Disability benefits campaign
We're campaigning 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 Hardest Hit: stop the cuts
We're supporting The Hardest Hit, a campaign
which aims to fight the cuts to disability benefit support.
The cuts are set to disproportionately affect people with
disabilities and long-term conditions, such as Parkinson's, as well
as carers.
In May 2011 people affected by Parkinson's joined thousands of
other people affected by these cuts to march in Westminster and
lobby their MPs. And in October people took to their local cities
to protest at rallies and march:
In December 2011, over 700 people with
Parkinson's added their names to 23,000 others in a Christmas
message to the Government. These messages were delivered to
Number 10 in a giant Christmas card, designed by Gerald Scarfe,
husband of Parkinson's UK president Jane
Asher.
Take action
The Hardest Hit campaign continues. You can still:
As well as the Hardest Hit campaign, there are many other ways
individuals can take action. This includes helping reach 100,000
signatures in the following petition:
Why campaign?
Even though the Welfare Reform Act is now law, there are still
opportunities to make sure people with Parkinson's and carers can
access the benefits they need.
Disability Living Allowance
The Welfare Reform Act gives the green light to reform
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to
become the Personal Independence Payment, or PIP.
This means everyone of working age on DLA will be reassessed for
eligibility for PIP from April 2013 through to spring 2016. The
Government estimates that 500,000 disabled people will lose their
DLA and not be entitled to PIP.
However, how people will be reassessed has yet to be
decided. We are determined that working age people with
Parkinson's do not lose out in these reforms. To read more about
our consultation responses to the proposals see our welfare reform policy page.
Employment and Support Allowance
I could not believe what the doctor at the assessment asked me to do. She said could I stop shaking while doing a test.
I'd love to be able to stop shaking but I can't!
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 are 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 ESA should change,
on our policy page on welfare
reform.
This also includes more about our joint work with a number of
charities, as part of the Disability Benefits
Consortium.
Get involved
We want to ensure the voices of people with Parkinson's are
heard in these reforms.
Contact us on campaigns@parkinsons.org.uk
or 020 7963 9307
- email
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