Disability Living Allowance to be replaced with new benefit - Government response to DLA reform Consultation
Disabled people will continue to be able to rely on a non-means tested cash benefit as Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is replaced with a new Personal Independence Payment.
The new benefit will continue to help disabled people live independent lives and will for the first time include regular reassessments to ensure that people are getting the right level of support when they need it most.
This follows one of the biggest ever consultations at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with more than 5500 responses from disabled people and disability organisations.
Responding to the consultation today, Maria Miller, Minister for Disabled People said:
"Disabled people are at the heart of our welfare reform plans and severely disabled people who need extra help and support will always get it. That’s why we have spent the last few months working closely with disabled people and disability organisations to make sure we are making the right changes to DLA.
"We’ve listened to what they have told us and we will be working with them to make sure that the new Personal Independence Payment does what it should.
"We have also said that we won’t remove the mobility component from care home residents in 2012 and instead we are reviewing the mobility component as part of our wider reforms of DLA."
- DLA is paid to help people who cannot do things like walk or wash and dress themselves.
- It provides a contribution to the extra costs severely disabled people incur.
- DLA is claimed by 3.2 million people at an annual cost of £12bn.
- Currently more than 2 million people get the benefit indefinitely which means there is no way of knowing if their condition has changed or if they actually need more help and support.
- Nearly a quarter of all working age people on DLA have not had any review of their claim in 10 years.
The Personal Independence Payment can be claimed by disabled people whether they work or not. It will also:
- Introduce a more objective assessment of need, which will be developed with the help of disability organisations and disabled people
- Allow disabled people to be reassessed over time – something that is lacking in the current system - to ensure everyone receives the correct support if their needs change.
Notes to Editors:
- The consultation response can be viewed at www.dwp.gov.uk/dla-reform
- Disability Living Allowance is designed for people who have problems walking or looking after themselves because of a disability.
- The benefit is paid to 3.2 million people at an annual cost of £12bn.
- 20% of those who were first awarded DLA in 1992 have never had their needs reviewed so we have had no way of knowing if their condition has changed and they still qualify for the benefit.
- These changes will come into force from 2013/14
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2011/apr-2011/dwp038-11.shtml
PDF version On 30 November 2010 it was announced in the Emergency Budget that the Government would reform disability living allowance (DLA) and introduce an ‘objective medical assessment’ for all claimants from 2013-14
In December the DWP published a consultation document on the reform of DLA which sought views on the Government‘s proposals to replace working age DLA with a new benefit – Personal Independence Payment. The closing date for responses to the consultation was 18th February 2011.
Disability Alliance responded to this consultation. You can view this at www.disabilityalliance/r68.htm.
Welfare Reform Bill
Prior to closure of the consultation the Welfare Reform Bill was introduced on 17 February 2011. This set out the main outline of PIP in Part 4 of the Bill:
Personal Independence Payment will have two components:
- daily living component
- mobility component
Each component has two rates:
daily living component standard rate – If the person’s ability to carry out daily living activities is limited by the person’s physical or mental condition; and the person meets the required period condition.
daily living component enhanced rate – if the person’s ability to carry out daily living activities is severely limited by the person’s physical or mental condition; and the person meets the required period condition.
mobility component standard rate – if the person is of or over the age prescribed for the purposes of this subsection; the person’s ability to carry out mobility activities is limited by the person’s physical or mental condition; and the person meets the required period condition.
mobility component enhanced rate - if the person is of or over the age prescribed for the purposes of this subsection; the person’s ability to carry out mobility activities is severely limited by the person’s physical or mental condition; and the person meets the required period condition.
The period condition requires the limited or severely limited conditions be satisfied 6 months prior to claiming (six months backwards test) and to be likely to continue for a period of at least 6 months after claiming.
People with a terminal illness (same definition as for DLA) will automatically receive the daily living component enhanced rate and will not have to satisfy the period condition for the mobility component.
The Bill also includes situations where PIP will not be paid – people in care homes, hospitals or prison.
Government response to the Welfare Reform Consultation
On 4 April 2011 the Government published its response to the DLA reform consultation. The response maintains the Government committment to the introduction of personal independence payments for working age claimants.
With regard to the Daily living component the response says that the activities should be:
- planning and buying food
- preparing and cooking food
- feeding and drinking
- managing medication and monitoring health conditions
- managing prescribed treatment other than medication
- washing and grooming
- toileting and managing incontinence
- dressing and undressing
- communicating with others
The mobility component should involve planning and following a journey and moving around.
When considering aids and adaptations PIP will only consider aids and adaptations that are "available and are successfully used by an individual".
The response also confirms a commitment to a six months "backwards test".
With regard to Children and people aged over 65 the response says:
"27. We do not plan to extend Personal Independence Payment to new or existing claims for children from 2013/14. The needs of children are very different to those of adults and we would want to build on our experience of developing the objective assessment for claimants of working age before applying it to children. We would also consult before extending any objective assessment to children.
28. Individuals already in receipt of Personal Independence Payment will continue to receive the benefit past the upper age limit of 65, provided they continue to meet the eligibility criteria. We will use the experience of reassessing the working-age caseload to inform any future decisions on the treatment of this customer group."
With regard to mobility payments in care homes the response says:
" 29. The Government has listened to the strong concerns raised by individuals and organisations about the Spending Review proposal to withdraw the DLA mobility component from people in residential care. The Government will not now introduce this measure as planned in October 2012. We are both reviewing existing and gathering further evidence to inform how best to proceed. Meeting the mobility needs of people in residential care will now be considered as part of the wider reform of DLA. The Government is committed to ensuring that residents of care homes are able to get out and about, and is therefore looking to remove overlaps in funding, not mobility."
A fuller report of the response will appear later.
What next?
Although the Welfare Reform Bill outlines the basic structure of PIP the responses from the DLA consultation will inform secondary legislation (regulations) on the detailed design of the benefit, including requirements for the new assessment.
Maria Miller (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Disabled People), Work and Pensions; Basingstoke, Conservative)
I am publishing today the "Government's response to the consultation on disability living allowance reform" (Cm 8051).
Disability living allowance (DLA) has not been fundamentally changed or updated since it was introduced, and no longer provides the framework for supporting disabled people that is needed in the 21st century. Over the last 18 years, DLA has failed to keep pace with the changing approach to disability in society. As it stands, DLA is complex to apply for and to administer, lacks consistency in the way it supports disabled people with similar needs, and has no systematic process for checking the ongoing accuracy of awards.
This is why we believe that now is the time to reform DLA by replacing it with a new benefit for working-age disabled people-personal independence payment. This new benefit will better reflect the desire from disabled people to live independent lives, not labelling individuals by a health condition or impairment but considering its impact on their everyday lives.
The importance of personal independence payment means that spending must remain sustainable for the future. Currently 3.2 million people receive DLA, an increase of around 30% in the past eight years. The announced budget for working-age spend by 2015-16 will bring that expenditure back to 2009-10 levels.
The Government response outlines the feedback received, from both individuals and organisations, and provides further information regarding the replacement of DLA and the introduction of personal independence payment for working-age people from 2013-14.
Copies of the Government's response will be available in the Vote Office, and will be available shortly at: www.dwp.gov.uk/dla-reform.
Lord Freud (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Welfare Reform), Work and Pensions; Conservative)
I am publishing today the Government's response to the consultation on the disability living allowance reform (Cm 8051).
The disability living allowance (DLA) has not been fundamentally changed or updated since it was introduced, and no longer provides the framework for supporting disabled people that is needed in the 21st century. Over the past 18 years, DLA has failed to keep pace with the changing approach to disability in society. As it stands, DLA is complex to apply for and to administer, lacks consistency in the way it supports disabled people with similar needs, and has no systematic process for checking the ongoing accuracy of awards.
This is why we believe that now is the time to reform DLA by replacing it with a new benefit for working-age disabled people, personal independence payment. This new benefit will better reflect the desire from disabled people to live independent lives, not labelling individuals by a health condition or impairment but considering its impact on their everyday lives.
The importance of personal independence payment means that spending must remain sustainable for the future. Currently 3.2 million people receive DLA, an increase of around 30 per cent in the past eight years. The announced budget for working-age spend by 2015-16 will bring that expenditure back to 2009-10 levels.
The Government's response outlines the feedback received, from both individuals and organisations, and provides further information regarding the replacement of DLA and the introduction of personal independence payment for working-age people from 2013-14.
Copies of the Government's response will be available in the Vote Office, and will be available shortly at www.dwp.gov.uk/dla-reform.
The government has refused to name the “independent specialists” advising it on the new assessment that will test eligibility for the benefit set to replace disability living allowance (DLA).
In its response to the consultation on its DLA reforms, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it is developing the assessment for the new personal independence payment (PIP) “in collaboration with a group of independent specialists”, including disabled people.
The DWP told Disability News Service that the “specialists” include representatives from RADAR and Equality 2025 – the government’s advice body of disabled people – and individuals from occupational therapy, psychiatry, physiotherapy, social work, general practice and community psychiatric nursing.
But a DWP spokeswoman said the government was “unable” to provide the names of the members.
When asked why, she suggested the information could be protected under data protection laws, but declined to comment further.
Sue Bott, director of the National Centre for Independent Living, said this refusal was “ridiculous”.
She said: “These people potentially have a big influence on our lives and we are not allowed to know who they are.
“The assessment process, the eligibility and the method of the assessment will be critical in the roll-out of PIP, and I don’t think it is too much to ask that we know who the members of the expert panel are.
“People are really worried about who is going to be eligible in the first place but they are also worried about the methodology that is going to be employed in assessing people and what are they going to be assessed for.
“All this is going to do is add to the suspicion that there already is that the resulting assessment is going to exclude most disabled people from eligibility for the new benefit.”
Theresa Rowe, a disabled activist and welfare rights specialist, said this “aura of secrecy” was “unacceptable”, because the group needed to be “accountable” to disabled people.
She said: “If we have no knowledge of how they recruited this group, how can people feel confident? We need to know who the people are who are helping DWP.”
She said members of the group may be cautioning the government not to repeat the mistakes made with the unpopular work capability assessment, the new test for out-of-work disability benefits. But she said the group was still there to help the government deliver its planned 20 per cent reduction in spending on working-age DLA.
Rowe, who is involved with the disabled people’s organisation Richmond AID, added: “I am just wondering what the government have got to hide.”
Ministers press on with disability benefit cut despite opposition
The government is pressing ahead with its proposed cuts to disability living allowance in the face of widespread opposition, ministers announced today.
Plans to replace DLA with the personal independence payment (PIP) from 2013, while cutting spending on claimants of working-age by 20%, remain on track, the Department for Work and Pensions said as it published its response to its consultation on the plans.
It is designed to save £2.17bn by 2016, by focusing the benefit on those in greatest need.
During the consultation, disabled people and groups raised significant concerns about various proposals to restrict eligibility to PIP.
These include increasing the qualifying period for the benefit from three months to six months after the onset of an impairment; taking into account people's successful use of aids and adaptations, such as wheelchairs, in judging whether they should be eligible; and ending automatic entitlement to the benefit for people with certain health conditions.
However, despite opposition, the government plans to retain these elements, the DWP said.
"DLA is complex to apply for and to administer, lacks consistency in the way it supports disabled people with similar needs, and has no systematic process for checking the ongoing accuracy of awards," said minister for disabled people Maria Miller.
But she added: "I am clear that as we design and develop how Personal Independence Payment will work in practice, we will need to continue to involve disabled people and their organisations."
The one major concession the DWP has already announced is to put on hold plans to remove the mobility component of DLA from publicly-funded care home residents in October 2012 and review one of its central justifications for the policy – that the payments duplicate funding for mobility also provided by councils in care packages.
This justification has been vigorously rejected by disability charities, who say that councils provide no such funding for individual residents' mobility.
The Treasury's costings assume that the DLA mobility cut will come into force in April 2013, when the PIP is implemented, but the DWP has stressed that its aim is only to "remove any overlaps in public funds", suggesting that there is room for compromise.
The DWP also confirmed that people will retain eligibility for PIP when they turn 65, as currently happens with DLA, following concerns that older people will lose eligibility when they reach pensionable age.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/04/04/116616/disability-ben...