A leading disability campaigner, author of a hard-hitting new report on Disability Living Allowance reform, says government consultation on ‘disastrous’ welfare changes has now been shown to be ‘a sham’.
The report ‘Responsible Reform’, published yesterday (9 January 2012) finds that government has misled MPs and peers over the hostility to disability benefit reform.
It is being presented to parliament as members of the Houses of Commons and Lords return to Westminster to debate the final stages of the controversial Welfare Reform Bill.
‘Responsible Reform’ is based on the responses to the government’s own consultation on its planned DLA reforms, which were only made public once disabled people requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.
Among the report’s key conclusions are that:
* Only seven per cent of organisations that took part in the consultation were fully in support of plans to replace DLA with a Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
* There was overwhelming opposition in the consultation responses to nearly all of the government’s proposals for DLA reform
* The government has consistently used inaccurate figures to exaggerate the rise in DLA claimants
* The report shows that nearly all of the recent increase in working-age claimants of DLA has been associated with mental health conditions and learning difficulties. Between 2002 and 2010, the number of working-age DLA claimants – excluding those with mental health conditions and learning difficulties remained remarkably stable
* 98 per cent of those who responded opposed plans to change the qualifying period for PIP from three months (as it is with DLA) to six months
* 90 per cent opposed plans for a new assessment, which disabled people fear will be far too similar to the much-criticised work capability assessment used to test eligibility for employment and support allowance (ESA)
* Respondents to the consultation repeatedly warned that the government’s plans could breach the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
London’s Conservative Mayor, Boris Johnson, has also objected to the proposed changes, creating unwelcome publicity and political embarassment for David Cameron’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat government.
More at:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/16013