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Please sign this petition to stop the UK government abolishing help for the sick and disabled

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
This new move by the UK government seriously impacts the ability of ME patients over the age of 64 to survive.

Attendance Allowance is a vital life-line for those who are of retirement age and in poor health. I know from personal experience how vital it was to enable my elderly mother and aunt to fund some very basic necessities. After just losing both my mum and her sister and battling through several years of helping them survive when too disabled through ill health, dementia, strokes, paralysis, and other very disabling conditions, I am only too well aware how devastating this new move by the UK government will be on this country's most vulnerable. Those over 64 with ME rely on this benefit to enable them to survive the often severe disablement that is inflicted by this miserable disease.

If you live in the UK, please consider signing this petition to stop the government making this heartless move.



https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti...?source=facebook-share-button&time=1453078574

Why is this important?
A single paragraph in the Local Government Finance Settlement published before Christmas sounded the death knell for attendance allowance (AA).
The government is to launch a consultation on abolishing AA for all new claims and handing the money over to local councils to pay for support for older people.
We are writing with our grave concerns about the abolition of Attendance Allowance, we believe that taking away this financial support from people who may not meet the substantial/critical criteria that Social Services work to will impact on the health of people who may not meet this level of need.
We must bring this to the attention of the public and media as people don't realise what attendance allowance is, this is a benefit payable to people over the age of 65 who have care needs, they do not have to actually receive the help, they just need to have difficulties with everyday tasks, such as dressing and washing, this money can make all the difference between living and existing.
for example.
A Lady who now suffers with problems with Arthritis, affecting her mobility, would mean she could no longer shop, cook for herself. keep her home clean, or access the community.
At present she could use the benefit to pay for a cleaner and someone to do/take her her shopping and extra heating,or running her car, she also gains some company from this and could pay for transport to get her out of the house, without the benefit, she will no longer be able to get her shopping, she may be forced to use the expensive corner shop, she cannot use the internet, her home will get progressively more unclean, this will become a health hazard to both mental and physical health, her mental health could deteriorate as she becomes more isolated, she will be at risk of falls, her diet will become worse, she used to go out in a Taxi she can no longer afford this, leading to isolation, this will lead to hospital admission and more strain on social services.
Loneliness and social isolation are harmful to our health: research shows that lacking social connections is as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day (Holt-Lunstad, 2010). Social networks and friendships not only have an impact on reducing the risk of mortality or developing certain diseases, but they also help individuals to recover when they do fall ill (Marmot, 2010).
Assessments carried out by social services often fail to get a true picture of home the person copes on a day to day basis as they are often too proud to admit to having problems, these people will be left with no help whatsoever leading inevitably to further cost down the line.

These cuts will also lead to people getting into debt, they will struggle to keep warm, older people need the extra money for things such as heating and the warm home grant is simply not enough to cover these costs, increasing frailty and lack of mobility mean the person cannot move around to keep warm and more people will die from hypothermia.
A further example is a 73 year old man who was granted Attendance Allowance in November 2015 on the grounds of his increasing immobility and diagnosis with throat and larynx cancer. He was unable to walk to local shops (about 250 yards away) without either stopping for a break every few yards or being taken by a friend. For longer distances, he has to travel by taxi.

Since then, he has been in hospital undergoing a tracheotomy and laryngectomy. Because he was in hospital for more than 28 days, his Attendance Allowance had to stop. Now that he has been discharged, he will have his AA re-instated. His needs have increased as he can no longer speak and his mobility is gradually deteriorating.

He is considerably weaker than when he was admitted to hospital and will not be able to look after his home in the way that was once able. He will require the services of a cleaner and a carer to help him prepare meals, neither of which he would be able to afford without his Attendance Allowance.

Aside from the difficulties and hardship that will be caused to those in most need, local authorities will find that administering such an allowance could be stretching their resources, not least because of staffing cuts created by this Government. Additionally, what guarantees will there be that local authorities will have sufficient funds to match the current rates?

This is yet another swipe at the most vulnerable in our society, potentially depriving them of a quality of life that Attendance Allowance helps to provide.
 
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Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
@Countrygirl - I tried to sign (I'm in the U.S.) and it asks for a "post code" - it would not accept my zip code, so I think only UK citizens can sign. You might put that in the title of the post.

Okay! Thanks for trying to sign, Mary. I will add that to the post.
 

mermaid

Senior Member
Messages
714
Location
UK
I have signed and shared. My mother receives this and my father before when he was alive. Another underhand cut - one of so many sadly. :(
 

Large Donner

Senior Member
Messages
866
It was bad enough when they stopped people claiming the mobility component payment of this benefit once over 64. If you lost a leg over 64 its was like "oh well we all slow down on our feet over 64, no big deal". Or somehow over 64 you don't need to be able to shop for food or go out of the house.

Now they are trying to cut the care needs component its pure genocide. Its so ironic as they have raised the retirement age to 67 and are trying to push it up to 70 on the basis that people are "fitter" longer and live longer, yet if you become disabled at 64 you no longer qualify as disabled presumably due to 64 being "a ripe old age and declining generalized physical ability".

This move will also prohibit people in their own family who care for them fulltime claiming carers allowance as well as the person themselves having to lose a free bus pass if they cannot walk. They now have to wait until retirement age to get the buss pass.

Its so shocking I know someone who is in her 50s and down syndrome, she always received high mobility allowance which also qualified her for a free bus pass. At the last review when they changed the name of the benefit to "Personal Independence Payments" they cut her down to low mobility payments which also means she lost her buss pass. How the F*** does that make her more independent?

Alot of these reforms are done to stop access to other connected benefits and it is being done by stealth.
 
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Chrisb

Senior Member
Messages
1,051
Strange isn't it how they wish to cut the benefits for the ill and disabled but refuse to do anything about the benefits paid to wealthy pensioners, whose pensions may be substantially greater than most working people's salary? Sometimes it appears that politicians and civil servants will fight only to preserve their own perks.