Today, in Frances Ryan’s Hardworking Britain series, she explores the impact of the Conservatives’ scrapping of disability living allowance (DLA), including the “lifetime awards”, which meant some disabled people had indefinite help for care or mobility needs.
People with disabilities who had been told their support was lifelong are now going through the process of reassessment – and in many cases seeing their support diminish.
Ryan tells the story of Phil Spanswick: born with shortened limbs, three fingers on one hand and four on the other, as a result of the thalidomide scandal. His disability will never improve but, as part of the mass re-testing of DLA’s replacement, personal independence payments (PIP), he had to have a reassessment, resulting in a benefit cut of almost £40 a week.
As Ryan writes: “The re-testing of PIP claims means, in practice, blind people, paraplegics and those with Down’s syndrome will be put through reassessment: forced to provide information about their disability that the government already has and cannot possibly have changed.”
Have you, or someone you care for, been assessed for PIP? Has a lifetime award now ended? How do you feel about the assessment itself, and how has the process affected your daily life and sense of security?
Please share your stories below:
