Disability Living Allowance is changing

Transcription

1 Work and Pensions Committee Disability Living Allowance is changing From 2013 a new Personal Independence Payment will take its place Tell us what you think EasyRead version of: Proposal to replace DLA with Personal Independence Payment

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3 Tell us what you think The Government is planning to bring in a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (or PIP for short). This will take the place of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee would like to hear what you think about this. The Committee is a group of MPs that look at the work of the Department for Work and Pensions. The Government first told people about this change in December 2010 in a Green Paper called Disability Living Allowance reform. Like Disability Living Allowance, the new Personal Independence Payment will still be about helping people with the extra costs of being disabled or having a long illness. 1

4 Getting Personal Independence Payment will not depend on how much other money you already have coming in. Also: you will not have to pay tax on it you will not have had to pay National Insurance to get it it will be paid to people aged 16 to 65, either in work or not in work it will mean you can apply for other benefits like Carers Allowance and the Motability Scheme. The idea of the changes is to make sure that help goes to the people who need it most. 2

5 So some people who get Disability Living Allowance now may not get the Personal Independence Payment when it comes in. 6 months And when they apply they might have to wait for up to 6 months before any money will be paid. At the moment people only have to wait 3 months to get DLA. The new Personal Independence Payment will have: a mobility part. This will have a lower rate and a higher rate a daily living part. This takes the place of the care part in the Disability Living Allowance and it will also have a lower rate and a higher rate. At the moment there are 3 rates of the care part of DLA. The new plans are in the Government s Welfare Reform Bill which is going through Parliament now. 3

6 2013 If the plan is agreed, the new Personal Independence Payment will come in from The Work and Pensions Committee wants to hear what people think about these changes. We plan to look at: 1. Why Disability Living Allowance needs to change. We want to find out: if people understand Disability Living Allowance why Disability Living Allowance is costing more than it used to and why more people are claiming it how well the system is working when it comes to deciding if people should get DLA, or should carry on getting it for a long time. 4

7 2. What cutting the money spent on DLA will mean for people. We want to find out: what will happen if only people with the greatest need can claim what difference it will make to change to just 2 rates higher and lower - in the daily living part of this benefit how many people who now get DLA will not be able to get the new Personal Independence Payment. 3. What other help disabled people and those with a long illness get, for example from local councils or NHS. This includes people in residential care and in hospital. 5

8 4. Who should get Personal Independence Payment (PIP)? We want to find out what you think about: whether people with some illnesses or disabilities should get PIP automatically whether some people should get PIP for the rest of their lives instead of having to have reviews 6 months what will happen if people who apply for PIP have to wait 6 months before they get it. 5. How PIP will lead onto other benefits. Getting PIP will mean people can apply for other benefits like Carers Allowance and the Motability Scheme. 6

9 6. How will people be tested to decide who gets PIP. We want to find out how the Government can ensure that the system is fair to: people with mental health problems people with learning disabilities/difficulties people whose problem sometimes gets better but then sometimes gets worse again people who use aids and adaptations. 7

10 7. Who is going to decide who gets PIP? We want to find out: how the organisation who will do the test will be chosen which staff will decide who gets the benefit what we can learn from Professor Malcolm Harrington s report which looked at how staff decide who is able to work and who is not (the Work Capability Assessment) how the assessment for PIP will fit in with assessments for other benefits. 8

11 8. How the system should work for children and also for older people who are on a state pension. 9. What the Department for Work and Pensions needs to do make sure that people understand the changes. 10. What is going to happen to help people adjust to the new system. 9

12 Your chance to have your say We would like to hear your views on any of these points. You do not have to reply on each one, just the ones that you have something to say about. Please let us know what you think in no more than 3000 words. 2 We need to hear from you by Friday, 2nd September

13 How to get in touch with us You can us at: Either include your views in the itself or attach a Word document. Be sure to make it clear who you are speaking for. And do not forget to include a contact name, phone number and address. Or you can write to us at: The Clerk Work and Pensions Committee House of Commons 7 Millbank London SW1P 3JA 11

14 Please also include a short summary of the main points you are making. For more information on how to give us your views see: This guide is not in EasyRead. Once you send us your views you should not send them to anyone else without checking with the Clerk of the Committee first. Remember that the Committee cannot look into individual cases. Report We usually publish the written evidence people send us either as a report or on the internet. So please make sure that if there is anything in what you send us that you do not want other people to see, you let us know. 12

15 Who is on the Work and Pensions Committee? Dame Anne Begg MP (Chair) (Labour, Aberdeen South), Debbie Abrahams MP (Labour, Oldham East and Saddleworth), Harriett Baldwin MP (Conservative, West Worcestershire), Andrew Bingham MP (Conservative, High Peak), Karen Bradley MP (Conservative, Staffordshire Moorlands), Kate Green MP (Labour, Stretford and Urmston), Mr Oliver Heald MP (Conservative, North East Hertfordshire), Glenda Jackson MP (Labour, Hampstead and Highgate), Brandon Lewis MP (Conservative, Great Yarmouth), Stephen Lloyd MP (Liberal Democrat, Eastbourne), Teresa Pearce MP (Labour, Erith and Thamesmead) 13

16 Any questions? Phone: See our website: Or watch online at 14

17 Credits This paper has been designed and produced by the EasyRead service at Inspired Services Publishing Ltd. Ref ISL089/11. July This paper has been checked by the Making it Easier Group. Artwork is from the Valuing People Clipart collection and cannot be used anywhere else without written permission from Inspired Services Publishing Ltd. 15

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