The government is now targeting the ‘disabled pensioner’ for benefit cuts.
Yes you read that correctly and this government is deliberately and knowingly targeting the disabled pensioner for benefit cuts!
An open letter to government from Age UK came on my twitter line today which deserves scorn:
In a nutshell Attendance Allowance is a disability benefit for the pensioner (those 65+) and it is a national social security benefit.
The government is proposing to stop Attendance Allowance being a national benefit to which every pensioner has an absolute right to claim.
The government proposal is that the amount now paid out in Attendance Allowance is given to local councils and they they manage it as a local benefit similar to a Discretionary Housing Payment or DHP, albeit being ring fenced for that purpose alone.
However the problem with that is according to the governments own research figures Attendance Allowance has a non take-up rate of 30% (actual DWP est. is between 28% and 32%) – or that only 7 out of every 10 disabled pensioners who are entitled to it actually claim it!
As such the government is seeking to permanently fund just 70% of the known need for Attendance Allowance and deny any right to receive it for the 30% of disabled pensioners who could now claim what is their absolute right yet do not do so.
Perhaps the 46 page form they have to complete puts the disabled pensioner off from claiming it reader….?
I am also sick of the ‘tactful’ way the letter above is drafted and also that it is factually incorrect as Age UK fail to mention the current disabled pensioner, the 3 in 10 or 30% who are entitled to it yet don’t claim Attendance Allowance.
It is NOT just future disabled pensioners who will not be able to receive it Age UK, it is also those now entitled yet who do not claim it.
I make no apology either for the use of the term disabled pensioner which is politically incorrect and stigmatising yet sometimes there is a need to say it as it is, and this is one of those occasions.
As this government is knowingly and deceitfully seeking to take money away from pensioners who have a disability they will cut money from ANY vulnerable or marginalised person or group.
First they came for the … yes you know the rest and its way past time to be diplomatic or tactful … It’s time to fight the b*stards in this government who think the disabled pensioner is fair game.
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There is a petition on this issue with a direct link here that comes from a comment below so please feel free to sign and share
SPeye Joe (Welfarewrites) 
There are no wheel chair accesses for those with “invisible” disabilities. Parity would suggest this should be so. But instead, as you note, we get 46 page forms to complete, and then again to appeal, and then again, but no one can lay claim to having the insight into the condition to draw up a better form.
My first form for DLA was 60 pages long and even though shortened it is still a minefield to the unwary as one slip of the pen and they send the whole lot back to do again. And every two years or so I have to lock horns with those monsters Dungcart Shiite’s Gestapo Interrogators. Every time I win on appeal, so far?
The score at the moment are Dungcart Shiite’s Gestapo 0 – 5 Me, and what is so laughable is I only get middle care allowance and bottom mobility yet they can’t bear me to have it. Mind it would make a nice change to be interrogated by someone who at least has a medical qualification if only a First Aiders ticket!
I work with older people and think its a cruel cut, they rely on this money to get out, heating, cleaners etc, without it many would be cold, hungry and isolated, i was so angry i started a petition, this has not been delivered yet as we are waiting the result of the consultation which will be, to go ahead and do what they want anyway. to the most frail and vulnerable group of people who deserve dignity and comfort ihttps://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/attendence-allowance-abolished/managen tieri old age can you heave a look at my petition and sign and share
the link again https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/attendence-allowance-abolished
Desperate times for the disabled and the pensioners.
Sorry Joe but not quite right. There is absolutely NO plan to turn AA into a localised discretionary benefit. Instead, the money that would have been spent on NEW AA claims would be given to local councils to spend on care services, not on a local benefit. So it’s worse than you said in some respects, as really AA money would just be used to make up for shortfalls in care funding and targeted, if at all, at the most severely disabled. This undermines the preventative nature of AA completely. The consultation period on this proposal ended a month ago so your warning is a bit late unfortunately. The good news though is that unofficially I’ve heard this proposal is being dropped.Best wishesGary Vaux
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In essence it becomes discretionary as it is no longer a national benefit by right was my point. I agree that LAs will use it to offset care deficits too.
Also aware that consultation (sic) has closed and the point is that the government are targeting the ‘disabled pensioner’ – a point not for ‘consultation’ (a phrase that has no legal meaning) rather a point for campaigning purposes an one for the wider general public to get angry about
People are already dying for the want of a few £’s, and any further cut for any vulnerable people is simply a death sentence for many, possibly tens of thousands. Excess winter mortality was declining because of additional funding in the form of AA, winter heating allowance, and Pension Tax Credit. These are being eroded, removed or by being pass-ported through State Pension age, are being withdrawn from millions of people who aret he pensioners without pensions, the Waspis. Pension Tax credit was available to both sexes from the age of 60, ie from the age of women’s State Pension. Now it had been withdrawn from both men and women. The net result has been a steep increase in the numbers dying annually, and for the last years data (2014) there were 40,000 ADDITIONAL excess winter deaths, and these deaths are now seen across a wider (younger) are range with a wider range of diseases of poverty. This is the cruel outcome of these cuts to provide money to to give tax cuts for the rich. Even without the withdrawal of AA, these avoidable deaths will continue to increase, along with the appalling statistics of 760 people dying last year from hunger or malnutrition in the UK and up to 3 million in the UK are malnourished or at risk at any one time. (http://patients-association.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Malnutrition-in-the-community-and-hospital-setting.pdf)
So any reports of this proposed change being dropped maty be a relief in the short term, it still leaves millions no better than they are now. These deaths are an obscenity on one of the richest countries in the world, and further evidence of the abuse of human rights now being perpetrated by the government against their own citizens. It even has it’s own name now – DEMOCIDE – the deliberate killing of people by their government,
It’s rapidly returning to days I remember in early 60’s where many older people had chilblains ulcers on legs and hands due to lack of heating malnutrition and sitting too close to a stove used for heat water and cooking. Those of us born in 50’s will remember each winter the increases in deaths, undertakers seen on estates as ice gathered. Even Thatcher was against taking away allowances except of course kids school milk. Disgusting times the world is watching and once out of Europe it’ll rocket under Tory government.
I’m afraid I have to disagree with you on one thing. The Age UK campaign is aimed at protecting Attendance Allowance for everyone, regardless of whether they currently claim it or not. It simply talks about it in the context of it being a lifeline to those who currently claim it.
We’re all on the same side of this argument (as in you, me, and Age UK) so I strongly feel a campaign like this should be supported.
In allowing govt to transfer just the money for 70% of the current entitled to local government the Age UK campaign cannot guarantee protecting AA for everyone.
Could these charities campaign with a bit more vigour and use language that makes a stronger case for not transferring these entitlements. The above sounds like an invitation for afternoon tea.
We all know what the Tories do with ringfenced funds and transferring underfunded services to local councils.
Take the point and agree. Yet more of an issue for me to WHO they are campaigning to and allegedly challenging.
IF such campaigns were aimed at the general public who by and large do give a damn about disabled pensioners then any such campaign would have 1000 times more impact.