NDCS calls for DLA to be protected
NDCS will be responding to a consultation which is considering broad changes to disability benefits and social care funding. Concerned parents of deaf children should be aware that their Disability Living Allowance is not about to be cut.
NDCS is aware of concerns over possible DLA cuts which stem from the recent government Green Paper on social care. The Paper makes a number of broad-ranging proposals for reforming the social care system. It also sets out some broad options for how social care might be funded in the future.
The Paper makes a number of references to bringing “disability benefits, such as Attendance Allowance (AA)” into the overall social care funding pot to help pay for a new system. The only benefit specifically mentioned is AA, but AA is essentially the same as the DLA care component, but for older people. This has led some people to believe that the DLA care component is also under threat. If this happened, this could mean that DLA care component and AA could possibly end and the money saved would be put into a better funded social care system.
The Green Paper is a consultation document, and so the proposals are not definite policy positions at the moment. NDCS will be challenging the proposals we disagree with. In the meantime, people's benefits are not under immediate threat. Someone currently receiving DLA care component or AA is not about to have their benefit cut.
If the Government decided to go ahead with these plans, it would not be able to stop giving DLA payments overnight. People have a legal entitlement to DLA so the law would have to be changed for anyone to lose their entitlement. It is likely that if changes were made, people who are currently getting DLA would get transitional protection.
NDCS will be campaigning to make sure that any future changes to benefits that affect deaf children include sufficient transitional protection for those already receiving the benefit.
NDCS agrees that more money does have to be found for social care but the DLA care component is hugely important in helping to meet the additional costs of disability, and should not be where this money comes from.
NDCS will be responding to the Green Paper and will make the point that we want DLA care component to remain untouched. Others may also want to respond to the consultation which is open now. The consultation closes on 13 November 2009.
NDCS will also work with other organisations on these issues, particularly on any potential threat to DLA.
Get in touch:
Got any comments or queries about the consultation paper? Email us or leave a comment at the bottom of this page. Or if you would like advice about Disability Living Allowance, contact the NDCS Freephone Helpline.
More information:
Consultation paper (external link)
Contact: campaigns@ndcs.org.uk
