Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Speaking as the parent of a severely disabled child I can honestly say that if they do it it'll be very welcome and it's long overdue:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8153116.stm

Parents with disabled kids who are struggling to survive really do have enough to put up with without the state adding so much to the burden!

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

It's funny. Labour are supposed to be on the side of the needy (ie claimants) and the tories on the side of Big Business.

Yet, it frequently happens to be the other way around.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Of course there will be people who'll dismiss this as cynical electioneering this but I can't believe that, having lost their 'special' son, Cameron would stoop so low. Over the years, we've known so many people who've lost children who've caused them so much suffering yet brought them so much joy. Only 2weeks ago another 'special' child at our son's school passed away... it's truly heartbreaking....

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Actually, I was basing my statement on what I was told by people who either work with, are or have been claimants.. For some reason, the Tories seemed to make the system easier for claimants and Labour introduced a lot of extra measures to restrict the benefits given to people.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Isn't that the case whatever party is in opposition Stuart.:)

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Frankly I've learned not to count my chickens.

Doesn't matter who is in power any really good idea somehow gets forgotten about and any bad idea gets taken up with enthusiasm.:rolleyes:

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

See below:

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

I am in the process of working through my daughter's Disabled Living Allowance forms... a long and arduous task that is not just box-ticking, but lots of handwriting. Then I have to get specialists and doctors to add their bit, though they are all probably away on holiday as usual.

One wrong word to describe something and it could be rejected, so I have to be very choosy with grammar and spelling... and keep my handwriting neat!!! It's about the only time I write using a pen all year!

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

its just more political stuff

this time its the we want to look warm and cuddly time use of the disabled

as soon as they need to raise taxes who ever gets in then it will be the switch back to the we will makes sure none of these lay about disabled people are fiddling the system

sorry to be cynical but at 40 cough plus and disabled myself i have seen it all both ways form both governments

labour at least made it much easier to get payments and less people and forms to deal with than it used to be once you qualify but they still keep changing forms so it can be really hard to put the right things down to qualify unless you know the system

but the conservatives used to do the same too they were the ones who decided your Dr obviously couldn't be trusted to say if you were disabled or not ! labour didnt change that either

if they want rid of red tape let it be the Drs and Consultants decide on who needs what rather than trainee civil servants with no medical knowledge totalling up points on a form that most people never understand

but hey maybe i am just daft :)

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

:clap:

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

there are people who will help you write it your local CAB or council or any of the big charities should be able to point you to a local person who knows how the forms are best filled in

( to those who think thats to get stuff you are not entitled to i suggest you go get a form and try filling it out and figuring out what half the questions mean )

oh and i didnt mean to help with you writing ;) though they will often fillthem in for you to if you want but they can help point out if you are missing information that you could put in or where you may be putting down more than you need on one point

see

http://www.dialuk.info/

these have helped a lot of people with these forms

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

I too have some doubts and will, frankly, believe it when I see it but the difference here is that the Camerons' have had serious disability so close to their lives and know what it's like. In the grand scheme of things I don't see vast numbers of votes in such a promise so I can't see why he'd go down this route with no real intention of doing something as there'll be a hell of a moral backlash if he reneges on it. If the Tories want to emulate New Labour's policy since 1997 and make false promises to gain support, there are far more effective ways of doing that.

Time will tell.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Can I also give a thumbs up to DialUK as mentioned by Roger in his post. Even though, through my work, I was very familiar with different benefit forms and processes, filling in AA and DLA forms for relatives still had me in a cold sweat as I knew how easy it would be to just use a wrong word and close the door on any chance of getting any benefit. The people at DialUK couldn't have been more helpful and I put getting any benefit down to their advise on wording.

As an added bonus they noticed my husband was wearing hearing aids and arranged for us to have a loop system ...free of charge. :)

Well they did get a couple of fund raisers in exchange but that's a whole different subject. :D

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

so has gorden brown twice in fact

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...icle654706.ece

the problem isnt all the government though of either flavour imho it is the civil servants who seem to spend their time making forms that just make work for themselves so they can justify being there

then they claim there is mass abuse and spend a fortune on supposedly tracking it down which means another department of civil servants who cost us far more than they ever recover even if you use thier idea of what they saved as they calculate what they saved over the next ten years of each case

http://www.nao.org.uk/news/0708/0708102.aspx


see here about the real scandle

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/opinion/b1..._shocker.shtml

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

I wasn't suggesting that the Cameron's are the only politicians with first hand experience of disability. My point is that, having been in that dreadful position, making such a promise as Party Leader and then reneging on it would be seen to be as morally reprehensible as it were cynical.

Notwithstanding the fact that Brown's poor son doesn't appear to have the level of disability Cameron's son sadly succumbed to, perhaps, as he gets older, Brown's views and actions will alter as a result of his experience of the sad realitiies of being a long term carer.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Looking at this from a politically neutral view, I don't think any politician of either party would want to intentionally make it difficult for genuinely disabled claimants or family members to access.
Personally I'm of the opinion that when in government a great deal of these good ideas and intentions just get swallowed up by the minutia and bureaucracy of government, I'm sure if Cameron gets to be PM there will be an army of civil servants telling him all the pitfalls of making claiming easier, along with warnings of headlines in the Daily Hate and Sun saying, "wet Tory goes soft on benefits".
After thirteen years in power Labour are jaded by the political process and cynical to its workings, maybe the civil service should be top of the list for reform for whoever wins next.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

yep let us make the forms they have to fill out to keep their jobs ;)

not that i would be vindictive

:angel: me



:devsmoke: ;)

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

There should be no red tape to go through, if the child has got a disability that's it no questions, no visits by crack teams by people who've got no idea of the child's disability just give them what they are entitled to.

They don't make it harder for the dole scroungers to get their beer money each week do they??

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

I don't think there is any question regarding the need to simplify thing especially for disabled children. Where successive governments seem to have a problem is in separating these from the non obviously disabled adults.

One size does not fit all, and bureaucrats love their one form for all system.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

With regards to removing red tape and making it easier for people with genuine disabilities to claim what they need.
I for one would not trust any party to follow this through when in power, because it will cost them to much and it is much easier to disallow genuine claimants than it is to pay them.

The conservatives maybe voicing this because David Cameron had a disabled child and are looking for the sympathy vote but equally Gordon Brown could do the same by using his families health issues.

Lets all wait and see after the next election when we have a new government if we actually see a reversal in policy and people with genuine disabilities get the help they truly deserve.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

The trouble with determining disability is that not all forms of disability are physical and/or obvious so there has to be some level of expert involvement in the qualification process and that means assessments, forms etc. etc. The extent to which anyone can reduce this red tape is going to be limited but doing away with all the time consuming duplication involved in filling out the various lengthy forms for separate benefits/concessions would be a good start.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

The problem is that it is to long winded a process for even obviously disabled people and even causes long waits just to get a disability parking permit.

My brother is a year younger than me and and has cerebral palsy from birth a mental age of 3/4 and never been able to walk, he has been in local authority care for many years but even his carers have to go through a long winded process to get his allowances.

What really annoys me are the *******s who go cradle to the grave on benefit and have all these specially setup local centres to help them word their claims that are just there to help them milk the system without ever having to work.

I work for my money but I do have a worn hip which I could possibly use to stop working and have one of these places help me milk the system, but I have to much pride in myself and want to work and feel the need to work otherwise I would be bored.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Mol I think you are being very unfair if you are saying that organizations such as DialUK are there to help people milk the system and also, by making out that they are there to help scroungers, you risk putting off people who are genuinely in need of help from using their services.

The two relatives they came out to help for me had both had benefits refused mainly because my relatives, like a lot of people, had been to proud to put down in black and white, for all to see, just how much their disabilities effected their lives and it needs people such as the volunteers at DialUK to negotiate the mine field that the current claim forms produce.

The procedures for claiming disability benefits are atrocious. Succeeding Governments have added layer upon layer of red tape in an attempt to avoid just starting again from scratch and developing a system that could be used on a multi-agency platform.

No one enjoys hearing reports of people who have been getting any form of benefit that they are not entitled to but trying to stop that happening has, to some degree, also been the cause of a lot of the red tape that claimants have to get through to-day.

Having worked with staff trying to deal with disability claims I can tell you that they were not happy about some of the decisions they had to make and would much rather have based their awards on a medical opinion rather than just on badly designed forms.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

No those organisations you mention do help the right people and offer a fantastic service, I think you misconstrued my meaning.

Any genuine person who has a disability gets put through the wringer because they are claiming what is genuinely theirs and these civil servants want to give as little as possible away to them, the is to much red tape which even now affects my brother and others like him who's circumstances will never ever alter but still have to go through the same process year after year.

My gripe is with these unemployment type centres that help people who have never done a tap of work and never ever intend to lift a finger if they can help it in their lifetime basically fiddle the system by wording their claims in the right way and telling them what to say in order to freeload off the system.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Sorry for the misunderstanding Mol. I did think that it was out of character for you to have a go at such a sterling organization. :)

I never came up against the type of centre you have described. Most of the "*******s" that came up against my department were there because someone had shopped them or they had become so blasé that they thought they could do what they wanted un-noticed...a certain window cleaner who "couldn't get out of his wheelchair unaided" but managed to shin up ladders comes to mind.

As I said earlier the whole Disability Benefit arena needs to be sorted out and simplified. I would ask that if anyone has dealings with a claims office they try not to take the systems failings out on the staff who have no control over the process as, up to my time of leaving, most of them were just as frustrated by the whole shebang as the claimants were. Mind, after wading through the process for relatives I can sympathize with the temptation to let blast at someone.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

They do have them in most towns and cities and are supposed to help everyone, I went one when my hip problem came to light and virtually everyone there was the type of person I mentioned above, I went in sat down and said I was there for some advice over my problem.

It started off all nice and cosy and then they asked the key question "What benefits are you on" at this point I said none I am in work, she said with an almost audible sharp intake of breath "If you are employed then the is not much we can do for you unless you pay a fee" I said no thanks you are alright I will find out for myself.

These places get funding from the local councils to help unemployed people to tell lies to the benefits agency so that they can claim disability allowances and such like, even my brother would be turned away by these offices.

These places are so wrong on so many levels but are still allowed to carry on.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

The best system it would seem to me is the claimants own GP deciding if he/she is able or fit, not some bureaucrat who no doubt has to refuse a percentage of claims to make the targets, or doesn't this or previous governments trust our GP's?
Imagine the savings by just letting the GP decide!! I mean who is better qualified than them?

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Some GP's will give a person a sicknote just to get them out of the surgery. Some GP's are to quick in issuing sicknotes these days.

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

Sadly true!

Re: Tory plan to cut disability red tape
 

it was never just about a sick note plus in any case most would be seeing a specialist as well as a GP before qualifying for benefits

it is a far better way of doing things than having non qualified people deciding on this and who get it wrong so often the wrong way over half of appeals are successful which means a lot of disabled people have to go through even more red tape because of the incompetence of the current system

the whole idea that Dr's cant be trusted is daft and as far as i am concerned one put about to just keep civil servants in jobs who i definitely know i don't trust ;)