PIP "Vouchers to replace money"

[QueenAnn]

Just read the latest crazy idea from Rishi in his quest to persecute the mentally ill and disabled and am horrified to learn he wants to replace PIP money with vouchers for therapy or home improvements. This idea hasn't been given the go ahead yet but is going to be discussed in July apparently. My dh has severe mental health issues, psychosis, GAD, depression etc and he's under the care of the local CMHT. He's also been assessed by the council Social Care Assessment team as needing assistance and respite care, however I've been told there isn't the funding locally to cover everything he's been assessed as needing. It's a good thing he has me as his full time carer but I wonder how carers are going to be affected if this voucher scheme goes ahead as I, and many others, rely on carers allowance to compensate for the hours we can't work due to caring for someone. It honestly feels as if there is some terrible news for the disabled and vulnerable coming from Rishi every day now.

Your friend probably does qualify for a Blue Badge, just not under the qualifying criteria of "having whatever PIP you're meant to have". If she applies for a Blue Badge under the "this is what's wrong with me and this is what my issues are" criteria, which is another long form of questions, she may be granted one. I totally understand if she's too fucked up to do that and has nobody to do it for her.

PIP can mean that a disabled person can do things like pay a cleaner so they can use what energy they have for things that make life worthwhile, keep the heating on, pay delivery charges for online shopping, have a mobile hairdresser wash their hair if they can't do it themseves, pay for incontinence products & the extra laundry it costs, pay for things like CBD for pain, pay towards an expensive mattress if they have chronic pain so they can sleep, pay taxis if they don't drive & can't access public transport, buy things so they can retain some independence in their home, things like gadgets in the kitchen, a comfort height toilet, bath lifts, maintain a stairlift. Are they saying you will have to beg for a voucher every time you need something & they will dictate if you can have it? They might as well make all disabled people wear high viz jackets with disabled scrounger on it. I thought after the Nazis we would never have anyone pick on a group of people, what next, the elderly, the LGBT, women? Who will be next in the firing line?

Where I live I wanted a blue badge for foster son who gets pip 12 points for planning journeys because he has learning disability and won't ever be able to go out unsupervised so I can drop him off outside his college in the blue badge spots and take him in to college then go home but he was turned down for blue badge. So I have to park about 1/4 mile away and we have to cross a really busy road when I walk him into college then go back to car park before going home. I'm always worried he's going to walk out whilst traffic is coming. I sent off the forms and his pip award but they say no because he can walk.

If they do this for pip, they have to do it for other benefits. Surely it's discrimination if they don't?

My council just refuses to give foster son one even with 12 points for planning journeys. He can't safely go out alone due to severe learning disabilities. I might try applying again for him.

That's the same as my foster son.

I heard a TV presenter on GB news last night telling viewers that some people get lifetime awards because they were too anxious to go out during COVID. 🤷That isn't right at all. I thought 10 years was the maximum award.

That is incorrect, it's 10 years max even for poor folks for whom their condition is NEVER going to change until death, think bedridden, non verbal, full care. There are no lifetime awards now. Look up margaret Fleming in Scotland, it's more about having a safety net for those kinds of scenarios.

His claim for it is failing because he's not going out alone. He doesn't need one on mobility grounds and his anxiety/safety needs are being met by you so he doesn't need it for that reason either. You basically want one because it would reduce risk and make your life easier but that's not what they're for. Only if it would make his life easier and it sounds as though it wouldn't make any difference. A small reduction in risk of him running out in front of traffic, but you're there as his carer so you're seen as enough to mitigate that risk. If he was driving himself to college he'd get one because it'd be the difference between him getting there alone or not getting there at all, so it would be needed.

Argh, I see. His care plan says he can't go out alone as it would be unsafe for him. He's not anxious just oblivious of the danger of any kind. He could never drive. He could never pass the theory test as cognitively impaired. He can't read because he can't remember the words. He forgets where he's going even in quite familiar surroundings like college so he has a 1-1 support at college. He's run out in front of traffic twice over the last 18 months, both times when he's seen a dog, and he's now too big for me to stop him. That's why I want one for him.

Yes they will only give automatic ones if you have a certain number of points in the ' moving around ' descriptor ( think it may be 8 or 10 ?). But you can still usually apply under the discretionary route if you can't get an automatic one. Definitely worth a try.

Do they heck as like.

What a whopper.

People with "mild" mental health issues wouldn't qualify for PIP. I suggest you do your research and stop listening to the rubbish Rishi is spouting. He's relying on people not understanding the benefits system to attack the most vulnerable in society.

This. All this finger pointing at disabled people directly by one of the fucking elite who are the people getting rich off the backs of everyone else in this country. Everyone struggling to manage at the moment.....this is the fault of Rishi and his ilk. The super rich. The fucking cheek he has to start finger pointing at the fucking poor and disabled.

@INeedToClingToSomething Exactly!

@TeaMistress et al......
Apologies if anyone has already made this point.
I'm surprised that Sunak is promoting these proposed changes to PIP right now.
We all know we have to have a GE this year, (or by January 2025 at the latest), and the Tories have to arrange for it to happen at the optimum time for them.
So I would expect them to have something up their sleeve which they hope could swing things their way against all the odds as Labour's lead in the polls is so big.
Or at least limit a landslide, and lead to the possibility of a (highly unlikely) coalition.
But proposing these PIP changes seems to me to be committing political suicide. I have seen/heard so much opposition and expressions of disgust and horror towards them and hardly any support, which leads one to say (about the Tories),"what on earth are they thinking?"
So then I can only wonder if these proposed changes are not, as I thought, wholly unpopular, abhorrent and despised, but that many people are actually in favour. Surely not?
But why else would the Government be considering these changes unless they feel sure that the public will be on their side?

these changes go hand in hand with the 'straight on a plane to Rwanda' crew.

He's run out in front of traffic twice over the last 18 months, both times when he's seen a dog, and he's now too big for me to stop him. That's why I want one for him.

Have you specifically told them this? Because before it read like you wanted a blue badge to stop you having to worry about it (your need) as opposed to him needing one because it actually happens (his need). TBH I suspect you'll need evidence of it happening eg a social worker, or someone the officials will believe, saying they've witnessed it happen or a hospital report of his treatment because he's been run over due to it happening.

@caringcarer you shouldn't have to do this but I'm going to throw it out ther as an option for if you can't get help.

Blue badge isn't the only help by the way. If he needs support to go out in the form of two-to-one support workers to accompany him, for his own safety, so he can be effectively restrained by them if necessary, then that's what social services should be providing him with. Given they're not providing it, and due to the nature of his problems I'm going to assume he has a social worker, the least they can do is help you with evidence for the application to get a blue badge!

Anyway, back to my suggestion, if you haven't already tried this. Can you borrow some friends with dogs/cars and deliberately set up a situation where you and him have one dog, someone else has another and see if he'll run out in front of traffic for a dog if he already has one? Because maybe getting his own dog would be a way of managing this problem. Although obviously that's dependent on a dog being affordable, because he's not going to be able to care for the dog himself, I imagine.

I mean, ingenious, but this is a very long-winded and expensive way of doing something that would be resolved in large part by a Blue Badge!

We have 2 dogs and 2 cats already. We got the dogs because he loves dogs so much. He's really good with them. We can walk them safely around a lake near us. He takes them on their leads and is gentle with them. He likes teaching them new tricks. If he's out and he sees a nice looking dog he just wants to stroke it. When he was younger I could keep a hold of his hand more easily. Now he's older he won't hold our hand anymore and it is much easier when DH and I are either side of him. Unfortunately I have to drive him to college on my own. I just wish they would let me park for about 5 minutes in college car park whilst I met his 1-1 assistant just inside the door. Unfortunately college will only let you in their very tiny car park if you have a blue badge. It is entirely disabled parking. It's not like I want to park there all day because I go home and then go back in the afternoon to collect him. I just want to park there twice a day for about 5 minutes at a time so we can avoid the really busy main road. It's so frustrating. I have asked college to make an exception for him but they won't. They say he should be entitled to a blue badge. The council says he's not entitled to a blue badge. It's like trying to get through a brick wall. I'd be happy with a card given to me by college letting me drop off and collect at the back entrance of college in their tiny car park. It's not like I'm trying to use a disabled parking spot anywhere but at his college.

Does he have an EHCP?
Could you maybe add door to door drop-off to that at annual review?

Does he go nowhere except college @caringcarer ? That could be part of the problem. Blue badges don't actually work on private land. Companies use them as their rule for proof of disability, but that's them creating their own rules, which they're allowed to do. I don't think the council will give you a blue badge if the only reason you want it is to park on private land, so keep that part to yourself!

He goes to lots of places, various cricket clubs because he plays in matches, Karate and Crav Maga but they are all ok as I can drive and park just outside the sports hall where Karate or Crav Maga takes place. Most cricket grounds are a bit out of the way down long drives so he is safe there. He goes swimming but DH and I both take him so I drive, drop them right outside, DH takes him to change whilst I go and park then join them in the water. Then afterwards I sit inside with him whilst he has hot chocolate whilst DH collects the car and brings it to the door. We also take him on walks around the lake with the dogs but it's a pedestrian lane and a cycle lane so no cars at all, so he's safe. We managed well most of the time it's just college that's the issue. We go to the park sometimes because he likes to practice his high catching with a cricket ball and I've noticed if he sees a dog he might go and ask it's owner if he can stroke it. We try to discourage him from doing this because I worry he might get bitten. He just doesn't see potential danger anywhere.

Where you need to park is irrelevant. I got one because of the difficulties I have not because of where I need to park