BENEFIT CHANGES The Present Situation (Please note these notes are written as a brief introduction by a parent who is not an expert. You are advised to seek authoritative guidance elsewhere – I particularly recommend Mencap, Mind or the National Autistic Society for first class material) As I am sure most of us are aware, the benefits system is changing. Everyone who receives Incapacity Benefit, Income Support and Severe Disablement Allowance will be reassessed to see if they meet the criteria for the new Employment Support Allowance (ESA). ESA can only be paid if the claimant has “limited capability for work”. This is assessed by a questionnaire and in most cases a face-to-face assessment by an ATOS professional. (ATOS is a private company who is paid to do these assessments by the Department of Work and Pensions.) ATOS reports go to the DWP for final decision. As a result of this Work Capability Assessment (WCA) it was intended that: Approximately 5% would be placed in the support group and get a higher rate of ESA and would not be required to be involved in a work related activity. The majority were intended to be placed in the work related activity group and the allowance will be paid for twelve months. Every individual placed in this group will have a personal adviser who will try to help them into work related activity. Those not meeting the criteria would not be paid ESA. They might be eligible for other benefits such as the jobseekers allowance. It is worth looking carefully at the criteria and providing appropriate evidence to support the claim for benefit. A range of charities and people are very unhappy about both the criteria and the process being used. There have been letters to the press and members voiced concern at our meeting at Thornbury. If you have not seen the criteria it is worth looking them up on the Disability Alliance website. The websites of Mencap, Mind and the National Autistic Society are also very useful. The plan was that everyone would be assessed between October 2010 and May 2014. The target set in the 2010 budget was for a 20% cut in funding on the welfare budget. On 28th November 2011 “The Times” reported that appeals had gone up by 72% on the previous year and millions of pounds were being spent on appointing 80 new judges to tackle the delay in hearing appeals. The same report said that “some judges blame flaws in the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) used to test whether a claimant is ready for a job.” The National Autistic Society commented that “Adults with Autism tell us the medical assessment for work support is a routine exercise in ticking boxes which neither take into account their difficulties nor reflect the help they need.” As a result of independent review Mencap, Mind and the NAS have worked to review the descriptors. I understand these bodies recommended testing of alternative descriptors. The response of the DWP was that they were unsure whether they had the funds to carry out such tests. An official at one of these societies indicated that the support group was coming out at 40% (not the 5% planned). It is worth noting that if a bill on legal aid going through parliament at the moment is passed it will not be possible to get means tested legal aid for any appeals. If you need help on filling in the initial forms and supplying evidence or making an appeal seek advice from Mencap, Mind or the NAS. (I think the forms are sent to appointees)
Many of us are very concerned about this pressure to take paid employment. People are being assessed when jobs are not and will not be there. It is not just that present economic circumstances mean that few jobs are available and many people are unemployed. Some scholars are now arguing that we simply will not be able to keep up with jobs lost because of developments in technology and those exported to the developing world. Low skilled jobs are most at risk. Resources will be in short supply and we will need to change our life styles and cut working hours Working Age Disability Living Allowance (DLA) will be replaced by a new benefit called the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). This will have a daily living component and a mobility component and is payable to those in or out of work. Both components are payable at either the standard or the enhanced rate. People are assessed across eleven activities such as preparing food and drink, bathing and grooming etc and will have to score sufficient points on some of the descriptors to qualify for payment. The greater the need the more points will be scored. The criteria for the mobility component are “planning and following a journey” and “moving around”. Assessment will be carried out by an independent health professional who will take into account any medical evidence you provide. There will probably be a face-to-face interview and recommendations will be made to the DWP who will make the final decision. Once the payment is made the recipient is free to spend it as they choose – although PIP will be reassessed regularly. The focus of PIP is on those with the greatest need. The Dilnot Commission recognised (as a Disability Benefits Consortium paper points out) “meeting lower level needs is
essential to ensure prevention of higher or crisis level needs.”
In the longer term we hope that Camphill will be able to make agreed representations on behalf of us all and the trustees of CFF strongly support the Camphill One Voice project. (This project is an attempt to get all Camphill Communities, the Camphill Village Trust and CFF to agree to speak with one voice on specific issues so that vital interests can be both promoted and defended.) At present CFF trustees urge you to support the campaigns being run by one of the three organisations involved in looking at the criteria and joining the one most appropriate to your needs. I have been in touch with all three and they have sent very helpful replies. Mencap notes that by working with the Disability Benefits Consortium they had a number of successes such as reversing the decision to remove mobility allowances from those living in residential care and gaining independent monitoring of PIP. Mencap would like our supporters to sign up to receive alerts by e-mail when we need to take action such as writing to M.P’s. The address is: http:/www.mencap.org.uk/campaigns They may also do a PIP survey. Please keep an eye on the Mencap website. Please also tell them of good or bad experiences in claiming ESA. For this contact Jane Alltimes, Senior Campaigns and Policy Officer, Mencap, 123 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0RT, or e-mail campaigns@mencap.org.uk Mind says that the best way we can keep up to date and be involved is to sign up for their campaigns bulletin at: http://www.mind.org.uk/get involved/take action/be a mind campaigner They ask anyone who has had a poor experience of WCA to write to their MP to raise concerns and share their experience or through their website. Mind has serious concerns about the change from DLA to PIP and is conducting a survey to inform their response. They ask anybody with mental health problems to complete a survey at http://surveymonkey.com/pip-mentalhealth The National Autistic Society (NAS) have published a very useful paper entitled “Take Action on the new assessment for PIP” which is available on their website. The NAS believes that “although the current criteria include descriptors on
“Communication” and “Engaging Socially” these are not written in a way that takes into account how people with autism have difficulty in these areas as they are still very much focussed on physically being able to carry out the tasks.” They want as many of us as possible to individually respond to the consultation. The Take Action paper offers very helpful advice in making this response. Please note the consultation period ends on 30th April 2012.
The NAS has an excellent helpline for providing high quality advice for autistic people and carers. I am sure Mencap and Mind similarly will also provide high quality advice. There is no substitute for professional advice to ensure our sons/daughters/siblings receive the benefits they need. It is vital that the criteria are improved to ensure people receive the funding they need. It is also important that the DWP see the campaigns run by Mencap, Mind and the NAS have strong support. In political terms it matters. Please do support these organisations. Godfrey Davey March 2012