To let you all know that disabled are having their benefits cut

[AndNowItsSeven]

The DWP has today launched a consultation aimed at cutting the number of people eligible for the daily living component of personal independence payment (PIP) by up to 35%. The cuts will be aimed at claimants who qualify for PIP because of their use of aids and appliances and may include replacing awards with discretionary voucher payments.
The press release and consultation document published today claim that 35% of all daily living allowance awards are based solely on the claimant’s need to use aids and appliances.
This is flawed as
A)often disabled people require assistant, however Atos are only scoring then as needing an aid.
B) even if you disability needs listed in the pip form can be met by aids most people will have many other needs not mentioned on the form.
To suggest the only extra cost of being disabled for those claimants, is the cost of aids is absurd and insulting.
The consultation ends on 29 January 2016, conveniently over the Christmas New year Period.
Please if you can take the time to respond.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484217/pip-consultation-on-aids-and-appliances.pdft

MrsLH was not called for an assessment and put straight in the support group. But the documentation we submitted (50 additional pages all cross referenced with a header of NI number and page x of y) was as comprehensive as could be.

It's not a medical assessment - it's a bureaucratic one .

LurkingHusband glad to hear that helps. dd never had a assessment for ESA, i think a letter from youth employabilty swayed it

I hope you don't mind me posting this but please
IF YOU CLAIM DLA EVEN A LIFETIME AWARD, OPEN ALL YOUR BROWN LETTERS AND READ THEM PROPERLY (or can someone to read them to you)
I say this as I applied for DLA again for my daughter in the summer. She was given a lifetime award
She turned sixteen in Nov, so in October someone visited our home from the DWP to check she was unable to manage her own money
Last week I had a letter from the DWP which I thought was about a Christmas bonus but I opened it and it was an 'invitation' to apply for PIP before 1st January otherwise her DLA would be stopped!
Merry fucking Christmas

Not at all surprised.

Because the DWP/ATOS/Capita have (unlawfully*) kept the entire process shrouded in mystery, it's not easy to understand how it really works.

I was going to give a couple of examples from the copy of the PDF I have - (talk about a shock - it's dated Jan 2012 (not 2013 as I imagined). Which means it's nearly 4 years since the initial award).

The first page (3) where you outline your details references 20 separate letters from consultants over the past 2 years. All of which were scanned, labelled and submitted.

*Despite repeated requests under the DPA as to what details are held in MrsLH, ATOS have yet to reply. I could take them to court, but haven't the time as I'd rather look after my wife.

They know very well family carers don't have the time or inclination

andnow no it doesn't make sense!! (that's what it said when she asked for the reasons why she lost mobility).

At my assessment recently (where I had had to fill out a huge form for the umpteenth time) and then attend an assessment centre, I did point out that the entire process could have been covered by:
Have any details (name/address) changed since last time? (NO)
Do you still have an inherited, genetic, incurable condition? (YES)
Is it still incurable? (YES)
Does it still impact your daily life and mobility? (YES)
Is this a gigantic waste of all our time and money? (YES)

At least the assessor had the grace to look sheepish.

I need a carer for 13 hours a week and dont qualify for any allowance. Thank you for highlighting this.

It's very hard to get a blue badge without mobility pip not necessarily. My friend's husband got a Blue Badge on first application. They then applied for PIP and he was turned.

I didn't even get given any points for using incontinence pads. The guidance I read was that if you can use a microwave for a ready meal, or wash yourself with flannels or wipes, you get no points. I can dress myself. But i WEAR THINGS THAT ARE EASY TO PUT ON.

This is the criteria used for PIP, but your observation of your own condition and the assessors' can differ wildly.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/pip/indexxx.php

larry Blue badge criteria without pip varies massively between councils.

My council for example it's almost impossible without pip to get one - the medical questionnaire is very long and complicated, and has trick questions in it (e.g. Asking how far you walk and then asking about shopping/if you life alone). There's a list of conditions they won't allow it for, and the list would shock you. Ive put it on here before. I won't now because it will derail the thread.

In other councils it is much easier to get a blue badge.

It shouldn't vary and individual councils shouldn't be allowed to exclude conditions but some mine do.

We get a blue badge for DD although she's on low rate mobility DLA, so not automatic. Our paediatrician wrote a very strong letter in our favour, otherwise it would have been hard to get in our council.

In my council if you don't have mobility rate, you have to go for a practical test.

At the moment it's automatic with high rate (enhanced?) mobility for PIP but this consultation wants that stopped so everyone is assessed.

larry Blue badge criteria without pip varies massively between councils yes, I accept that, which is why I said 'not necessarily'. My friend's DH can't walk very far at all, has special shoes made for him because of problems with diabetes, but can dress and feed himself and cook meals etc which is why he was turned down for PIP.
It is very unfair that there are such variations between councils.

Sorry I missed the bit where you said 'not necessarily' it definitely should be standardised!

You automatically receive a blue badge with standard mob pip, if you meet the descriptor for walking between 20 and 50 metres.

Just a reminder the consultation closes on January 29th at 5pm.

Well bombing and killing people in Syria doesn't come cheap OP! Someone's got to pay.

Batshit yes

I'm still wondering how on earth the tories got in, in the first place when they refused to spell out what the putative benefit/tax credit cuts were going to be. I don't get how people trusted them because I sure as hell didn't.

My son is still on DLA but will no doubt soon get 'the letter' and as he's autistic, I suspect there is little hope of him holding on to any of his disability benefits. He has atypical autism, severe dyspraxia, and a muscle problem that has no name. And yet he was awarded DLA 'for life'. It feels like a total betrayal and breach of promise, to me, to say to people they would be supported for life and then take it away from them. Unless of course, the orange dick and he's Eton pals have discovered the cure for autism and other conditions. ATOS appear to have.

I have thought for some time that if they wanted to claw money back, start by looking at all the claims from the past say 20 years from millionaires/multi millionaires who got DLA and make them pay back every penny with interest. Talk about hypocrites.

I think the tax credits cuts only happened because he wanted his little 'Churchill' moment in Syria and it was impossible to pretend we could no longer afford to pay tax credits and then, days later, waste money getting dragged into yet more wars.

Joffrey actually you may be pleasantly be surprised when your ds applies for pip. I know three 16 year old with Aspergers previously on middle or high care dla and low mob. They were all awarded enhanced pip daily living and mobility with no face to face assessment.
People believed because they were the " hardworking poor" the cuts wouldn't apply to them. The fact that disabled people would suffer and jobless people would be unfairly sanctioned didn't concern them.

BBC 5Live radio will be live all day on Friday from Cyprus RAF Airbase - our brave boys abombin' and a killin'..

Makes ya proud eh!!!