Quote:
Originally Posted by Taf
The idea has been around since Labour was last in power. Not "vouchers" per se, but a list of items or modifications you could claim from a central supplier. From walking sticks or wheelchairs, to lower kitchen units or stairlifts, or even hoists to shower rooms.
All used to come under "Disabled Facilities Grants" and only available until the annual budget for an area was used up. And that moment could arrive within days of the financial year starting if a few house extensions were planned.
Several think-tanks put forward plans to push large numbers of disabled people into work, thus reducing the budget to their "customers" instead of trimming their own fat of excess office staff. The advent of Work From Home has seen a "significant" number move into work, a lot of which was "welcomed" by former claimants. (according to the DWP).
The use of external companies to assess claimants for Personal Independence Payments seems to have been done to deny claimants what they should have been entitled to. Our own twins were assessed as not qualifying for any help at all, but Tribunals quashed those decisions and the DWP was obliged to award PIP.
The newest idea seems to be to allow claimants to pay for items and modifications directly out of their PIP awards, so no cash would change hands. It's a bit like the Motability scheme, where people can swap their Mobility Allowance to hire a car for 3 years.
Our daughter used to get Disabled Living Allowance, a one-off access to a Disabled Facilities Grant (Open gas fire changed to a modern boiler) and Education Support Allowance. The latter was supposed to pay for up to 3 return trips a week to college, but it only covered one return taxi ride. So I drove her there instead. That was halved, then stopped altogether, with the council saying that she had to use her Mobility Payment.
The fear amongst many is that PIP will effectively cease to exist, with claimants having to live off Employment Support Allowance and other things like Housing Benefit and Poll Tax reductions. But many live with parents or partners, and if they earn anything, those Benefits would disappear. It's a bit like this latest Means Testing of Winter Fuel Allowance, with only those who didn't work enough to get a full State Pension and didn't save much for their retirement being qualified.
So PIP goes, ESA gets absorbed into Universal Credit, and the bureaucratic cycle turns vicious for disabled claimants.
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ESA is pretty much part of UC already. If you claim both, your ESA totally monthly amount is deducted off your total UC amount.
So realistic the only perk to ESA is getting it paid every two weeks rather than the once a month UC payment. You don't actually get any extra.
So using myself as an example. After rent auto deducts and the ESA amount is also deducted we are left with about £400 a month. Not enough to live off for the month realistically.
As for PIP or ADP then it's meant to go towards the extra costs involved with your disability or illness. Many in receipt of it can and do still work. Where it's part time or full time employment.