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NEWSFLASH – checkout the Independent on Sunday (5th September 2010) – Anne Pridmore talks to the Independent on Sunday about social exclusion and the demise of the DLA.
The Office of Disability Issues is running a consultation on the definition of disability. This has a very short time span. Please visit http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk/ and give your views on this. Getting the definition right is very important to disabled people.
Disabled people invisible in Britain today
A new poll commissioned by Scope shows the shocking levels of social exclusion faced by disabled people.
• Nearly 40% of people (who are not disabled and do
not have a disabled family member) don’t know any disabled people.
• 90% of Britons have never had a disabled person in their house for a
social occasion
• 91% of people believe that disabled people should have the same opportunities
as everyone else
Startling new evidence shows that disabled people are largely hidden in day-to-day life despite the public believing that they should be given a level-playing field of opportunity. In a poll commissioned by disability charity Scope from ComRes, 91% of people stated that they believed disabled people should have the same opportunities as everyone else. Worryingly, nearly 40% of people who are not disabled and do not have a disabled family member don’t know any disabled people. 90% of Britons have never had a disabled person to their house for a social occasion and only a fifth (21%) have ever had the chance to work with a disabled colleague.
The results demonstrate that disabled people are already relatively invisible in daily life. Concern is growing that the forthcoming Government spending cuts, which are likely to hit disabled people among the hardest*, may end up pushing them into further social exclusion and even cut them out of society altogether.
Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of Scope, said:
“This is shocking evidence that shows that disabled
people are still relatively invisible in day to day life. We are deeply concerned
that the Government’s spending cuts will end up pushing disabled people
even closer to the fringes of society. The Government needs to carry out a full
impact assessment before making any cuts to ensure they understand the full
consequences of reductions in critical support such as Disability Living Allowance
and Incapacity Benefit. These form a vital lifeline for many disabled people
and their families. Without fully understanding the nature of disabled people’s
lives, or the impact these changes will have, the Government may find itself
causing extreme distress and financial hardship to disabled people which could
end up creating greater dependency on the state and an even greater demand on
the public purse.”
• ComRes interviewed 2030 GB adults online between 20 and 22 August 2010.
Data was weighted to be representative demographically of all GB adults. ComRes
is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules
• * The report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies ‘The distributional
effect of tax and benefit reforms to be introduced between June 2010 and April
2014: a revised assessment” (Browne & Levell, 25/08/10) highlights
that 20% of current recipients of DLA will lose their entitlement as part of
the systems reform.
Changes to Employment support allowance
The government is consulting about changes to the ESA (Employment
Support Allowance, which has taken over from Income support). The "descriptors"
are changing so a lot of people who would have been eligible for this benefit
won't be now - meaning that people will have to go onto JSA allowance and look
for work. The changes can be found on the following document: http://www.ssac.org.uk/pdf/esa-amendment-regulations-2011.pdf
- for those who don't want to read through it all, the differences are compared
on pages 46-95 (look on the Adobe toolbar - not on the page numbers on the actual
document).
We need as many disabled people and ULOs as possible to comment on these proposals.
Send your comments to N E Spur, Level 3, Adelphi Building, 1-11 John Adam Street,
London WC2N 6HT or by email to ssac@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
.
Join in Anne’s rant on Social Care by following this link : http://caninep1.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php NB: If you are not already a member of Word Press, then you need to join first. It's quick and easy at http://wordpress.org/
New Minister for Disabled People
The Office for Disability Issues has announced a new Minister
for Disabled People, Maria Miller MP. She can be contacted by following the
link http://www.dwp.gov.uk/about-dwp/ministers/index.shtml
then click on
"Maria Miller MP - Minister for Disabled People". Write to her telling
her your concerns re the cuts in ILF (see below) or anything you feel concern
over.
We have taken the following from campaign@benefitsandwork.co.uk
- This is a very interesting newsletter and has free membership - we are sure
you will find it interesting to join.
“The treasury’s Spending Challenge website and our apologies that
we weren’t able to reply to all of your hundreds of emails.
The good news is that all of the disablist and racist content has now been removed
from their site – along with virtually everything else - and the site
is now little more than an empty ‘contact us’ us box. We don’t
doubt for a moment that, if you hadn’t made the huge fuss that you did,
the hateful content would still be there now. So, congratulations – working
together you really can make a difference. You can read how it all came about
in Treasury hate website ceases publishing.
Other news is, predictably, not so good. Our mole at the DWP has
sent us a copy of a letter which reveals that some DLA claims may be affected
by the migration of incapacity benefit claimants to employment and support allowance
which begins in earnest next year. The letter also demonstrates that the pilot
beginning in October of this year is little more than a sham, which will give
no indication of whether the DWP and Atos can cope with the massive increase
in workload. Read more in Risk filled IB to ESA transfer may affect DLA, leaked
DWP letter reveals. (This article is members only)
As concerns about the planned changes to DLA grow, we’re urging you to
get involved in the CarerWatch campaign. Without massive support from disability
organisations, opposition to the cuts have little hope of success. CarerWatch
have begun collecting statements about their intentions from disability organisations
and publishing them on their website, where you can read the statements and
comment on them. If you have connections with a disability group, please ask
them to publish a statement on the CarerWatch site.
Carer Watch would welcome help with their DLA and ESA campaigns. They have already
succeeded in getting people with some severe mental health conditions exempted
from the work capability assessment when incapacity benefit claimants are transferred
to ESA. With your help they could achieve much more. Find out more about CarerWatch
and their campaigns.
More information about the CarerWatch campaign is also available
on our blog at Join the CarerWatch DLA and ESA campaigns.
Some MPs and MSPs have already begun campaigning against the DLA cuts by raising
and signing early day motions. Check if your MP has signed and, if not, contact
them and ask them to do so before they disappear for their summer holidays on
27th July: Get your MP to sign these DLA motions
Still on the subject of DLA, we’ve heard back from the DWP
about the DLA renewal short form, which is set to become rather less short:
DLA renewal short form to grow (This article is members only) “
Finally, as is becoming traditional, we’re going to end with a few cheery
posts from the forum, including the news from one member that they got an award
of DLA in just three working days and, yes, we think it may be a record:
Is this a record?
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23197
DLA
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23016
Won appeal
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=22973
DLA success
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23201
Another Won Tribunal
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23193
ESA
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23173
IB decision reconsidered. Success
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=2287
DLA Success
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23460
Relieved enough points at medical
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=23447
Independent Living Fund (ILF) closes the door on new applications
In order to safeguard existing users as care costs rise, the ILF will not be accepting any new applications for the remainder of the year, and is unable to make any further awards except those they have already agreed to fund. The ILF will however be able to help some 600 new ILF users in this financial year as a result of offers of funding already made.
The measures will ensure that the existing 21,000 ILF users' awards continue at their current level. However, the ILF cannot afford to increase individual awards above the amount already paid, other than additional support to meet some of their employer responsibilities, and in response to certain changes in their income.
Explaining the position, Patrick Boyle, ILF Chief Executive, said, "Our first priority is the 21,000 disabled people we currently support to achieve high quality independent lives. Our Trustees have acted quickly in their decision to protect this group and to meet their responsibility to manage within budget.
"We are committed to continuing and developing the excellent service we deliver to our users, allowing them greater flexibility in how they choose to manage their funding."
The ILF is writing to all applicants and existing users to make them aware of these latest steps and is continuing its dialogue with local authority partners, disabled people's organisations and others.
This will obviously impact on many disabled people's ability to live independently, as well as restricting PA employers' ability to maintain annual pay increases and thus to recruit and retain staff.
To read an Early Day Motion on the current position of Independent Living Fund (ILF), click on http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41281&SESSION=905.
Dear Ms Pridmore
Thank you for your e-mail of 25 June to Maria Miller regarding the Independent
Living Fund (ILF). I am sorry that a Minister has not been able to reply to
you personally, but I hope you will understand that Ministers receive a great
deal of correspondence on a variety of subjects and it is not possible for them
to reply to each letter individually. I have been asked to reply and I apologise
for the delay in doing so.
Firstly, I would like to assure you that the Coalition Government is committed
to ensuring severely disabled people receive the support they need.
The ILF is a Trust providing discretionary financial support to severely disabled
people in addition to the support received from local authorities. The ILF receives
a cash limited budget that is revised each year and which for 2010/11 represented
an increase of 3 per cent above its previous year's allocation at a time when
other organisations were asked to live within smaller budgets. The ILF Trust
Deed which governs the running of the ILF prescribes a number of priorities
that the Trust can implement to ensure that it can fulfil its responsibility.
The Trustees are obliged to remain within the allocated budget for the year,
and their first priority must be to protect the position of existing users.
On 17 June, the ILF announced that to ensure that it can protect the position
of its existing users and keep within its allocated budget it is unable to consider
any further applications in the current financial year. The need to act quickly
meant that the ILF had no opportunity to consult local authorities on the options
to manage this risk before they made their decision.
A combination of factors contributed to the decision to close the Fund to new
applicants, including uncertainty and sensitivity of financial forecasting assumptions
and a late reduction in the Fund’s 2010/11 budget implemented by the previous
administration. The confusion and uncertainty caused by this chain of events
is unacceptable. The ILF has now introduced a more robust means of forecasting
future expenditure that will ensure that the Fund’s budget remains on
track. It also acted quickly to safeguard the support for the existing users
of the Fund, although increases to existing awards will have to be limited to
essential commitments.
Further compounding this situation was the failure of the previous administration
to take a principled and strategic decision about the future role of the Fund,
despite a comprehensive and independent review of the Fund in 2007. This review
recommended that the ILF should retain its status as a Non Departmental Public
Body until 2009/10 at which point a decision should be made, based on the presumption
of the full integration of funding streams into personalised budgets.
The Coalition Government is committed to working closely with the ILF Trustees
and other key stakeholders in considering the long-term future of the ILF as
part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
I hope you find this reply helpful.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J Tracey-Benoit
Correspondence Team
Ministers to be lobbied on personalisation development
Jeremy Dunning
Adult social care leaders in England are to lobby ministers on the next phase of the personalisation agenda. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association are keen to retain impetus when the three-year transformation programme ends next year and are developing ideas for what should follow.
There is concern among sector leaders over how personalisation will develop when the social care reform grant - worth £520m between 2008 and 2011 to help councils implement personalised care - ends next year, with some favouring longer-term funding. However, the government expected to set tight spending limits for public services in this autumn's spending review covering 2011-14, casting doubt over future funding for the programme.
Jeff Jerome, the national director for social care transformation,
who works through Adass and the LGA, said he would shortly complete a document
showing how personalisation could continue without the same funding. This will
be submitted to the Department of Health after talks in Adass and the LGA. The
document is focusing on the continued roll-out of personal budgets and the development
of a care market to support service users in exercising choice, and clarifies
the role of the public sector, individuals and families. It is also drawing
on the Big Society ideas promoted by the Conservatives to involve people with
their communities.
Jerome said there would be a need to provide greater evidence that the personalisation
agenda can deliver outcomes more efficiently.
The government has said it is committed towards the agenda and wants to extend the roll-out of personal budgets. Care services Minister Paul Burstow said: "I want to put a greater focus than ever on personalisation. "The financial outlook is extremely challenging, but this should not stand in the way of giving people more control, more choice and more dignity in care. I'm clear there can be no slipping back to the days of one-dimensional, like-it-or-lump-it services. Personalisation must remain a guiding principle for long-term care."
Courtesy of Community Care
Editor's Note: As disabled people who employ our PAs we need to keep an eye on this. First we heard of “Social Capital” now we have “Big Society” I am very concerned that this might be fancy wording for care for nothing and a way of providing support on the cheap. What do others think? Tell us in the forum!
NOTTINGHAM
“Reaching out to all communities” Event
Nottinghamshire County Council, Putting People First team held an event called “Reaching out to all communities” on the 13th May 2010. The main aim of the conference was for people to find out more about health and social care in Nottinghamshire and changes that are coming through Putting People First. The following people were invited:
• people from black and ethnic minority groups/communities
living in Nottinghamshire
• providers of health, social care, voluntary groups and
• Organisations working with black and ethnic minority group’s communities
were invited.
The event focused on:
• information and advice about services you can access through Nottinghamshire
County Council
• Putting People First and how it will change the way we provide services
in Nottinghamshire
• opportunities Personal Budgets offer
• how the voice of Black and ethnic minority communities can help shape
services.
Over 130 people attended the event and the feedback has been extremely positive. For more information about Putting People First and Self Directed Support in Nottinghamshire, please visit www.nottinghamshire.gov,uk/puttingpeoplefirst.gov.uk
Updated Key stakeholder report
Find out more about the progress of self directed support in Nottinghamshire
County Council by reading the updated stakeholder report. This can be found
at:
http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/puttingpeoplefirst/ppf_publications.htm
Self Directed Support Training
Nottinghamshire County Council piloted self directed support training to some staff early this year. This is now being rolled out to managers, assessment and reviewing staff. The training gives staff the essential ‘know how’ about moving people eligible for social care onto a personal budget.
As from April 2010 the government are introducing
“Fit Notes” - see http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/fitnote-employer-guide.pdf
This will give doctors a chance to say if the employee is fit to do certain
tasks but not others, or if any changes to how an employee works could help
them to do the job rather than be off sick. For disabled employers this could
pose problems where a particular part of the job could not be done, and it was
impossible to find another Personal Assistant to come in for that part of the
job.
However, the Government has published more details about the new sickness certification system which will be effective from April 2010. The main changes will be the introduction of a new option for doctors – "May be fit for work taking account of the following advice". It will then be for the employer and employee to decide if the employee is able to work. Therefore if you are unable to cover the particular tasks that your employee cannot do, then it looks like you can then treat it as a sick note and replace the PA temporarily.
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) Many PA employers will be wondering how the new Independent Safeguarding Authority will affect them. We have set up a special page where we will add information as we get it: click here to read it.
Self improvement framework to support the development of the delivery of the Putting People First Milestones.
These can be accessed at: http://www.dhcarenetworks.org.uk/Personalisation/Topics/Latest/Resource/?cid=6747
This link has been sent to all directors of Adult Social Services in England.
We are appalled that the commitments made in ‘improving the life chances’
and Putting People First to develop Centres for Independent Living has been
dropped. The only milestone they are going to be judged against is:
"That every council area has at least one user-led organisation who are
directly contributing to the transformation to personal budgets. (By December
2010)."
Do they think we wouldn’t notice?
This represents a further watering and dumbing down of the commitment in ‘Improving
the Life Chances’
• “By 2010, each locality (defined as that area covered by a Council
with social services responsibilities) should have a user-led organisation modeled
on existing CILs (centres for independent living).” Earlier in the report
it had defined CILs, as, “…grassroots organisations run and controlled
by disabled people.”
