The government apparently has plans to steal – there is no better word for it – the DLA of over-65s and plough it into a proposed National Care Service.
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/comment-page-53/#comment-6219
How that can possibly be legal when the bulk of DLA is paid, for most people, for MOBILITY – for help with getting around, to use the official description – I’ve no idea, but the whole idea of shovelling the DLA of over-65′s into the NCS is pure lunacy.
It’s not even logical. If the over-65s, why not the under-65s too? They, apparently, have been excluded, but people don’t suddenly become in need of care provision the moment they turn 65. I did that 18 days ago, but my requirement for actual care is no more urgent than it was 19 days ago. The need for care, in the disabled community, is not predicated upon age, but disability, so excluding under-65s makes no sense at all. Actually, the entire proposal makes no sense, but the age cut-off is absurd.
Like many disabled people, I use my DLA, as, indeed, I did before I was 65, partly for the provision of an essential powerchair on the Route2Mobility scheme, and the residue goes into my budget, where it subsidises – among much else – my huge taxi bill, which can be as much as £70 per week, as my walking ability is minimal, a few yards at best.
And what of those, and they are many, who put all their DLA into Motability vehicles? Or the those who just couldn’t get by without simply ploughing their DLA into the household budget?
If the government steals our DLA – and that’s what it amounts to – what of Motability, or its powerchair and scooter arm, R2M? The over-65s are a large part of their customer base – can they survive without them?
This scheme, if it ever sees the light of day, will accomplish one thing and one thing only – it will plunge many thousands of people into penury. It should be strangled at birth.
I would advise all of you to visit the website and make your opposition known.
Note: Currently, this is just a green paper – the government flying a kite to see who shoots it down, and it may never see the light of day. Equally, though, it might (when it comes to fucking with the disabled, these pricks are capable of anything), especially if people don’t get involved and register their own protests.
Don’t just wait for someone else to do it for you – do it yourself.
Update, November 26:- Andy Burnham has announced, yesterday, that he has no intention of filching out DLA, and never had. Yeah, I bet he didn’t. Even he, though, must have realised the illegality of hi-jacking a benefit paid primarily for mobility in most cases, to pay for care that most DLA recipients over 65 don’t actually need.
