LAW COMMISSION – reforming the Law

The Commission is reviewing all of the law that enables services to beprovided to older people, disabled people and those with mental healthproblems.

Today the Law Commission is publishing an analysis of the responses to its consultation on reforming adult social care law. The Commission is reviewing all of the law that enables services to be provided to older people, disabled people and those with mental health problems.

 

 

The Commission has received 231 formal responses, as well as hearing directly from stakeholders at 72 specially staged events across England and Wales. The individuals and organisations who responded include disabled people, carers, lobby groups, local councils, social workers and the Government.

see details in full here

Carers assessments section

Raise Carers Allowance To Minimum Wage Level Campaign

with thanks to Sarah for forwarding us the details of her campaign

As a disabled person whose parent carer claims Carer’s Allowance, I know others in the same situation. Our parents all had talents and careers before becoming our carers. They did not choose their caring roles- any more than we chose our disabilities.

Carers are all people, too. Many of them have intelligence and skills that can and should allow them to earn far more than £95 a week. By caring for us in our own homes, they are saving our hospitals and residential care homes a lot of money, time and trouble-as well as giving us a good quality of life- a life spent with family and friends in a familiar environment. They rarely complain, yet they are allowed to earn just under £150 a week for all their hard work- and that includes the benefit. Most of them rarely get a break.

read in full here

Campaign Facebook Page.

Campaign Petition.

Campaign Page on the Scope charity website. (Many thanks to Scope)

Campaign Twitter Feed.

A labour of love for town’s carers

BOLTON could be sitting on a ticking time bomb because of savage cuts, the town’s carers have warned.

Thousands of people in the borough provide round-the-clock care for poorly loved-ones — saving the public purse around £420 million each year in Bolton alone.

But they warn that the burden could become too great if funding for emotional and practical support is pulled.

see in full here

One very last chance for you to stop the harsh new ESA test

One very last chance for you to stop the harsh new ESA test
28 March 2011
In spite of the fact that the harsh new work capability assessment (WCA), the medical test for employment and support allowance (ESA), became law today, there is still a chance of getting it cancelled.

But it does depend on you urgently attempting to persuade your MP to get off their . . .  seat and do something useful before they go off on their Easter holidays next week.

How Compassionate are the new Welfare Reforms?

Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, spoke last night at a joint Theos/Charities Parliament event on the question of How Compassionate are the new Welfare Reforms?

 

Addressing representatives of local, national and international charities, public sector workers and journalists, just hours after Chancellor George Osborne delivered his budget, Mr Duncan Smith laid out the rationale behind the Welfare Reform bill.

 

Working from the premise that the current system was too complex and it contained disincentives to work, and that social policy over recent years had offered too much stick and not enough carrot, Mr Duncan Smith drew on William Beveridge’s original vision of the welfare state. This would offer assistance to the needy but would also seek to motivate, offering incentives, opportunities and rewards to enable those in poverty to move out of the destructive cycles which have been so prevalent in recent decades.

read in full – Theos Think Tank

Carers need action NOW from Coalition government

 

Carer Watch were pleased to learn in the recent publication of the new Welfare Reform Bill that Carers Allowance will remain outside the proposed Universal Credit. Carer Watch, along with many others, have campaigned long and hard for this.
 
However Carers Allowance has always been completely inadequate and carers still seem to be over looked and forgotten as other benefits are changed around them.

Carer Watch hope that this welcome recognition that carers are unique within the benefit system will be the start of

‘No help here’ – Incorrect and illegal advice by local authorities

Worries about older people being given incorrect and illegal advice by their local authority has become the emerging issue for Counsel and Care’s advice service in 2010, according to the Care Concerns 2010 report. The report is based on the over 250,000 older people, their families and carers who access Counsel and Care’s Advice Service a year via telephone, website, guides and publications.  This includes over 3,000 detailed cases supported directly by our Telephone Support Service.

see press release here

see report in full here

Carers’ anguish at funding cut that will cost them thousands

 

PARENTS of adults with severe learning difficulties are facing college bills of nearly £5,000 after funding was slashed by the government.

They are being forced to pay more than £1,600 for each of three years for the successful Pathways programme at Bournemouth and Poole College.

The course, for over-19s with disabilities or severe or moderate learning difficulties, has been free of charge until now.

But government funding which covered half the cost of the course has been removed.

Carers’ anguish at funding cut that will cost them thousands (From Bournemouth Echo)

Scottish election husting – Carers

On Monday 21st March, an election hustings event took place in Edinburgh. This is a report by one of our members -

I could send a blank sheet of paper and that would say it all. Lady sitting next to me ( front row seats!) chatting about the usual. Who, what, why etc and I got on to the Welfare Reform Bill.

What’s that she asked?

Gave her a brief summary and she said they can’t make you work. No but they can stop benefits I pointed out.

They can’t do that.

Nothing was going to convince her otherwise and she kept telling me I must have it wrong. I shut up then.

DBC launches report into Welfare Reform Bill

Carer Watch members support this protest and some are making plans to attend

A report published today by the Disability Benefits Consortium a coalition of 41 charities and organisations shows how welfare reform changes may harm disabled people.

The report Benefiting disabled people? highlights concerns over the impact of reforms to vital benefits like Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) on thousands of disabled people and their families.

The report, presents the findings of recent surveys. The Disability Benefits Consortium surveyed 6,000 disabled people and found that: