Tom Pollard, Policy & Campaigns Officer, mind.org.uk:
Today, Mind has submitted a joint response to the Government’s consultation on reforming Disability Living Allowance, along with the Centre for Mental Health, Hafal, Rethink, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Scottish Association for Mental Health. We decided that combining our experience and expertise on this issue was the best way to try to influence the reform process.
The key changes that the Government is proposing are:
Changing the name of DLA to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
Introducing a new assessment of eligibility (likely to be a face-to-face meeting with a healthcare professional)
Reassessing people more frequently and regularly
Requiring people to have experienced a disability for longer before being eligible to apply
Changing the ‘Care’ component to ‘Daily Living’ and reducing the number of levels of payment from three to two
Recognising that the ‘Mobility’ component should take account of people who have trouble getting around for non-physical reasons
We welcome some of these changes, such as the last two mentioned above, but we are very concerned that the reform process is being driven by a 20% savings target, rather than making sure that all those who need support can access it.
We are also concerned that ... Read more>>
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