Hardest Hit comments on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) announcement



13 December
For immediate release


Hardest Hit comments on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) announcement

The Hardest Hit, a coalition of over 90 disabled people's organisations and disability charities, including the MS Society, RNIB and Mencap, has condemned the Government's decision to press ahead with a £2 billion cut to vital support provided by DLA/PIP. Today's statement by the Government on the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) regulations is "crushingly bad news".

Steve Winyard, co-chair of the Hardest Hit coalition, said:

"Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, the Government has delivered crushingly bad news for over 600,000 disabled people. Today's announcement of the PIP regulations confirms that they will lose all help with the extra living costs they face due to their impairment*. A further sizeable group will receive significantly reduced financial support in order to deliver the £2 billion saving that the Treasury is seeking from the abolition of DLA**. This is a cruel and unwanted early Christmas "present" for disabled people already hardest hit by the Government's austerity programme."

"Back in 2010 the Prime Minister promised to protect the most vulnerable while seeking to reduce the deficit.  However this has been totally forgotten as disabled people experience deep cuts to their benefits, services and rights. Last week it was the reduction in the value of Employment and Support Allowance, today it is entitlement to DLA/PIP."

The Government makes great play of the fact that they consulted widely on these changes. But as Kaliya Franklin of the Spartacus collective points out:

"True co-production means working in partnership with disabled people and both parties agreeing upon all details, not asking disabled people what they think and then only listening to answers the government like. So for Ministers to claim that PIP has been co-produced is at best misleading and at worse untrue. Many thousands of disabled people along with charities and Disabled People User-Led Organisation's responded to the government's consultation on DLA - PIP; the 'Spartacus Report' which was written and produced by disabled people themselves comprehensively disproved the government's claims to have consulted. Asking for responses but ignoring the answers is neither listening nor co-producing. The Spartacus Report resulted in defeat for the government in multiple votes in the House of Lords, which were railroaded by the government using financial privilege to get its own way. It is deeply disappointing to see DWP Minister's once again claiming to have worked with disabled people, when all that means is that disabled people were asked and any disagreement with the government was ignored."

Hardest Hit rejects the £2 billion cut and rejects the idea that there are more than 600,000 disabled people who do not need their DLA. In "The Tipping Point" report, published by the Hardest Hit coalition in October, we pointed to a number of alternative ways to make the £2 billion saving. The Government should not be trying to reduce the deficit on the backs of disabled people.

ENDS
For more information contact Jenna Litchfield, Senior Press Officer, MS Society. Phone: 020 8438 0782 jlitchfield@mssociety.org.uk.

*By October 2018 if Government continued with DLA, 2.182m disabled people of working age would be receiving some help with either daily living or mobility. With PIP the number is 1.575m. So, overall the PIP caseload in May 2018 will be around 608,000 lower than the DLA caseload would have been without the introduction of PIP.

** The DWP estimates that by May 2018 510,000 re-assessed DLA recipients will see a reduction in their award.

Notes to Editors

The Hardest Hit coalition brings together the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) and the UK Disabled People's Council (UKDPC).

BBC Merseyside - Welfare Debate, Roger Philips Show 12.12.2012

The link to today's debate on BBC Merseyside about cuts to disability benefits is here. The discussion starts at approx 35mins and continues for about an hour.

Twitter Wishes And A Lesson In Being Specific About Such Wishes..

 Last night watching 'Inside Claridges' I decided it would be rather nice to have my own butler, so I put my Christmas 'send me a butler' wish on twitter and thought no more of it. My previous 'all I want for Christmas is a faux fur ermine onesie' has yet to bear fruit so adding butler to the list didn't seem too greedy really. At the time. However, I fear twitter may have got slightly confused by these onerous demands..

So there I was this afternoon, happily minding my own business trying on my new 'comfiest bra ever' and admiring the 'tweet tweet' jumper that had just been delivered when there was a sound at the front door. Although I have a doorbell it doesn't work...it's one of those wireless models and we fell out after it went through a stage of 'ding donging' all the time and I refused to buy it more batteries. It took weeks to work out that there are four of us in this small part of my road who all have wireless doorbells and each time someone rang a wireless doorbell one went off. Just not usually the doorbell that had been rung. So, on hearing a sound at the door I assumed it was a delivery driver and rushed as fast as I could on wobbly legs to catch them.

I thought the delivery driver looked a bit neon hued through the glass panels as I approached. My second thought was that either it was a particularly large neon delivery driver or there was two of them. My third thought was "Oh shit, why are the police here, what have I done wrong this time?!" Admittedly thought three was poorly timed as it coincided with the police letting themselves in the front door and becoming very neon and very visible in my porch.

Having just managed to put on the comfiest bra ever they were greeted by my unshowered, pyjama clad, curls dragged through a hedge backwards, wobbly appearance, but at least my cleavage was looking fabulous. Hopefully that distracted from my complete confusion as to their visit and the unique aroma which drifts from my flat.

It turned out that the 'spaz alarm' had gone off again. This happened last week when I was trying to nap and the first I knew was when a lady from the spaz alarm company let herself in. For some reason I haven't been able to establish this time when it went off and I didn't answer the phone the alarm company sent the police round instead of one of their employees.

The nice policemen were very nice. Having realised that I wasn't on the floor they stayed long enough to ask if they could do anything for me as they were here anyway. In my somewhat puddled state I said that I couldn't let them in in case they told me off. They very graciously asked if that was because my flat was untidy and didn't pursue the subject of the funny smell. Being polite I of course offered them tea which they declined but asked if I wanted them to make me a cup then went on their way. Sweet really if a bit bewildering.

After the nice policemen had gone I thought I'd better phone the alarm company as although I'm a big fan of men in uniform, I'm also quite keen on having time to put on make up and get dressed before they visit. That was when I found the message from the police saying they were on their way round and to phone if I was ok. Oops.

I pushed the alarm button to contact them and eventually after much bleeping it connected. These spaz alarms are mostly popular with the elderly so all the company workers have that uniquely patronising tone of voice in everything they say. I suspect the elderly find it as irritating as I do, but the companies love it so much it must be a key requirement for getting one of these jobs which they test out at interview. "Now tell me Ms Jones, how much fake empathy can you get into 'hello, are you there' and can you make it sound like you're saying 'hello you moron'"

Yes, this is bitchy of me.

No, there is no requirement that disability make one nice

So the suitably patronising alarm man took pains to spell out to me that the alarm had gone off and I hadn't answered the phone. I managed to resist pointing out that I knew that which is why I was contacting them. I did mention that much as I appreciated the gift of two uniformed men I wasn't terribly keen on this new trend for people to let themselves into my flat when the first I knew was the door opening.

It all fell a bit flat on this bloke as he simply told me again that the alarm had gone off. Fortunately he couldn't see me rolling my eyes and flicking V signs at the bloody bleeping box.

I asked if perhaps someone could come round to take a look at the box and reduce the pressure on the overstretched emergency services. Apparently they have logged it. Which is what they said last week when this happened.

Alarm company man was very unhappy when I explained that I turn my phone off when its time to sleep. He was not swayed by my explanation that unless I turn the phone off I never get any sleep because the damn thing rings all the time being far more concerned with how they'd phone me. Nor was he particularly impressed with my polite suggestion they fix the box instead.

So, according to the bloody bleeping box man I am to push the bloody button everytime I want a sleep. Yes every day. And at night. Then phone them back when I'm awake again.

We're only on day 1 of this new 'phone us' scheme and I can already report it as a dismal failure. I am rebelling furiously at the idea I have to phone in and report my consciousness status. So I haven't.

And if the police come back? Well, at least its somewhere warm they can make themselves a cup of tea.

That's a contribution to society...right?

John Pring's Disability News Round Up - 07/12/2012



  • The panel set up to review a vital piece of equality legislation has been packed with Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians, adding to fears of a new government assault on disabled people’s protection from discrimination.
  • Hundreds of thousands of disabled people without work are to be hit hard by further cuts to their support, despite the chancellor’s claims in his autumn statement that he was protecting disability benefits.
  • Disabled people’s organisations have questioned the government’s willingness to listen to disabled people, following the first meeting of a new “alliance” set up to advise the government on disability issues.
  • Plans to remove all government funding from Remploy’s sheltered factories could leave just three of them operating in the private sector or as social enterprises, with the loss of hundreds more jobs.
  • Disabled people could now be forced to work indefinitely for their out-of-work benefits, as a result of new government rules introduced this week.
  • A disabled consultant who played a key role in ensuring the accessibility of London 2012’s purpose-built venues has spoken of her frustration that the events themselves did not match some of those high access standards.
  • From churches designed for Deaf congregations to the first schools for blind children and one of the earliest disabled people’s organisations, a new website project charts the history of disabled people through the buildings they have used.
  • Disabled people took part in protests, campaigns, awards, marches, conferences and celebrations as they found different ways to mark the UN’s international day of disabled people.
  • Disabled people need to take the initiative and demand more accessible local sports facilities, a conference has heard.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

John Pring's Disability News Round Up - 30/11/2012



  • Newspapers should be forced to apologise, print corrections, or even face heavy fines if they print misleading or offensive articles about disabled people and other minority groups, according to Lord Justice Leveson’s report into press standards.
  • Major questions have been raised over the government’s plans to support disabled people into work, after two long-awaited reports showed only about 1,000 claimants of disability benefits found work through the scheme in its first year.
  • A coroner has been unable to say for certain how a member of Nepal’s Paralympic delegation came to be found hanging from a tree in the middle of the London 2012 athletes’ village.
  • The government is set to appoint a former Conservative party boss and MP to chair the social care and health watchdog.
  • A new mobile phone app could be set to revolutionise the provision of assistance for disabled people across the transport, travel, leisure and retail industries.
  • A disabled air passenger has won permission to take an airline to the supreme court, to fight a legal ruling that leaves disabled travellers with no protection from in-flight discrimination.
  • Three members of ParalympicsGB’s high-performing London 2012 team have been nominated for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) award.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
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