Will I still get Personal Independence Payments if G4S can’t talk to me?

 

When I was asked to take part in the testing of the first draft of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment, I was very uneasy about it. While I didn’t want to be seen as condoning it; I chose to take part to prove to what extent the assessments pose difficulties for other deafblind people.

I am a profoundly deafblind wheelchair user, and have other medical needs. Most people are likely to think that someone with my impairments and long-term health conditions would be one of "the most vulnerable in society" that this government claims to be protecting. Yet, the coalition’s insistence on face-to-face assessments will probably lead to me losing out because quite simply, I wasn’t able to take part in the pilot.

Will I still get Personal Independence Payments if G4S can’t talk to me? | Society | guardian.co.uk

Courts cannot order ISPs to filter P2P, ECJ rules

 

NEWS

Courts in the EU may not order ISPs to filter out copyright-infringing file-sharing from their networks, the European Court of Justice has said.

The ruling came on Thursday, ending a very long-running case between Belgian ISP Scarlet and rights-holder group Sabam. Privacy advocates said the judgment could have consequences in the UK, but industry sources suggested the impact could be limited.

Courts cannot order ISPs to filter P2P, ECJ rules | Intellectual Property | ZDNet UK

Medway Council proposes £2.1m adult social care cuts

Medway Council has laid out its proposals for cutting £2.1m from its adult social care budget.

It anticipates saving £1.1m in care home charges by privatising three residential care homes and closing an adult day care centre

READ IN FULL HERE

Worthing man, 102, in care home crisis

A 102-YEAR-OLD man could be forced to move out of his care home in just seven months if he is not paid the £50,000 worth of benefit he is owed.

Walter Craven, who pays for his own care at the Victoria Royal Beach care home in Grand Avenue, Worthing, has not been paid the attendance allowance he has been entitled to for 16 years.

Attendance allowance is a benefit paid to those who are over 65 and are disabled enough that they need help to care for themselves.

To add further insult, Walter has also been deducted £55 off his weekly pension payments due to a lack of communication between the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and West Sussex County Council.

READ IN FULL HERE

Welfare Reform Bill Grand Committee: day 15

Grand Committee – line by line examination – on the Welfare Reform Bill continued in the House of Lords on Monday 21 November.

Proposals for changes to the clauses that set out the ‘benefits cap’ – a maximum limit on the amount of welfare benefits that can be claimed – were among the amendments that were debated.

Debate covered clauses 84-86 and 90-93 and schedules 9 and 10.

Grand Committee continues on Wednesday 23 November

READ IN FULL HERE . VIDEO AVAILABLE TOO

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‘They know you are vulnerable’ – plight of older people in home care

Most of the women from the care agency, were, in the words of a 78-year-old, “nasty and rough”. Whatever the carers’ demeanour, the frail woman in a wheelchair did not expect attitude to translate to violence that left her bewildered and powerless.

“Rather than say ‘sit in the chair’, they’d push me back into the chair, that sort of thing, and I didn’t like that … I couldn’t do anything about it. I can’t even walk and I think they know this you see; they know you’re vulnerable”.

However, such tales were depressingly familiar in a damning indictment of council-funded home care across the country – the Equality and Human Rights Commission found evidence of a “systematic failure” in the way we look after the elderly.

The commission’s report, “Close to home”, painted a disturbing portrait of poor treatment of the old in their own homes, which breached their human rights.

READ THE GUARDIAN FOR FULL ARTICLE

Health Committee-Scotland ‘Some people are suicidal’

Keith Robertson from the Scottish Disability Equality Forum told MSPs some people are becoming suicidal even at the thought of some of the reforms in the UK Welfare Reform Bill.

Mr Robertson was giving evidence, along side a panel of representatives from disability and mental health charities and agencies , to the Health Committee on the impact of the Wellfare Reform Bill (UK) .

READ IN FULL HERE AND ALSO WATCH VIDEO

Frances Kelly – Time to review disability cuts | Compass

 

A question. What is the covenant between society and people with severe and enduring disability? What was it under the Welfare State and what has it been reduced to by the recent Welfare Reform Bills?

People with disability don’t know the answer. They know that their only income is being threatened and they feel that they have no way of protecting themselves. They are terrified. How does the rest of society – those currently fit and well – feel about this? It is being done in their name.

Frances Kelly – Time to review disability cuts | Compass

Who will speak for the old and disabled, trapped in their homes?

 

You lie in your own mess. You are cold. You are hungry and confused. You can’t remember whether you have taken your pills. You feel ashamed. You feel angry. It is still five hours before someone will knock on the door, let herself in, and wash you. You hope for a few minutes’ talk but you know that it won’t happen. She only has a quarter of an hour for your appointment …

This is how it ends for many people now. This is how it may end for you, your parents, your siblings, your loved ones. Social care isn’t sexy. But it is perhaps the greatest avoidable crisisfacing British politicians – certainly bigger than immigration, energy supplies or bad schools.

Who will speak for the old and disabled, trapped in their homes? | Jackie Ashley | Comment is free | The Guardian

Benefits appeals system ‘on brink of collapse’ | Politics

 

Thousands of ill and disabled people have become trapped in a revolving door of medical assessments and appeals at a cost of £80m, with many claimants on their second and third attempts to overturn rulings that remove their benefits.

The government’s drive to cut Britain’s multibillion-pound welfare bill by moving long-term unemployed people off sickness benefit and into work is at risk of descending into chaos, according to a Channel 4 news investigation.

The work capability assessment programme, which assesses benefit claimants to see whether they are fit for work is "teetering on the brink of collapse" as the system becomes clogged up with appeals.

Benefits appeals system ‘on brink of collapse’ | Politics | The Guardian