Lords second reading of Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

 

Members of the Lords will discuss the key principles and purpose of the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill during second reading, on Monday 11 February 2013.

The bill implements an announcement by the chancellor in the 2012 Autumn Statement that increases in certain working-age welfare benefits and tax credits would be limited to one per cent, rather than increasing them in line with inflation.

read more here

watch live here on Monday 11th feb from 2.30pm

 

 

Disabled People Against Cuts – protest April 18th

Disabled people Against Cuts

April 18th meet for 1.30 pm McDonalds Leicester Square.

Let us have text contact details if definitely coming. Access needs if any too.

Action will be around benefit cuts, care funding and Loss of Remploy jobs.

this affects older people too so bring your grannies and grandads too.

Contact mail@dpac.uk.net

Press release

Photo opportunity. Meet Leicester Square McDonalds, 1.30pm

DISABLED PEOPLE REFUSE TO SIT BACK AND BE SLOWLY KILLED

Already three-quarters of disabled people live in poverty yet the Condems seem determined to push people even further into destitution. It seems that this is a means of punishing them for daring to be or become disabled – something that can happen to anyone at anytime. This is part of the new economy and Condem society of Britain.

Linda Burnip co-founder of DPAC says  “If cuts to benefits don’t kill you slowly by leaving you starving or freezing to death in winter then massive cuts to care and support funding should finish off those Maria Miller, the so-called minister for disabled people, calls “unsustainable” a bit faster. “

Campaigners say disabled people are being unfairly picked on because they are seen as an easy target by millionaire politicians and the ex-banker Lord Freud in particular.

Disability benefits designed to pay the extra costs of disability and originally awarded for a lifetime term are being reassessed. Many who were certified by medically qualified and independent doctors are losing their meagre incomes to politically appointed and performance incentivised ATOS assessors.

Huge increases to hate crimes, cuts in housing benefits, cuts in public services, the closure of the Independent Living Fund, job losses in the public sector, closure of Remploy factories when unemployment is at a record high the list of attacks is endless.

Debbie Jolly another co-founder of DPAC says: “Disabled people will be descending on London again to tell all politicians we’ve had enough. We are fed up with being vilified as scroungers by successive governments, we are sick of hearing about disabled people who have died from neglect and lack of services or who have committed suicide because services and benefits were withdrawn from them. Debbie from Leicester says: “Disabled people will be descending on London again to tell all politicians we’ve had enough. We are fed up with being vilified as scroungers by successive governments, we are sick of hearing about disabled people who have died from neglect and lack of services or who have committed suicide because services and benefits were withdrawn from them. We are angry at the constant attacks by this government  because we are seen as an easy target .We want to make sure politicians know we will not accept these attacks on our lives any longer. “

ENDS

Contact-  Linda 0771 492 7533 or Adam 07801058235

Notes to editors:

Data from Family Resources Survey and the National Equalities Panel found that:

• 75% of disabled women and 70% of disabled men are already at the bottom end of Britain’s income distribution scale living in poverty.

• A tenth of disabled woman have incomes below £31 per week and a tenth of disabled men have incomes below £59 per week including earned income and benefits.

• Under the coalition government’s economy drive disabled people are set to lose at least £140 per month through direct cuts to disability benefits (initially devised to pay the extra costs of being disabled) alone.

• The Condems are removing DLA saying that the number of claimants must be reduced by half a million.

• Employment Support Allowance and work capability assessments have been criticised by CAB, disability charities and Disabled People’s Organisations. ATOS healthcare failures are costing £50 million in additional appeal tribunal costs.

• Housing Benefits for all tenants will be reduced. From October 2011 for those 2 million disabled people living in private rented accommodation and from 2013 for anyone living in social housing which is deemed too large for their needs

• Added to that funding from the Independent Living Fund for care and support has now ceased to all new claimants and any additional needs cannot be met by them

Extra costs of disability to individuals

A Rowntree report (2004) found that the weekly income of disabled people who are solely dependent on benefits is approximately £200 below the amount required for them to ensure an acceptable, equitable quality of life’

However, even if receiving maximum benefits, disabled people still experience a substantial shortfall in income. The income of disabled people solely dependent on benefits, irrespective of the type or level of their need, is approximately £200 less than the weekly amount required for them to ensure a minimum standard of living.

Source: Disabled people’s costs of living: ‘More than you would think’ (2004) by Noel Smith, Sue Middleton, Kate Ashton-Brooks, Lynne Cox and Barbara Dobson with Lorna Reith, is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (ISBN 1 85935 236 7,

Employment

The employment rates of disabled people are around 48% compared with around 78% of non-disabled people Source Labour Force Survey, Quarter 2,2010

 Only 20% of those with mental health problems are in employment- Source- Labour Force Survey, Jan-March 2009.

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. Please click here to sign Pat’s Petition  which calls on the government to -

“Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families”

Once you have signed share it with all your contacts asking them to sign and pass on too.

WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

.

Hardest Hit North East: Conference on the impact of cuts on disabled people

Friday 1st June 2012  -    09:00 until 16:30

Banqueting Suite & Pandon Room, Newcastle Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8PP

.The Hardest Hit North East Coalition are holding a conference on 1 June 2012 that will consider ways to take action against government cuts and examine their impact on people in the region. Have you been hit by welfare and benefit cuts, or through changes to local servic…es? Are you concerned about cuts making tackling disability hate-crime more difficult, or wider reforms like changes to support towards housing cost and council tax meaning the disabled could miss out? Are you a carer, someone who works with or alongside those affected by these changes? If so, please come along to this event to help build our region’s response to an ongoing programme of cuts falling on disabled people. Listen to people tell their own stories about how the cuts have affected them and find out more about what we can do to try and stop the disabled being hit harder than society as whole. The event is free to disabled people, their carers and those from charities or Trade Unions. If you would like to attend as a visitor from a commercial or public sector organisation there is a small charge, please email Stephen Powers at northeast@hardesthit.org.uk to find out more about your organisation exhibiting or to be invoiced for a £25 Public/Commercial visitor place.

.Please visit: http://bit.ly/H8AEW5 to register your place for this event

.Join discussions on facebook here

Are you worried about cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families.

Sign Pat’s Petition too and ask all your contacts to do the same. Tell them to share it also.

End the Care Crisis – We cant afford not to

Lobby 2012

We are entering a key time for our social care system. Our social care system is broken. It cannot cope with a rapidly ageing population and positive impact of people living longer with illness and disability.

Read in full here

On Tuesday 6^th March 2012 we will hold a lobby of Parliament to take our message to MPs across all parties. People from up and down the country will be travelling to the Houses of Parliament in London to present their concerns and lobby their MP.

Take part in the lobby

Take part online

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If you are worried to changes in services, charges being increased, eligibility criteria being tightened – please sign Pats Petition and gather as much support as you can.

 

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. And then we win

Copy of a post by Kaliya Franklin

Some much needed positive news….

As most of you know Sue Marsh has been co-ordinating a report researched, authored and funded by sick and disabled people which is released formally on monday.

As happens with every government welfare report, mysteriously, somehow, details leaked out to the media yesterday and so the coverage has already started. It turns out that Boris Johnson’s submission to the DLA reform consultation which closed in February 2011 was the smoking gun we needed and the government hoped no-one would ever find. The Mayor’s submission stood out from the other consultation responses, not because it was supportive of our claims (almost all the submissions were) but because it was incredibly thoughtful, well written and researched.

see here for her article in full

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

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

PLEASE SIGN PAT’S PETITION HERE    and share the link with as many people/groups as possible.

What’s your Christmas message to the Government? | The Hardest Hit

 

The Hardest Hit are planning to send a giant Christmas card to the Government to let them know that we are not asking for gifts, but we do want our basic rights protected and the support to enable us to live independently and with dignity.

You can sign the card and leave your message by following the link below:

Sign the card!

What’s your Christmas message to the Government? | The Hardest Hit

Welfare Reform Bill – Lords Hansard text for 16 Nov

 

Clause 78 : Ability to carry out daily living activities and mobility activities

Debate on Amendment 86ZZZUA resumed.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): My Lords, if I may intervene briefly, I promised on Monday to provide some timetabling indicators of provision of information about entitlement thresholds for PIP and passporting arrangements for carers. I am happy to confirm our intention to provide entitlement thresholds for PIP and information on the likely impact of these ahead of the consideration of this part at Report stage.

Noble Lords will wish to be aware that we are looking carefully at the interaction between universal credit and carers’ allowance. In the interests of providing a smooth taper of benefit provision as carers return to work, a carers’ element is included within the universal credit structure, which of course removes the cliff edge effect. That is why we have done that. In order for noble Lords to have the fullest possible picture of provision for carers as we debate universal credit, I will also aim to provide more information about the passporting arrangements from PIP to carers’ allowance prior to the start of Report stage. Thank you for your indulgence.

read in full on link below

Lords Hansard text for 16 Nov 201116 Nov 2011 (pt 0001)

The pick of the week ahead in Parliament

 

In the Lords (from 2.30pm) its day five on the detail of the Health and Social Care Bill – want to bet they’ll need more than the planned 14 committee days? The key bone of contention will be a group of amendments on charities and VAT. And watch out for questions prompted by the release of the Department of Health’s Strategic Risk Register, a document detailing possible risks to patient safety, finances and the working of the NHS from the bill’s proposals.

Meanwhile, in grand committee (starting at 3.30pm) peers will be continuing their work on the Welfare Reform Bill – and should move on to one of the most important issues, the plans to replace Disability Living Allowance. There won’t be votes at this stage, but the discussions could well result in amendments at report stage, some time in the New Year.

BBC News – Viewing guide: The pick of the week ahead in Parliament