Senin, 14 Mei 2012

500,000 face losing disability benefits as Duncan Smith insists losing a limb doesn't mean you can't work

500,000 face losing disability benefits as Duncan Smith insists losing a limb doesn't mean you can't work

By Daniel Martin

PUBLISHED: 02:19 EST, 14 May 2012 | UPDATED: 02:20 EST, 14 May 2012


Vow: Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith said losing a limb should not entitle people to a payout

Vow: Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith said losing a limb should not entitle people to a payout

Half a million people stand to lose disability benefits altogether under plans to save the taxpayer billions of pounds.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has pledged to push ahead with controversial reforms that  will see two million claimants reassessed over the next  four years.

The cost of disability living allowance, which helps people pay for the extra costs of mobility and care associated with their condition, has ballooned in recent years to almost £13billion a year.

The DLA â€" which is worth up to £120 a week â€" will be replaced by a new, more stringent benefit called Personal Independence Payment.

All claimants will have to undergo a medical check â€" which does not happen in about half of cases at the moment.

And there will be a drive to repeat the checks at intervals to ensure that those whose condition improves do not get payments for life.

Mr Duncan Smith added that losing a limb should not au tomatically entitle people to a payout.

Last night it emerged that the Department for Work and Pensions estimates that the scheme will cut benefit payments by £2.24billion a year â€" and lead to around 500,000 fewer claimants.

Mr Duncan Smith’s pledge to reduce the costs of DLA is separate from reform to incapacity benefit, which is for people who cannot work due to sickness. All sickness claimants are currently being reassessed.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said that the number of DLA claimants had risen by 30 per cent in recent years, ‘rising well ahead of any other gauge you might make about illness, sickness, disability’.

The new scheme could lead to those without limbs, including former soldiers, having their payments reduced if their everyday mobility is not undermined by their prosthetic limbs.

Controversial: The new proposals could see people - including wounded soldiers - who has lost a limb having their payments reduced if they retain good mobility

Controversial: The new proposals could see people - including wounded soldiers - who has lost a limb having their payments reduced if they retain good mobility

Mr Duncan Smith said: ‘It’s not like incapacity benefit, it’s not a statement of sickness. It is a gauge of your capability. In other words, do you need care? Do you need support to get around?

‘Those are the two things that are measured. Not “You have lost a limb”.’

The Coalition only just managed to get its disability reforms through the Lords, and protests are expected to continue as thousands of recipients are turned down.

Mr Duncan Smith said of the growth in the cost of DLA: ‘A lot of that is down to the way the benefit was structured so that it was very loosely defined.

‘Second thing was that in the assessment, lots of people weren’t actually seen. They didn’t get a health check or anything like that.

‘Third problem was lifetime awards. Something like 70 per cent had lifetime awards, (which) meant that once they got it you never looked at them again. They were just allowed to fester.’

New eligibil ity criteria for the allowance will be announced in the autumn. Some of the more severely disabled claimants could receive higher benefits.

Each of the two million people of working age claiming the benefit will have to see a medical expert and everyone will have been assessed by 2016.

Reassessments of incapacity benefits claimants have revealed that many are fit to work and ministers now believe that many people are also being wrongly categorised as ‘disabled’ by the benefits system.

Mr Duncan Smith said: ‘It’s like incapacity benefit, we’ve got to be careful because these are vulnerable people.

‘It’s now just beginning to seep in what we are doing. There is all sorts of scaremongering going on about how we are getting rid of it, slashing it, cutting it. The reality is that for the most part that’s not true.’

 

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First they came for the disabled, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not disabled. Then they came for the unemployed, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not unemployed. Then they came for the pensioners, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a pensioner. Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me. This is starting to feel like Germany in 1933

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i have brilliant idea to save the government money. why not get all the disabled lined up against the wall and shot,or better still IDS COULD GAS US. that way the governmnt would save money which they can spend on expenses.go on .you all deserve it.

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