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

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’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/

PIPPed off!

Disability benefit delays: Mark Lazarowicz MP attacks Government for letting down the most vulnerable

Mark Lazarowicz MP has attacked the Government for long delays in assessing benefits claims. The North and Leith MP was speaking during n a debate at Westminster on the introduction of the new disability benefit, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The Personal Independence Payment is being rolled out across the UK in stages to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and reassessments of certain categories of DLA claimants in Edinburgh began in January 2014.

The Government’s own target for completion of assessments is 16 weeks, but Mr Lazarowicz says there are long delays in even assessing claimants – a six month wait is typical and in some cases constituents the wait has been even longer.

Mark Lazarowicz said: “Claimants even with extremely serious conditions such as cancer are typically waiting at least 6 months just to be assessed and I have had constituents contact me who have waited as long as EIGHTEEN MONTHS.

“That means that people may struggle to afford the travel costs of hospital visits or be forced to sell their home as they face extreme hardship: I want to see the Government offer financial help to people in difficulty due to delays.

“And when PIP is awarded at a higher rate than previously paid under DLA, the increased payments are only backdated for a maximum of 28 days, even if the application had been submitted many months before. It is an outrage that people lose out on payments due to them simply because of delay caused by the government”.

“At the very least claims from anyone with a terminal condition must be fast tracked (even if their life expectancy is longer than six months where applications are currently fast tracked).

“Nobody trying to cope with a serious illness or disability should have to face additional worry of how to cope financially because of Government incompetence.”

Mark Lazarowicz’ speech in the debate can be found here.

Citizens Advice Scotland calls for halt to benefit changes

Citizens Advice Scotland’s Chief Executive Margaret Lynch has written to the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Work and Pensions calling for a halt to the introduction of the new Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to claimants in Scotland, as PIP is a benefit that will be devolved to the Scottish Government.

Speaking days before the draft legislation based on Smith Commission is due to be published, Margaret Lynch said: “PIP is the replacement benefit for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and is an area that will be devolved to the Scottish Government following the Smith Commission recommendations. However it will take to October 2017 to be fully rolled out to all DLA claimants – and that is if there are no further delays to its introduction.

“As we know that the Scottish Government will be developing and introducing its own PIP equivalent, we don’t want to see disabled claimants having to go through changes in their payments, how they are paid, and how much they are paid, twice in a short period of time. I think this will be of major detriment to claimants and is unnecessary and possibly very distressing. In addition it seems a waste of resources to pay for the assessments of tens of thousands of disabled people to transfer them onto a system that they will not be staying on.

“Therefore I’m calling on the DWP to halt the migration of all existing DLA claimants to PIP and I hope this will be backed by the Scotland Office and the Scottish Government.

“CAS has already detailed the massive delays that new claimants are seeing in getting a PIP assessment and then having a decision made. Whilst these delays continue, sick and disabled clients are facing severe hardship, unable to meet the costs of living, and getting into debt.

“The DWP should concentrate on getting the process right for these new claimants and let current DLA claimants stay on their current award until such times as new Scottish system is in place.

“I had very much hoped that issues like these, and the halt to Universal Credit that has also been called for, could be raised and discussed with relevant stakeholders before draft legislation is published but it has been a disappointing process. The very short time scales we have been hampered by has led to a short sightedness of being able to look at all the complex and inter-related issues that need discussed and debated.

“This is not the first time I’ve pointed to process and timescales hampering the need for full and frank discussion and debate. This has to be taken seriously. All parties and stakeholders must have time and forums to bring out issues such as these and look for a way forward. The migration of DLA claimants to PIP is just one example of an area we would like to influence on behalf of the 330,000 clients we deal with every year.

“Whilst I recognise that the Scotland Office has tried to bring people together, it’s clear that we need to have all UK government departments playing their part in the processes that are required following the Smith Commission.”

However the Department for Work and Pensions says a delay in implementing PIP north of the border would ‘disadvantage’ disabled people in Scotland.

A DWP spokesman said: “Under the Personal Independence Payment, claimants receive a face-to-face assessment and regular reviews to ensure support is directed according to need.

“Latest figures show just that, with over 22% of people getting the highest level of support under PIP, compared to 16% under the outgoing DLA system. To halt this progress now would be to disadvantage disabled people across Scotland.”