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CONFERENCE: Exclusive - Hope kills DLA threat

From Sunil Peck in Brighton

Phil HopeThere are no plans to abolish Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a government minister has told Disability Now.

Fears for the future of DLA have escalated among disabled people since the government published a consultation document setting out proposals for funding the social care system in July.

In an interview with Disability Now in September, the Care Services Minister Phil Hope failed to allay those fears by refusing to rule out integrating money used to fund DLA into a pot of money that would be allocated to local authorities to fund support services.

However, when asked by Disability Now at a reception at the Labour Party conference in Brighton if he would abolish DLA if he is still in office after the general election, Phil Hope replied "no".

He said: "All the models that we have done have not included DLA. But if people were to make a case to integrate DLA into a comprehensive system, then I'm very happy to hear that case and have those arguments.

"DLA is not under threat and people can be very happy," he added.

The consultation period runs until November.

dla under threat?

Posted by pam hill at 26 Nov 09 01:06
How pleased am I to hear that DLA might not be taken away from disabled people to incorporate into other benefits! A (cautious) Yippee I say! Being disabled unfortunately means you have to incur extra costs just to do ordinary things others take for granted. EG extra car park charges when I go shopping as it takes me longer just to get around, taxi fees cos I cant walk far or drive any more, extra expenses for going out with a PA, etc etc. Being home all the time is bad for my mental health so I do like to go out and have a cuppa or something, or attend a community class. All this costs money! I dont and cant live excessively and have to watch the pennies VERY carefully whilst living on benefits, but why cant I have a life just because I'm disabled? But to have one of any quality then I need disposable income just like DLA to do this. If incorporated into benefits then it gets means tested and gobbled in to levels of poverty calculations for other benefits, so we dont benefit from it anyway. So I say, HANDS OFF DLA!!!