The coalition government has set out plans to empower 1 million adults in need of social care with personal care budgets by 2013 so that they can choose the services they need, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced yesterday, as he launched the document "A vision for adult social care: Capable Communities and Active Citizens'.
Full report at E-gov Monitor.
Campaigning against the government's distressing war on disabled benefit claimants. All posts represent the opinions of their respective authors and not WtB as a whole.
I`m sceptical!!! My carer is my husband who works full time. My DLA goes on keeping me warm, feeding me and paying for a car so that I am not housebound.......Take this away from me and I might (as well) be dead. I need my benefits to meet... my basic needs......
ReplyDeleteIs this the first step in the governments plan to ensure ONLY the most disabled people get financial help???
The words "capable commumities and active citizens" could be interpreted as DIY care done by unpaid/ untrained carers with no health and safety (lifting and handling etc) assessments.......I do not trust this govt. not to have a money saving agenda in relation to disabled people......
I just hope that by the time the new legislation is passed, my condition will have deteriorated to a point where I qualify for help. Roll on death :-(
What you get is a funding package of which you would hire your husband to care for you something labour refused to do, even though MP's can hire ones wife/ hubby and pay them out of expenses.
ReplyDeleteI do not know the whole lot yet as it has not been finalized do not forget it was the Tories who gave us the DLA, it was Brown under New Labour that wanted it stopped, Brown would have ended DLA for everyone it was the Tories and some labour back bencher's who stopped it.
The idea now at the moment is if you ask or seek personal care you cannot hire a family member or anyone who is a friend or anyone who is related to you which is ridiculous.
But of course you do have to be seriously disabled to get this type of care, DLA is also for the most disabled, but of course what is disabled it's open to how you deal with a disability or illness.
But do not knock it until we have seen it.
I am concerned about this. I think it is great for those who can, and want to, manage their own care, but not for all.
ReplyDeleteMy mother gets care from the staff at her 'very sheltered' scheme. She is not fit to manage her own finances so this could be an extra burden on me. And if people opt out of using the on-site staff then the whole scheme would suffer as they cut staff.
I'm feeling scared about these changes. At the moment I fund my care using DLA and IB. I'll be migrated to ESA soon, which will presumably end after the year time limit, so this will be removing half of my money. I just won't be able to cope if I lose the DLA as well. I'll be desperately waiting for the White Paper and praying it is good news rather than bad.
ReplyDeleteRobert - your constant white-knighting for the Tories is a)annoying and b)dismissive of the experiences of those who are already worse off after only a few weeks of their rule.
ReplyDeleteWhite knighting god Almighty I've been a member of the Labour party for 44 years, this has got sod all to do with me being labour or Tory.
ReplyDeleteThis is about both governments attacking the welfare reforms, or is it your another of the new labour bright brigade, you know I love Blair type.
Last November i sat in a room listening to Brown tell us that DLA was a misplaced benefit better used in other ways, his idea was to remove DLA ending this benefit, he would then use £600 million from the 11 billion saved to pay for his new care program, but according to New labour only 200,000 people needed this.
Labour have stated 2 million people could and should be working hence the new WCA and ESA.
The simple fact nobody yet knows what the Tories will do, but so far they have not said DLA will be stopped. What they have said they will be carry on with Plans labour had to introduce a new DLA medical test to ensure only the most needy will get this benefit.
Now then above a person says they could not take on the responsibility of doing all the work for the care program, you do not have to private charities are willing to do this for you, they already do it for people.
So DLA is not being stopped the new medicals have not even been discussed yet and if they do come in it will not be until 2013.
All three parties have agreed in principle with the Tories new plans, if people cannot see this then my god open your eyes.
But to people scared of losing DLA so far the Tories have stated it will not be touched....
Robert you say it will not be touched but the fact it they say that if you can move - You are suddenly able. It seems that they don't understand how neurological conditions affect people. How conditions that are different every single day affects you How lack of sleep because of the condition affects you. Pain - They cannot see how much pain I am in on a daily basis - I do not have a pain meter on my forehead (wish i did) I remember last time I saw ATOS person - They said one thing to my face then went off and wrote stuff completely different - I only won my DLA case as they messed it up, so I wonmy appeal because I noticed their error. So I was given my DLA - Now I will have to fight all over again when I just fought. I am too tired for this - I am sick! Why do i have to spend my life fighting. Why cant the govt go after tax evaders why cant they stop attacking the people who are least able to fight back. They have picked on the weakest and that's not fair. This is not a reform, its annihalation. Yes I know you will say I am mad, I probably am. But I know how scared this makes people feel as you know you cannot wok, yet they will state you can or take away benefits. What do I do if they take my benefits away for THREE years because I am sick and they dont believe me? Die I suppose then I wont be an annoyance to them any more.
ReplyDeleteYour now talking about all aspects of the new medical checks and DLA. When DLA first came out we all had to have medicals, then somebody said look to save money we will not bother giving the most severely disabled medical every year, what we will do is a random selection test.
ReplyDeleteEven under the new rules you can still be asked to under go another medical even if you had DLA for life, or as it is now indefinate. The DWP every year picks a selection of people to undergo checks, I've been called in once for this check, so checks are still on going even now.
So nobody gets a benefit for life without being checked I suspect you have been checked already without you even knowing about it as the DWP have written to your GP or consultant.
Five years ago we watched two men remove our bin bags, we called the Police who then told us we were being in instigated by the DWP, nothing came of it, if we had not seen these two men we would not have known anything about it.
Turns out they believed I was working as a taxi driver, in fact I was still in hospital and had been for eighteen months.
So the fact is your checked even today, the new checks are no different, you can have a phone call, or you will be asked to fill in a form, then if they think they need further evidence you will be contacted about a medical, it's like this now.
The WCA medical for ESA and the three year ban, are you really saying to me your expecting to get banned for three years, because the rules at the moment are worse, if your now found to be cheating the system, by saying your worse then you really are the ban is for life.
The fact is the media are making out these are massive changes BUT ARE THEY so long as we have the right of appeal and that appeal is independent you have a strong strong chance of being able to win.
So the three year ban is at the moment untested.
At the moment if you appeal then so far 75% of those that appeal are winning the claim.
What is worrying me more at the moment is the council house rents, the conditions for staying in a council house, and again under labour this was brought about by the mouth of Caroline Flint.