Tag: disability benefits

Over six million disabled people start receiving £150 Cost of Living payment

· Government’s £150 Disability Cost of Living payments paid from today (Tuesday 20 June)

· Payments will be made automatically over two-week period between 20 June and 4 July 2023

· Anyone in receipt of certain disability benefits on 1 April 2023 is entitled and will receive the payment

· One-off disability cash forms part of wider support package worth up to £1,350 for the most vulnerable

More than six million disabled people across the UK are set to receive a £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment from today.

The one-off payments, issued by the Department for Work and Pensions throughout a two-week window, will help disabled people with the extra costs they face.

It comes as part of a wider package of Cost of Living support worth up to £1,350 to the most vulnerable households, underlining the Government’s commitment to supporting these those most in need.

The Government is also working hard to ease cost of living pressures by working towards the goal of halving inflation, which will lay the foundation for the long-term growth needed to improve living standards for everyone.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride MP, said: “We recognise that some of the most vulnerable UK households continue to face cost of living pressures, in particular those who are disabled.

“Our commitment to halving inflation and ultimately getting it back to the 2% target will relieve a lot of financial pressure for us all, but this extra support will help over six million disabled people right now as we work towards that goal.”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt MP, said: “The additional costs faced by disabled people mean inflation is particularly challenging, which is why halving it this year and getting back to the Bank of England’s 2% target is our priority.

“The £150 we’re sending disabled people over the next two weeks is part of a major cost-of-living support package worth just under £100 billion, providing some peace of mind to the most vulnerable in society.”

Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Tom Pursglove MP, said: “We understand the additional financial pressures disabled people are facing, which is why we are putting another £150 in their pockets from today.

“This is on top of further cost of living payments for low-income benefit claimants, as we’re committed to providing support where it is needed most.”

As the payment is made automatically, those eligible for the support do not need to take any action. The payment reference on bank statements will appear as the individual’s National Insurance number followed by “DWP COL”.

The full list of benefit recipients that qualify for the Disability Cost of Living Payment between 20 June and 4 July are those who receive any of the following:

· Disability Living Allowance

· Personal Independence Payment

· Attendance Allowance

· Scottish Disability Benefits (Adult Disability Payment and Child Disability Payment)

· Armed Forces Independence Payment

· Constant Attendance Allowance

· War Pension Mobility Supplement

A small number of payments will be made after 4 July, where claimants were still awaiting confirmation of their eligibility or entitlement to qualifying disability benefits on 1 April.

This new payment is in addition to the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment that was paid last September. Pensioners will also receive a further £300 payment later this year and people on eligible means-tested benefits will be paid up to two more Cost of Living payments through to next Spring totalling £900.

Dignity, fairness, respect: Improving disability benefits

Disabled people with the most serious lifelong health conditions will have more financial security under Scotland’s social security system.

Adult Disability Payment will replace the UK Government’s Personal Independence Payment (PIP). It will open for new applications in pilot areas starting this month.

Disabled people on the highest components of the new benefit and whose needs are highly unlikely to change will be eligible for an “indefinite award”. In effect, this will mean they will not be subject to reviews and can rely on their new benefit into the long-term.

People with ongoing awards of Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance do not need to make an application for Adult Disability Payment. They will be contacted from this summer to let them know when their awards will automatically be moved safely and securely to Adult Disability Payment.

Social Security Minister Ben Macpherson said: “The introduction of indefinite awards, as part of Adult Disability Payment, underlines our commitment to deliver on the principles of Scotland’s social security system to treat people with dignity, fairness and respect.

“In making this decision, we have engaged with a wide range of people with lived experience of the current system and will continue to listen as we design and build a social security system that works for disabled people.

“We want to ensure that people on the highest levels of Adult Disability Payment awards receive long-term and adequate support, because those with lifelong conditions, or disabilities resulting in needs highly unlikely to change, should not be subject to unnecessary reviews when it is reasonably expected that their situation will not change.

“Under the UK Government’s Personal Independence Payment, similar awards have generally been reviewed between every 2 to 10 years. However, disabled people tell us that even review periods of 10 years can create stress and anxiety. That is why we have decided to introduce indefinite awards – we are determined to do things differently and build a more compassionate system in Scotland.”

Moira Tasker, Chief Officer, Inclusion Scotland said: “Inclusion Scotland warmly welcomes the announcement that there will be indefinite awards of Adult Disability Payment. We are glad the Minister has acted on the views expressed by disabled people and adopted this measure.

“It will come as a huge relief for disabled people with high, permanent levels of impairment who faced continual reassessments under the flawed DWP, Personal Independent Payment, system. Indefinite awards will also provide some certainty and security for those who receive them.”

Morna Simpkins, Director of MS Society Scotland, added: “We are pleased the Scottish Government has listened to the views of the MS community and MS Society Scotland and will re-introduce indefinite awards.

“MS is relentless, painful, and disabling. Indefinite awards will provide some people living with progressive long term conditions, like MS, with the security of knowing they will not have their awards downgraded or income cut.”

Adult Disability Payment is the twelfth benefit to be introduced by Social Security Scotland since September 2018, which includes seven new benefits, unique to Scotland.

Losing Out: tens of thousands lose disability benefits

More than half of new claims in Scotland for the UK Government’s disability payment are refused, with tens of thousands of disabled people completely losing their benefits.

Since the UK Government replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in 2013, 167,000 new claims in Scotland have been unsuccessful, equal to 54% of all applications.

The analysis, produced by the Scottish Government, shows that the share of new claimants awarded PIP has decreased since the benefit was introduced, from 74% in 2013/14 to 56% in 2018/19, an 18 percentage point reduction.

In addition, 39,000 people in Scotland have lost their disability benefits completely (costing them between £1,200 and £7,740 per year) after losing their DLA entitlement when they were reassessed and refused PIP.

Since PIP was introduced, 30,000 people have had to undergo a stressful appeals process, with 21,000 of those having to go to court in order to receive their correct PIP entitlement.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “For disabled people, the stress and anxiety of the application process and face to face assessment process are already hallmarks of the UK Government’s welfare reforms.

“Now this latest analysis shows that those most in need in our society are less likely to get help or have to fight through the courts to get what they are entitled to.

“While tens of thousands of disabled people are facing greater hardship because they have completely lost their benefits.

“We will do things differently as we start delivery of disability benefits over the next 18 months.

“Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland and we want people to receive all the support they are entitled to.

“That is why we are building a new social security system from scratch – with fairness, respect and dignity at its heart.”

Scottish Government Welfare_Reform _Report

Scottish Government social security reforms – Disability Assistance

Lazarowicz: Fast-track benefits for terminally ill

‘long delays risk leaving terminally ill people destitute in the last months of their life’ – Mark Lazarowicz MP

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Mark Lazarowicz MP is backing Gordon Aikman’s MND campaign and has called on the Government to fast track benefits for people like Gordon with terminal conditions.

Speaking in a debate in Parliament yesterday, the Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith called on the Government to fast track benefit claims from people with terminal conditions like Motor Neurone Disease and intervened to tell the Minister that the prolonged delays, in some cases of up to 18 months, could mean the outcome comes too late for some people with limited life expectancy.

He said later: “I strongly support Gordon Aikman’s campaign to fast track benefit claims from people with terminal conditions like MND: people are waiting 6 months and in some cases 3 times that just to have an assessment.

“Claims can be fast tracked where someone is not expected to live longer than 6 months but where does that leave someone with MND where the average life expectancy after diagnosis is 14 months?

“The Government should offer financial support to people suffering as a result of the delays caused by its own incompetence but first and foremost it should make sure that their claims are fast tracked.

“The Minister’s response in the debate was not acceptable: it’s shameful that people who are so ill should spend the last months or year of their life in financial hardship having to fight so hard for the benefits they are entitled to.”

He was speaking in a debate on the introduction of the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the disability benefit that is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which is designed to help seriously ill or disabled people with the extra costs their condition entails.

It was announced on Thursday that responsibility for PIP is to be devolved in future and Mark has called for the roll-out of the new benefit to existing DLA claimants to be stopped until it is because of the huge backlog of assessments.

That was also the conclusion of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee: it reported last March that even where someone did have their claim fast tracked because they were not expected to live more than 6 months, the time taken to process their claim had increased from typically 8 days with DLA to 8 weeks with PIP.

Mark Lazarowicz says the Government has moved the goalposts: its original target was for the whole process from claim to decision to be completed within 16 weeks, now it is that all assessments should be completed within that time and it is even failing that target.

gordon aikman
Gordon Aikman’s story

I’m dying. And fast.

That – in short – was what my doctor told me just a few weeks ago when I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.

It’s not the news you expect when you are 29 years old.

MND is a rare, progressive and debilitating disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. It leads to weakness and muscle wasting and will affect how I walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe.

There is no cure. 

That’s why I am doing all I can to raise money for MND Scotland – a great charity that funds and promotes research into the disease and provides support to people affected by Motor Neurone Disease.

It’ll be too late for me, but we must find a cure for the next generation.

With your help I can turn a negative into a positive. Please dig deep and donate what you can today. 

100% of the money you donate will be spent on trying to find a cure.

Thank you

Gordon  

P.S. Please visit www.gordonsfightback.com to tell your your MP and MSPs to back my campaign to double MND research funding.

To date Gordon has raised £216,683.88 of his £250,000.00 target. 3,690 individual donations have been made.

https://www.justgiving.com/gordonaikman/