To think this is a fair change to the Motability scheme...

[BusyBumbling]

BBC News - 'Premium' cars like BMW and Mercedes cut from Motability scheme
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9znkxq47xo

It's still supporting disabled people with the cost of owning a car whilst also supporting the British car industry. I think public opinion has been listened to on both sides and this seems very sensible.
It may also reduce some of the costs of the grants paid from the scheme which were helping fund the upfront cost for premium cars for poorer claimants.

So wholly funded by the tax payer.

This is one of the issues ,lots of posters think that mental health conditions consists of just anxiety and depression they have little understanding of severe and enduring mental illness,s.

I have never heard of that happening before, my son also has a mobility car they normally want the car back after 3_5 years ( depending on mileage ) and you. get a new one ,
Admittedly my sons first mobility car had been ordered for someone else who subsequently changed their mind but it had never been used before.

The mobility component of DLA/PIP is a fixed amount. This will not save a penny, as it won’t change..

The Motability Scheme is a charity, but the amount of the benefit does not change.

Better cars just needed extra non refundable deposits. 🤷‍♀️

But, if it makes people feel happier then great. 🙄

It's obviously step one in a multi step plan that will save money. Anyone that thinks otherwise is very naive.

I was the same I’d never heard of it happening. It had been used for a year and a half prior to me getting it ☺️

"This may be the case but surely you appreciate that he is an extreme case? Lots of people with mental health conditions won't need carers to leave the house."

Most people with mental health conditions won't qualify for PIP.

Because if you are an epileptic for example, you can drive if you are seizure free for two years and reapply for your license. Obviously you may have a high appetite for risk, but many people would prefer not to drive without extra safety features. To be honest the poster is keeping us all safe through her choices.

Because if I ever get to 12 months seizure free (a pipe dream currently 🙃), I'll be legally allowed to drive again, but could have a breakthrough seizure at any point, without warning. Those features will improve the chances of keeping all road users around me - my family, total strangers and myself - safe if/when that happens.

People have such a shit understanding of epilepsy on here! I can't believe there are genuinely people advocating for epileptic people to have to use public transport instead of being eligible for a motability car. For starters, the cost of buses and trains to get not just myself but my husband (who is my carer) and our daughter (too young to be left alone) everywhere would vastly outweigh the cost of a motability car. I live in an area where buses aren't frequent and not much is walkable, so my husband and young daughter are supposed to somehow get a very disoriented and confused me from wherever I've had the seizure to the nearest bus stop, wait upwards of an hour for the bus and then deal with the people on the bus who aren't happy at sharing their space with someone who is disoriented and has probably pissed themselves.

Or they can get me in the car, which is parked outside, and drive me straight home.

When ds was younger I drove a Corsa. It was just me and him so I got a pram that would fit it and we walked wherever we could.

now he needs a wheelchair and other equipment . That wouldn’t fit in the boot of a corsa (I tried!) so I had to get a bigger car. He can’t walk even to school so I need a reliable car so even though it doesn’t need adapting my car needs are still different to if he was able bodied.

Some funding….not all. So my friend with a wheelchair using child applied for funding but it could only be given for specific vehicles. None of which met the needs of her other children….one of whom is also severely autistic.

So she has funded that herself. …not for a luxury vehicle.

Oh and the funding you mention will continue regardless . So no money saved but it keeps those envious of the disabled happy so I guess that’s fine.

No-one is envious of disabled people fgs, why do people keep pretending it's jealousy? It's to do with fairness. Your friend would've had to get a vehicle to suit her other children anyway, why should this requirement also be subsidised by the scheme? We all have to get vehicles to suit our family.

If we're going to talk about fairness, let's at least acknowledge that it's not fair that some of us are disabled and others aren't.

Life isn't fucking fair - as those of us with disabilities have been told so many times, "you've just got to accept it and make the best of your situation".

No, 'we' don't.

It's perfectly possible when able bodied and with able bodied children to;

Walk
Cycle
Walk to bus stops
Stand waiting at bus stops
Catch buses
Sit or stand on buses
Get off at stops considerable distances away and change buses or walk to destinations
Get to train stations
Get onto platforms via multiple flights of stairs
Get onto trains
Stand for 4 hours or sit on seats on trains. Or sit on floors outside the toilets because the last three trains were cancelled, all seat reservations have been cancelled and people's fridge-sized suitcases appear to need their own seats and the guard can't even get down the aisles to check tickets, much less get to be told there are 15 suitcases taking up seats in order to tell them to shift them
Get off at the correct stop and manage to physically get off onto platforms even when there's a huge gap (like Clapham Junction)
Get out of stations via multiple flights of stairs
Walk to tube stations
Walk considerable distance through tube stations (like from London Bridge to the different lines)
Stand on tubes
Get off at the correct station
Navigate around tube stations and interchanges to leave or change tube
Deal with massive flights of stairs or out of order escalators (like Embankment, Camden Town, Upper Holloway or on one spectacularly awful night, around Paddington with no lifts, no escalators, huge distances between each and multiple changes of platform all requiring further stairs and distances to walk whilst trying to get connections)
Carry stuff
Deal with overcrowded stations with nowhere to sit
Manage in the event of cancellations
Climb off a broken down train onto the track, walk along it to the nearest station and make alternative arrangements to get home
And then go and wait for another bus.

Not something feasible with spinal pain, a likelihood of fainting, seizures, poor balance, a need for walking aids, exhaustion, other pain, a leg that's in a brace, somebody that could become extremely distressed and panic or lash out in terror or be unable to see or maybe hear emergency announcements or changes.

I can't even cope with walking round the corner to stand for an indefinite period waiting for a bus that is likely to be full to overcrowding with teenagers if it even stops. And the £15 each way to work by Uber is extortionate. When they accept the fare and don't bounce the booking three times, that is.

It's clear that some people do need their motability cars but it's on a case by case basis. Obviously, disability benefits is about how your condition affects you and not the condition itself. Otherwise, everyone with epilepsy, for example, should qualify for a car.

There shouldn't be a blanket ban though since cases are determined on a case by case basis. But our govt always gets these things wrong. Always a one-size-fits-all.

@NeverDropYourMooncup I was responding to the previous poster talking about their friend's car, not sure why your considerable post about your own circumstances is relevant to that. I would also disagree that able bodied families don't need cars, outside of London most do.

I completely agree, it's not fair that some of us are disabled. I have to say though no-one has ever told me "life isn't fucking fair" when discussing my disability.

PIP is an attempt to even the playing field. It doesn’t.

This is another one of those thing where you think ?? What ?? Why was giving luxury cars ever a thing to begin with ??

And it’s one of those things where people doing less than 30 seconds of research will learn nobody is “given” a luxury car.

People use their DLA/PIP mobility allowance to cover the cost and in the vast majority of cases also pay an advance payment for the car. The more “luxury” the car the more that person would pay in advance payment. They don’t get any of that AP back when the car is handed back at the end of the lease but will need to pay again for the next one.

We don’t all have profoundly disabled children so yes I do think it’s envy. And my point stands ….this will not save the tax payer a brass farthing but will potentially make the lives of some disabled people harder. All to appease those who bleat about “free cars”.

Still….they got their wish yesterday, some disabled people will struggle but who cares about them eh?

Does not affect me, I just need a bog standard vehicle to get from A to B with my son (learning disabled). I don’t need expensive adaptions or vehicles which are large enough to fit wheelchairs.

I pity those who do though.

Another parent of a child (adult now) with epilepsy here and sorry but you are using your imagination without any real understanding.

If I take my daughter to her social club in the car it takes 10 minutes as opposed to an hour getting two buses and the waiting at bus stops and getting to and from the bus stops. That's a 10 minute window for a seizure rather than an hour.

The club lasts for 3 hours - i have plenty of time to go home and do chores and then go back and pick her up In the car. If I had to get the bus back home then go back and pick her up, I would be spending 4 hours travelling per day. That's not a reasonable use of time.

But also, have you seen someone have a seizure in public? A lot of people find it extremely distressing. And of course the bus has to be stopped until emergency services arrive. They won't let the mother deal with it herself - the driver will call and ambulance. And if the person having the seizure has wet themselves, the bus will be out of service. I'm sure you wouldn't want the inconvenience.

If you are used to your child having seizures, a seizure in the car is no particularly big deal. You know what to do and are in familiar, comfortable surroundings. It is much harder to deal with in public, with anxious passers by and people trying to help.

Why not let those of us with direct experience tell you what we need.

I see this thread is yet again full of mumsnetters who think they know how various different disabilities affect people’s lives and how it affects their individual circumstances.

Is pretty sad isn’t it? That people walk around bleating complete rubbish about how the Motability scheme works without doing a single second of research.

anyone who thinks this is going to save money is going to be deeply disappointed - each person who qualifies for for Motability by virtue of the fact of their receipt of the correct benefit (because it’s more benefits than just PIP/DOA that qualify for use of the Motability scheme) will still get those qualifying benefits, they just won’t be able to have the vehicle they needed for their particular circumstances (not pay on top of their mobility allowance because frequently the allowance doesn’t cover the cost of the lease for the vehicle they need to meet their particular circumstances)

How do you think this is going to save the government money?