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Charities fight cut to DLA mobility component
Thursday 20 January 2011
Disability organisations reveal that benefit is not ‘double funding’
A report launched on Wednesday (12 January) says that the government's claim that the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility component is ‘an overlap of public funds' is a myth.
The report, ‘Don't limit mobility’, comes from a group of 27 organisations representing people with a learning disability, including Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability and United Response. It was submitted to MPs for consideration.
Last year's comprehensive spending review outlined the government's plan to remove the mobility component of DLA for people who live in residential care.
Threat to independence
Its removal will affect an estimated 80,000 people. The mobility component of DLA provides support to people who need help getting around. It helps them to leave their home independently and participate in everyday activities that many people take for granted, such as meeting friends or attending a leisure centre.
Despite the government's argument that the removal of the DLA mobility component will ‘remove an overlap of public funds’, not one of the national service providers surveyed for the report said that they receive a contribution from local authorities towards the cost of personal mobility costs.
A second survey for the report found that half of disabled people who live in residential care give either the majority or their entire DLA mobility component to their care home. Of these, 40% said that it pays for a motability car, and 21% said the money goes towards petrol for staff to take them out
You can help to protect the DLA mobility component by taking Mencap's online action to ask the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to consider the findings of 'Don't limit mobility'.
Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, said that the removal of the DLA mobility component would take away the control people have over their lives, leaving them stuck in care homes.
"This report shows that the government's reason for cutting this funding is simply wrong," he said. "Care homes and local authorities don't cover these costs, and with budgets being squeezed, how can they be expected to in the future?"
Read ‘Don't limit mobility'
Help to protect the DLA by emailing Iain Duncan Smith
Comments
When I went into respite in a nursing home many residents could walk short distances indoors but needed mobility scooters to get along corridors, to access the gardens, to visit other residents and facilities elsewhere on the site, and to enable some of them to access local shops and facilities.
Many people with back and neck problems cannot sit comfortably on garden chairs or hard benches and would have a high back, or use extra cushions, on their own scooters, adding to their comfort
Thnak you for this, I received a lettr from her yesterday, I have already responded back to her and my local MP has asked he for a copy of her response. The letter was vague and senseless
It may interest anyone who has received a letter from Maria Miller forwarded by your MP to know she has a standard proforma letter that they send from her office. Several other parents and carers like myself have received the same standard response so it is worth your while rejecting this from your MP and asking for a personal response. We mustn't let them get away with this.
i am worried about this as i have just recived information from my childs school to say they are cutting back home school transport so those of us who get mobility can take our children to and from school because of this factor how will this work if they take mobility off us . i am sure all people who claim this would gladdly give it up to be how shall we say it normal for a day and not have to rely on this benifit what morre can you take from us alot of people who are disabled have noone to voice for them i would gladly scream from roof tops leave our money alone x
I am very concerned about the proposed measures by this coalition Government to remove the mobility component of the DLA from people living in residential Homes. This is a unfair and callous move to deny people who live in care homes the choice to go out! they will simply become prisoners in their own homes!. We have a daughter living in a care home and this money helps towards the cost of running the minibus, without it she simply won't be able to go out!
Ghandi said that a nation
I have a copy of a letter Maria Miller sent to my MP which on one hand stresses the Goverments committment to choice for disabled people and the importance of them being able to access the community. She then says that it is the duty of the local authority to carry out an assessment of needs, to include mobility, for those in a residential home. So the local authority decide the mobility needs - where is the choice in that? Contradicting herself or not?
We all know that the local authorities will have little money so they are not going to assess anything that is going to cost them money. Result - vulnerable people, yes, the group Maria Miller and her party are saying they will protect, are the ones squeezed between local and national goverment.