50% cuts to DLA for children :0(

[brandy77]

I cant do links, sorry, this came up on my face book page EDCM today :0(

Disabled children?s benefits cut by 50% under new proposals
Campaign warns that cuts could push thousands of families into poverty
For media enquires please contact Laura Courtney, EDCM Campaign Manager:
(T) 020 7843 6448 or 07949749754
(E) [email protected]

The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign (EDCM) has today (4th April) warned that under new Government proposals, disability premiums for thousands of families with disabled children will be reduced by £1358.76 per year.

Last week, the Government outlined plans to change disability premiums within Child Tax Credits or Income Support under the Universal Credit. In a move to align child and adult premiums the Government has decided to dramatically cut disabled children?s benefits for up to 88,000 families.

Those who get high rate care aren't affected it's the ones on the lower rates who are

"Furthermore, we do not believe that the package of proposals that we intend to introduce in due course will have an impact on child poverty levels?that is important. We think that this is a better way of doing it"

yes very interesting! of course it will affect child poverty.

apocalypse, yes it wont affect those on high rate care for now, but what about when we have to renew our claim, mine is next year for renewal. I cant possibly see that my son would drop to low rate from high but if they want to cut costs everywhere who knows

How can it not affect child poverty! £100 is one weeks food shopping for me. We will just have to eat 3 weeks out of 4.

You add it to the proposed removal of our kids rights to an education and the cuts to adult services and NHS and it all starts to paint a very grim picture.

I'm just waiting for the coalition to reopen the cloth mills and work houses.

I know brandy, my niece is severely autistic, non verbal, epileptic, violent from the minute she gets up until when she goes to bed..... and yet only gets mid rate care. Disgusting.

I'm really very worried, we are in a very vulnerable position ourselves because dp only works 22 hours a week as I can't manage both dcs alone, we will be affected by the tax credit cut off. Tbh if we are I will get dp to pack in work and register as a bloody carer as well

your neice only gets middle rate care! thats terrible

im bombarding my MP with every pre written letter that comes up on the internet, not that it will do any good, shes a bloody tory!!

Yep doesn't need care through the night they reckon. Except for when she has a seizure on the stairs because she needs the loo.... and the inflatable bed guard to stop her rolling off that she needs.... obviously night care is no issue

I will be exaggerating to hell helping with the next form

Of course I would gladly give up the money for a full nights sleep, as would most of us.

Best bit is my niece is up all night every night and has to be constantly watched so gawd knows why she didn't get it

It just seems so unfair. It's such a difficult form to fill in, really complicated with how many times, for how long etc. Most of us have DC who are disabled all the time, not just sometimes! It can be hard to keep having to dwell on all the things your DC can't do. No wonder it's such a minefield.

Your poor niece, Apocalypse.

make sure you help with that form next time then! its soo difficult filling it out because its quite upsetting putting it in writing and i dont think some parents realise they should quote the worst nights and they probably water down the severity of the night problems as a few nights can be good with some then a bad week and so on, horrible forms

Crazy , we get middle rate dla for dd1 and higher for dd2, dh only works 20 hours a week and i gave up work 2 years ago as the dd's had so many appointments that i could'nt really keep asking for time off, we rely on ctc and dla to survive (rent, food, keeping the car on the road), these cuts will mean i might have to move the dd's fromt their school as i wont be able to afford to drive them the 20 minute drive to school each day (as we can not get help for school transport). I would be happy to work if i could find a job to fit around the dd's and if there was suitable child care for sn children for the holidays (which there isn't). And working whilst sleep deprived is not easy .

we get the disability bit of ctc for ds2 and 3 and an extra bit again for ds2 being on higher rate, how do I find out just how much we are going to loose?

any idea when this will go into effect, if it does? it says "new government proposals" so not sure if it's a done deal, or just things they're pushing for....

I have just emailed No 10 to jve a rant maybe we should all do the same if anything to annoy them!

Thanks for the info on when it's planned to start. I was worried it was something that was starting this year. At least it gives us time to either raise awareness to fight it or pray for a change in government

good link bdaonion , bit of a relief thats its a couple of years off, hope time go slowly!

The first time I saw Cameron on TV was on Question Time, a few years before he became party leader, and he was speaking quite passionately - and from experience - about the poverty and stress experienced by parents of disabled children.

He is obviously either a) a lying bastard, b) suffering from severe memory problems, or c) a pointless figurehead in one of the most heartless and dangerous governments in recent history

This is another occasion where I am glad my son is approaching adulthood. I feel desperately sorry for parents of younger disabled children when things are taking a tragic nose dive.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say that Cameron had any experience of poverty. He has zero experience obviously!

lol BakeliteBelle, I think hes a,b and c!

Isn't the only difference between middle and high rate care that the child needs care a set number of times a night. So a child can still be profoundly disabled but sleep through and you not only don't get high rate care you don't get any tax credits either.

We live on 2 parttime wages - 1/2 what we lived on before DS3 came along. We can't work more due to childcare being non existent and DS not being able to tolerate it either and even if I could work more there is a recruitment and wage freeze at work so it would have to be a second job. And its not like carers get any pension contributions or anything so we are already condemned to an old age of poverty just because we had a child who was disabled.

They just obsess about people on benefits but these cuts will hit lots of people who do struggle to go out and work as much as they can who are stuck in part time jobs.

The extra we get in DLA and tax credits is all that keeps us afloat each month.

Who do they think will employ someone who can only work three days a week between 9.30 and 3 term time only and needs lots of flexibility for appointments etc. I already juggle my hours weeks to week to fit in 17 hours work and everything else and I had to turn down two better paid jobs before this one because this was the only one that would do the hours I could offer and even then i had to almost threaten the HR dept with disability discrimination as they wanted to give the job to someone less qualified who could 'meet the training requirement'. I would love to go back to my old well paid job but they wouldn't have me as they would see the limited hours I could offer as 'not being committed'. There are no jobs for people like me, I only got this one as i was vastly over qualified.

Sorry but I have to bump that BakeliteBelle because it is too good

The first time I saw Cameron on TV was on Question Time, a few years before he became party leader, and he was speaking quite passionately - and from experience - about the poverty and stress experienced by parents of disabled children.

He is obviously either a) a lying bastard, b) suffering from severe memory problems, or c) a pointless figurehead in one of the most heartless and dangerous governments in recent history.

Can we have an SN Quote of the Week?

Not that it is a grinning matter but it summed our beloved leader up pretty well.