MP's Guide to Disability, Lord Freud & Welfare Reform, Anne Begg MP all at the APPG Disability Financial Independence Event
Today, Thursday the 17th June 2010, RADAR and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Disability (APPGD) held an event to launch there guide for MP"s on Disability. Titled "Financial Independence". Jane, The Baroness Campbell of Surbition, gave an excellent opening speech with "cutting" humour. One of the speakers was Lord Freud the architect of the Welfare Reform measures of the last and now the current government. No surprise in what he said today though he acknowledged there were issues with the DWP and the Work Capability Assessment that the government would be looking at. More of the same from his already well reported position.
I attend APPGD events as clearly being HIV+ is a disability and we should engage with the wider community especially as we share so many fundamental issues. It is a good oppourtunity to meet other people from other charities. Today I had the oppourtunity to speak to a member of the Metropolitan Police Disabled Association, RADAR (Tina ,Marije and Ashif), the Employers' forum on Disability (I wanted to know what they did for HIV+ people and need to find out more about the BT passport protocol) as well as members of the Office for Disability Issues (ODI).
I managed to have a brief conversation with Lynne Featherstone MP the new Equalities minister and Anne Begg MP the new chair of the Work & Pensions Select Committee - she tells a good funny story, but I digress.
Two issues were main amongst the conversations. Firstly that there is much law for disabled people to use but access to legal recourse is unequal as it often costs personally too much. Furthermore Legal Aid is like a lottery win. If more cases were brought, free, in the public interest, the case-law would send the correct tone and address many issues. I went further explaining that for those with HIV the "public" nature of say an Employment Tribunal by virtue of disability discrimination or a Tribunal challenge to a benefits decision is often no undertaken for fear of public disclosure of a persons HIV. This meaning many suffer and the lack of case law making it difficult for all in the short to medium term. I oft argue for a period of anonymity for those with HIV bring some cases to encourage fair access to law.
Second the issue concerning the conflict between evidence held by the DWP where someone has been moved from Incapacity Benefit to Jobseekers Allowance whilst they have a claim for Disability Living Allowance. What impact would this have? Today two people agreed this was the second elephant in the room.
When speaking to Anne Begg I raised this issue. She told me that she was unaware of anyone on the High Rate of Care being moved to Jobseekers that the went to the Support Group of ESA. She said she would want information if this happened and I will hold her to that. I mentioned that the lack of exemption now, many on Incapacity Benefit get it automatically as they get Higher rate care of Disability Living Allowance, meant that there was the oppourtunity for this to happen and lets face it we all know how good the decision makers are at poor decision making.
Anne Begg declares she receives Disability Living Allowance which in her new role gives her a unique insight in the process.
I also explained to one of the civil servants at the ODI who works closely with the new Disabled minister, Maria Miller MP. About the unfair treatment of HIV+ people as they engage with the state. We are small in number and suitable and thorough training in the condition is expensive. This creates in an atmosphere of "getting more for less' an inbuilt financial disadvantage when it comes to HIV+ people engaging especially where decisions affect there finances. I hope this gets back.
Next week RADAR & the APPG D will hold another event this time with Maria Miller MP and I will attend.
Just to also catch up on other bits and pieces.
I have also in the last few weeks attended two All Party Parliamentary Groups on HIV/AIDS (APPG HIV/AIDS). The first was to promote condom use for fans travelling to South Africa, met with Lisa of THT and Caroline Flint MP to name a few. The Second was the official launch of "The Lazarus Effect" (watch it if you can) by RED. These events are key for networking. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to the head of the Global Fund, CEO of Product (RED), Baseline Magazine, Positively UK (Formerly Positively Women), the legal firm Freshfields who hosted the events and did some "pro bono" work for us when we were only a few months old. As well as Baroness Scotland and Cherie Blair.
If you want to get involved you will see the various links embedded in the text above get on the email lists and start attending. You can get involved you can make difference more importantly your personal involvement is KEY!.
PDF version
Lord David Freud
Minister for Welfare Reform, DWP
RADAR Event: Financial Independence and Disability
Thursday 17 June 2010, Cholmondeley Room, House of Lords
[Check against delivery]
Introduction
This afternoon the House will host a debate in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act.
So given the occasion, I'd like to say a few words on how far we've come since then.
But first, I want to go beyond the issues of disability rights and financial independence to address the core of the issue: how social and attitudinal constructs impede disabled people's independence – and how we're breaking them down.
Happiness and fulfilment
Issues around disability lead rapidly to questions about the meaning of life for all of us. I've been most impressed by the recent debate on what produces a happy, fulfilled life.
In particular, the reinforcement between feelings of self-worth and the social approval which validates it.
In simple terms, to be happy you need to be doing something that you think is valuable – and you need feedback saying that.
It's interesting how MPs became so depressed last year with the expenses scandal. It's not that their job had changed – it hadn't – but the social response to them had.
Those social responses, those perceptions, can have a huge impact on how we feel about ourselves.
So this starts to point towards the goal we should have for disabled people.
To have fulfilled lives on this model, disabled people need to be able to contribute fully and to be seen and appreciated for that contribution.
Far too many disabled people are still not in control of their own lives, whether that means the ability to support themselves financially, determine the course of their days and weeks, or do the things that they want to do.
But let me be clear: this is a social issue, not one of capability.
So we need to be constantly challenging society's attitudes and perceptions toward disabled people, so that they can be fully involved in society – not passive consumers of its benevolence.
Progress since 1970
But as I said, we've come a long way since the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act.
The very fact that we are talking about something as specific as financial independence, rather than the issue of rights as a whole, is indicative of that.
We have a strong legal framework for disability rights – in fact, we were the first in the world to create one.
We have a UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People – and we are committed to using it as a catalyst for achieving disability equality.
We have the Equality Act 2010 – and the new Government is looking at how best we can implement it.
And we have a benefits system which, for better or worse, rightly recognises that disabled people have a specific need for their own cash.
Benefits reform
That is a valuable thing.
Providing financial assistance for those incapable of work is hugely important.
But sadly, the system's structure means that, in too many cases, it holds those who are actually capable of fulfilling work back from doing it.
We know that work can be beneficial to people's health and well-being.
But it's sometimes much easier for people to remain dependent on benefits than become dependent on themselves.
Work should be the best route to financial independence for all, not just most. Our benefit reforms will make sure that happens.
So we're looking at ways to simplify the system so that people can navigate what is currently a phenomenally complicated tangle.
We're going to widen benefit withdrawal tapers as people move into work, so that the fear factor of moving to employment is eliminated.
Incapacity benefit
And for our disabled customers, we are absolutely determined to implement the much-needed reform of Incapacity Benefit which we have promised.
There are rules which actively discourage customers from working – rules with which some people here may be far too aware.
I have friends on IB who are absolutely terrified of doing any work or accepting any money in case they go over their £93 per week maximum earnings threshold.
This cannot be right. It is profoundly discouraging.
It forces disabled customers into a life of dependency and robs them of their dignity.
Furthermore, only 17 per cent of working-age Disability Living Allowance customers are employed – that is compared to 47 per cent for working-age disabled people overall.
Why is this? We'll be trying to answer that question over the coming months, and we're very keen to hear your views.
ESA and WCA
Recent years have, however, seen moves in the right direction.
The Employment and Support allowance is helping people move closer to the labour market.
And the Work Capability Assessment is a good start towards this end, but there have been criticisms. We're going to look closely at those and see how we can improve it.
But we do want to expand the WCA to all IB customers. 2.2 million people are currently left in the lurch on old-style incapacity benefits, and we want to change that.
Welfare to work reform
These benefit reforms won't exist in isolation.
We're going to implement a wholesale overhaul of the entire welfare-to-work system.
So efforts to implement our brand new Work Programme, which I actually designed with people with autism in mind, are already underway.
Private and voluntary sector providers will be able to run their own affairs, using their own ideas to help people into work.
I hope that this will mean more personalised, more comprehensive, better-informed approaches for disabled people than we've seen so far from a system which categorises and segments people into arbitrary classifications.
Disabled people will generally be given intensive support from the start of their claim. And there will be greater incentives for providers to help them.
Conclusion
These are not modest tasks, but they are vitally important.
Right now, nearly one in every four families with a disabled member is living in poverty.
One third of those families' household incomes are made up of benefits and tax credits.
These are serious barriers to financial independence for disabled people. And they will not be easy to overcome.
But there is a deep resolve in the Government to pull these barriers down.
As you know, Maria Miller is our fantastic new minister for disabled people, and I've already seen first-hand the great enthusiasm she has for tackling the barriers which still, in 2010, hold many disabled people back from financial independence.
And I'm looking forward to working closely with her on ways to reform our benefits system, our welfare-to-work system, and the many other impediments to independence, so that we can put right the injustice of social and financial exclusion.
The American Declaration of Independence opened by describing the pursuit of happiness as an inalienable right.
That single statement codified what is now regarded as one of the central components of modern society: that we must, all of us together, create a climate in which everyone has the ability to forge their own happiness.
We've come a long way, but we're still letting people down.
It's not just a waste of money. It's a waste of people's lives.
Thank you.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/ministers-speeches/2010/17-06-10.shtml