Government Confirms Rethink On Disability Living Allowance Mobility Plans

Given the chronic deficit of good news in recent weeks, any opportunity to celebrate is worth taking. Which is why disabled people should be delighted to read in today’s Times that disability minister Maria Miller has confirmed that the Disability Living Allowance mobility payment will not be removed from people in residential care, as announced in October 2010’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

DLA mobility is a payment made to people with disabilities and is absolutely crucial in allowing people to afford transport to get out, access the community, visit their doctors or stay in touch with family. As we, and many other disability organisations, argued, removing the payment would in effect leave people trapped in their own homes.

The Government’s argument was that local authorities funded this transport. From the moment the announcement was made, providers of social care and disability activists said that this was simply not so. Huge amounts of evidence were sent to the Government by individuals and disability charities, who also collaborated in one of the most energetic campaigns the current Government has faced. United Response was one of many campaigners who gave people we support online tools to contact their MPs, leading to the Prime Minister repeatedly being asked about this most unfair cut in Prime Minister’s Questions.

The most recent, “last ditch” effort was made through the Low Review, an independent review established by charities and headed by cross-bench peer and disability activist Lord Low to collect hard evidence on how mobility is funded in the UK, and what the impact of its removal would be. United Response staff worked hard to compile as many facts and real life stories as it could.

Today, Maria Miller finally confirms that the provision is “patchy” at best, as the disability sector has argued from the beginning. The news will be a huge relief to the 80,000 people who were threatened by this cut, as well as their friends and families.

Why is this good news? It shows that the voices of people with disabilities still matter and can be heard, particularly when they speak out in unison. It shows that disability charities can work together to create change. Perhaps most importantly it shows that Government, when faced with incontrovertible evidence, will listen and amend its plans.

This latter may be the most important point. There are still elements of the current Welfare Reform Bill, currently being debated in the House of Lords, which could have a hugely damaging impact on the quality of life of disabled people. In particular, evidence is mounting that assessments for the new Personal Independence Payment are seriously flawed, leading to erratic decision making. The disability sector will need to continue to work together, and to back up its arguments with calm and objective evidence, in order to ensure that disabled people aren’t the hardest hit by the economic circumstances the UK is currently in.