New Labour Retreats Over Proposals to Abolish Disability Living Allowance

Tony Greenstein

In a major victory for campaigners, Health Secretary Andy Burnham "categorically ruled out" any threat to the Disability Living Allowance (DLA). We can take this with a pinch of salt, since there have also been references to existing recipients not losing out, which suggests that having failed to gather support for a full frontal attack on DLA, New Labour are considering salami tactics.

Likewise, the threat to Attendance Allowance (AA), the Care element of DLA for those 65 and older, remains and is extremely worrying. Unless a major campaign is launched to save AA then it will be the first to go, after which it will be logical that the general care element of DLA will be next.

This is at a time when the various disability charities like Help the Aged and Disability Alliance have been in extensive "consultations" with the government over this precise issue, and there were reports that many of them had been bought off or won round.

Burnham said:

One avenue I do want to close down, however, is the debate and controversy over Disability Living Allowance. We recognise that this is an important benefit for disabled people, and I can state categorically that we have now ruled out any suggestion that DLA for under-65s will be brought into the new National Care Service. This is because, whilst there will be increases in the numbers of disabled people of working age who need care, the majority of the people needing care in the future will be older people.
However, we do think there may be a case for bringing together elements of some disability benefits, such as Attendance Allowance, with social care funding, to create a new care and support system to provide for the needs of older and disabled people.

New Labour has abolished Incapacity Benefit, it is thought Industrial Injuries Benefit is also under threat, and the prospect of being able to abolish Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, costing over £10 billion per year, was extremely attractive to a government which has established a welfare system for Bankers costing hundreds of billion of pounds.

New Labour's continual shifts show that it has seriously mistimed its "reform" and "modernisation" [fill in the New Labour buzz words most appropriate] of disability benefits. Its web site was absolutely inundated with critical comments about its proposals and it's worth having a look at them. They really show the depth of peoples' anger at the latest New Labour attack on the most vulnerable members of society.

On 29th September 2009 at the Labour Party Conference Phil Hope was asked if he would abolish DLA after the election. He replied:

No. All the models that we have done have not included DLA. But if people were to make a case to integrate DLA into a comprehensive system, then I'm very happy to hear that case and have those arguments.
DLA is not under threat and people can be very happy.

However this was soon reversed when, on 13th October in the House of Lords, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary Lord MacKenzie stated in reply to a question by veteran disability campaigner Lord Jack Ashley regarding a threat to DLA:

My Lords, I reiterate that no decision has been made on this matter - it is a consultation - and I acknowledge the benefit that many disabled people see in the current benefit structure, particularly DLA and attendance allowance. However, there is a case for bringing some disability benefits and the adult social care system together to provide better support through a new national care service. We should remember that the social care system and disability benefit system have in many ways developed in isolation from each other--they are separately assessed and have separate applications--and there may be benefits for individuals in bringing them together. However, we have made clear in the Green Paper that should we make a change in this direction, individuals receiving the relevant benefits at the time of the reform will continue to receive an equivalent level of support and protection. [Source]

And less than a month before the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had confirmed that DLA was under threat:

When asked if scrapping DLA was an option, a DWP spokesman said: "It depends on what people say in the consultation. We need to see what people say when they respond."

Likewise Phil Hope, the same Care Minister who had encouraged us to be happy, had previously refused to rule out the possibility of Disability Living Allowance being subsumed into the overall care budget as some people fear it might be saying only that proposals have so far been modelled on doing this with attendance allowance.

The main lesson to emerge from this is vigilance!

27/10/09

Tony Greenstein
is a legal advisor and
political activist
Blog

For information on the
Alliance for Green Socialism
http://www.greensocialist.org.uk
mailto:info@greensocialist.org.uk
AGS, FREEPOST 5794
Leeds LS7 3YY
07811 384888