Disability benefits campaign

Help us campaign against cuts to disability benefits and for a better welfare system to support people with Parkinson's and their carers.

The welfare system in the UK is undergoing a process of huge reform and cuts to the budget of £18billion over the next few years.

Many of these reforms are in the Welfare Reform Act, which became an Act in March 2012. A number of reforms are targeted at disability benefits.

The Welfare Reform Act is now law. But there are still opportunities to make sure that people with Parkinson's and carers can access the disability benefits they need.

The Hardest Hit: stop the cuts

We're supporting The Hardest Hit, a campaign which aims to fight the cuts to disability benefit support and are members of the 50 charity strong Disability Benefits Consortium.

Take action

Sign a parliamentary debate petition calling for a cumulative impact report on the cuts on disabled people.

Write to your MP and ask them to monitor the companies who'll be assessing disabled people for the new benefit PIP, that will replace DLA (see below).

12,000 petition signatures

We ran our own petition in October 2012, during the Hardest Hit 2012 week of action.

Over 12,000 people added their name and support in a call to the Minister for Disabled People.

We called on the Government to make sure that people with Parkinson's don't lose their vital financial support when Disability Living Allowance changes to Personal Independence Payment in 2013.

Many people also wrote to their MP.

What are the changes to Disability Living Allowance?

The Welfare Reform Act gave the green light to reform Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to become the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). PIP is introduced for new claimants from April 2013.

Everyone of working age (16-64) who receives DLA was due to be reassessed for eligibility for PIP between October 2013 and spring 2016.

Thanks to the outcry from campaigners the Government has said that for most people on DLA the reassessments now won't start until October 2015.

This will allow for an independent review in 2014 on how PIP is working for new claimants. The government also backtracked and have put safeguards in law for people with a fluctuating condition.

But we are still worried about stricter rules for 'mobility' which could see people with Parkinson's losing vital support for travel and transport costs. And we are concerned that how people will be assessed will depend on where they live - with Atos Healthcare and Capita the companies who'll be operating the assessments in different parts of the UK.

Read more the changes on our Personal Independence Payment page.

Why campaign for fair Employment and Support Allowance tests?

We believe the tests of eligibility for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are too crude and simplistic to take account of the full symptoms and fluctuating nature of Parkinson's. And we're campaigning for changes.

Although changes are being made around the process for getting ESA and how people are treated by assessors, no changes to the tests have taken place.

We're alarmed that people with severe and progressive Parkinson's are still being put in the ESA group where a 'return to work' is expected.

The Welfare Reform Act also affects ESA claimants as some will have their ESA withdrawn after only one year. This is deeply unfair.

More information

You'll find more background information, including reports and consultations including our suggestions for how DLA and ESA should change, on our policy page on welfare reform.

We've also published information on the changes to benefits in 2013. These pages may help answer your questions on the changes and how they may affect people with Parkinson's.

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