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Nearly half of sick and disabled people who were in receipt of the highest mobility rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) were denied the equivalent level of support when moved to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
A FOI request sent to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by Mr Ken Butler, Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser at the charity Disability Rights UK (DRUK), reveals the extent to which DLA claimants are losing out on vital support under cruel and draconian welfare changes.
In response to the FOI request, the DWP state that 471,000 DLA claimants who were receipt of the higher mobility rate of DLA had been reassessed for PIP by 31 October 2107.
Of these, 241,920 (52%) were awarded the enhanced PIP mobility rate, 65,200 (25%) had their benefit reduced to the standard PIP mobility rate, and 65,200 (23%) lost their mobility rate entitlement altogether.
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“Those disabled people whose entitlement has been reduced to the standard mobility rate of PIP have lost £37.10 per week (the equivalent of £1929 per year)”, says DRUK.
They have also lost their entitlement to the Motability scheme, because it is restricted to only those receiving the enhanced mobility rate of PIP.
Those sick and disabled people who have lost all entitlement to mobility support when moved to PIP have lost £59.75 per week, or a staggering £3107 per year.
DWP HQ, Caxton House, London. Photo: Paul Billanie for Welfare Weekly.
Ken Butler said: “The latest DWP figures continue to show how damaging PIP is to disabled people’s income and independence.
“One of the main reasons for lower PIP mobility rates is the introduction of the “20 metre rule”, used to assess mobility in PIP assessments.
“Under DLA, someone was awarded the highest mobility rate if they could not walk the measure was 50 metres.
“Now, the PIP benchmark is just over 20 metres (roughly the length of two double-decker buses).
“The distance of 20 metres is an arbitrary figure that lacks an evidence base and is barring thousands of disabled people who need the benefit the most.”
Mr Butler added: “While the DWP does publish some PIP statistics it does not publish information that shows the actual effect of the 20 metre rule.
“It is a scandal that for a second year DR UK has had to use FoI legislation to secure such figures.”
Posted by jeffrey davies on 21 September 2018
At long last, Brexit liar Nick Clegg had his comeuppance – albeit on the BBC’s Politics Live programme where few people are likely to have seen it.
Michael Segalov, who was too young to vote in 2010 when the Liberal Democrats under Mr Clegg went into a pre-arranged coalition with David Cameron’s Conservatives, said he had been enthused by the possibility of supporting that party – but had swiftly become disillusioned as Clegg supported the Cons on one disastrous policy after another.
And these were the policies that led people into voting ‘Leave’ in the 2016 EU referendum.
Watch what Mr Segalov had to say:
He’s right, isn’t he? And he knows it:
The outburst has encouraged others to talk about the failings of the Liberal Democrats:
Current leader Vince Cable, taking part in the Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton, tried to play down the significance of Mr Segalov’s claims – and failed:
Mr Segalov is to be praised for pointing out what everybody has known for a long time.
The Liberal Democrats helped the Conservatives set up the discontent that led people to vote for Brexit and then set themselves up as the party of opposition to it. They are two-faced.
And have they suggested any solutions to the real social problems that prompted the Brexit vote? No.
What a waste of Parliamentary seats. No wonder Nick Clegg couldn’t even look Mr Segalov in the eye.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 19 September 2018
