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Welfare cuts mean hard times ahead
Sunil Peck
Before it announced the results of its Public Spending Review, the coalition government insisted that disabled people had no reason to fear cuts to the welfare system.
But disability organisations have said that the cuts to benefits and local authority spending risk pushing disabled people further into poverty.
Richard Hawkes (pictured), Chief Executive of Scope, said that disabled people were bearing the brunt of the cuts.
He said: "This assault on the most vulnerable is characterised by the callous removal of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people living in residential care, which will simply increase dependency and mean many people will literally become prisoners in their own homes."
Jaspal Dhani, CEO of the UK Disabled People's Council, added: "Our concerns are that as a result of losing independent mobility, disabled people will lose the spontaneity to travel and organise their lives and will become dependent on group based travel organised by residential care homes. This echoes the institutional practices of the 1980s."
Neil Coyle, Director of Policy at Disability Alliance, warned that the cuts could have "dire consequences" for disabled people.
He said that plans to cut Employment and Support Allowance after 12 months for people assessed as being fit to work would particularly affect many of the 360 thousand people who are to become ineligible for DLA.
Mark Lever, Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society, said that the chancellor had set in motion a "devastating chain reaction" for people with autism.
He said: "Many say their lives are already hanging in the balance. The domino effect of cuts across school transport, respite care, crucial benefits and other vital services could push whole families to crisis point at profound expense to those local authorities left picking up the pieces."
But Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, welcomed the chancellor's promise to continue work to improve the provision of psychological therapies for people with mental health difficulties.
He said: "Times of austerity can have an enormous impact on the mental health of our society, and it is crucial that this is recognised and provided for."
Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children, welcomed plans to extend personal budgets to pupils with special educational needs.
But she urged the coalition government to clarify how much funding would be available for social care and health services for children.
She said: "We are concerned that the 2010 Spending Review does not provide local areas with any clarity about the funding available for disabled children’s services. We know that services are already closing due to uncertainty about funding from April 2011."
Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of RADAR welcomed increased funding for social care and the coalition government's plans to protect Disabled Facilities Grants.
But she said that she was "gravely concerned" that overall, the cuts will hit disabled people disproportionately hard.
I agree
I know several people who have entered politics, before, they are genuine motivated do gooders, but something happens to them when they go through the door of parliament.. they turn into something else?
'politics' seems to overwhelm them common sense goes out the door, and what we see at pmqs becomes the norm...
ministers coming out from behind their desks?? well, they do occasionaly, and they do listen, and seem to understand, then, they go back to whitehall and bang,,,, jekle/hyde....
how to solve this particular anomaly?? ha! maybe Guy Falks had the right idea after all ha ha ha!
get real
The disability system as it is with so many free loaders is bleeding the country dry. Please have regard that we are a socially minded people and take care of the truly needy. It is being paid for by the hard work of people who do not have a great deal themselves. As it is now 70 years on, we have a system that is being massively abused.
Ministers' Unused Bedrooms...
Simply, this...
Ministers who have 1 or more bedrooms in a total of all the homes that they own or have been given use of should be charged enormous fees for the privilege of having those extra rooms when their houses could be occupied by much more deserving numbers of household members of a family, from somewhere.
Also: Where an MP has a distant home and a London/Parliament driving distance home, they must be forced to give up the use of their distant home, or of their London home and those premises must be occupied by families that are large enough to warrant such a transfer.
MPs cannot have it both ways...if paying more or moving house is the only option for Housing Benefit claimants, then paying huge amounts more or surrendering one of their numerous homes is only what right thinking members of today's "Big Society" would reasonably demand.
Then, we move on to proof that they require such ludicrously inflated wages, when they pay for close to nothing, themselves, for anything used, daily, during Parliament's in-sessions!
LEAD BY EXAMPLE, all those MPs who voted to systematically and brutally dismantle the lives of tens of thousands of people with mental and physical disabilities!
Ian.
cuts
I am writing on behalf of all disabled people in this country, after the results of the spending review we are going to be worst affected as a lot of us will face loosing our benefits which will push a lot of disabled people into poverty the government have no idea how disabled people live and the daily struggles they face whether their disability is physical or mental.
I would like these ministers who made these decisions to come out from behind their desks and meet the disabled people in this country and see what it is like to live in our shoes, they were more than happy to meet with us when they wanted our votes so what are they scared of we are not monsters we are decent law abiding people who through no fault of our own have a disability.