighting for a new workers party fighting for the interests of
all not just the 1%.