Disability issues in GE2019

There is a hustings organised by Hereford Mencap in Hereford today.

Today! 3 December 4.30-6 at Life & Soul Kitchen, Unit 1, Three Elms Trading Estate, Hereford, HR4 9PU. Organised by Mencap.

Mencap is a charity addressing learning disability and learning difficulty issues. Suggested reading:

1. The Green Party 'Easy Read' manifesto was released at the same time as the 'mainstream' manifesto. It can be obtained via https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/Elections/EasyRead%20Manifesto%202019.pdf
2. Access to Citizens Income/Unconditional Basic Income has long been Green Party policy and is immensely different from terms and conditions of claiming Universal Credit. Universal Credit terms and conditions are made especially worse for adults with learning difficulties who cannot use computers, because Universal Credit is 'digital by default', as instanced at https://www.katebelgrave.com/2014/09/learning-and-literacy-difficulties-no-computer-but-do-your-jobsearch-online-yourself-thanks/ and https://www.katebelgrave.com/2017/10/learningliteracy-difficulties-and-cant-use-the-online-universal-credit-erm-find-a-friend-to-help-says-dwp-so-much-for-support-this-is-dire/
3. In 2004 while volunteering in teaching [other] adults with learning difficulties very basic computing skills, I was commended for “endless patience with slower learners.” Yet there was no paid future in that for me, as Learning & Skills Council prioritsed  NVQ Levels 2 and 3 — with no extra investment overall — so as to implement the London 2012 Olympics agenda. I, and the trainees I supported, and their Guardian/Channel4 Teacher of the Year Award Winning paid teacher, were let down yet again! (“Learning & Skills Council [existed] to help make England better skilled and more competitive,” according to their website.)
4. In 2013, Prof. Peter Beresford wrote "Why welfare literacy is vital: lack of knowledge about state support services is putting the system at risk." That message is more important today, especially as Brexit would make our welfare state more vulnerable to outside interference. https://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2013/jan/30/welfare-literacy-state-support

Green Party Basic Income would make life easier for adults with learning difficulties especially,
than Universal Credit.
More at https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/Elections/EasyRead%20Manifesto%202019.pdf

Accessible Housing

Wednesday 11 December, 7.30-9.30pm at Left Bank Hereford. Not an official hustings but a chance to discuss 'what should the council's core strategy say about housing?'. In association with the Herefordshire Centre for Community-led Housing.

Housing is an important issue in relation to disability. See, for example, https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/?s=housing

Benefits & Work Publishing review GE2019 party manifestos for benefit claimants

I forward the below from Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd Newsletter, to which I've added some explanatory text for the acronyms such as ESA.


Alan Wheatley

Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd logo, with link to
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/4128-the-manifestos-are-out-but-will-they-influence-your-vote

THE MANIFESTOS ARE OUT

We’ve taken a look at each of the main parties’ manifestos, with the exception of the SNP which is out too late for this newsletter.

If you are voting solely on what each party is offering, then there is little doubt that Labour have made the most effort to capture sick and disabled claimants votes.

Their undertaking to immediately stop all new transfers to UC, and then scrap the benefit completely when they come up with a new system, would be an enormous weight off many claimants minds.

As would the plan to end the current work capability assessments (WCAs) [toward disability-related Employment & Support Allowance/component of Universal Credit] and PIP [Personal Independence Payment, re additional living costs of having a disability] assessments and take everything back in-house.

Increasing ESA [Employment & Support Allowance] by £30 for claimants in the work-related activity group (WRAG) and raising carers allowance to the level of JSA are two other potentially popular moves. [Alan adds that those in the Work-Related Activity Group -- WRAG -- of ESA claimants are especially prone to the perils of benefit sanctions, as witnessed at https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/account-of-sanctions-desperation-leaves-disabled-peer-in-tears-at-wrag-research-launch/
]

Both Labour and the Lib Dems say they would scrap the benefits cap, the two child limit and the bedroom tax.

And, like Labour, the Lib Dems would end WCA’s and reverse the cuts to ESA for claimants in the WRAG.

Both have more offers in their manifestos.

The Green Party take a different approach, saying they will introduce a “Universal Basic Income (UBI), an unconditional financial payment to everyone at a level above their subsistence needs”

The adult rate of UBI would be £89 a week with an additional supplement for disabled claimants.

They would also replace UC and benefits sanctions.

The Brexit Party are not trying too hard to capture the claimant vote. They are simply offering to have a five week maximum wait for payment of universal credit and undertake a review of the benefits system, followed by reform.

The Conservatives possibly get the prize for irony when they say in their manifesto that “. . .we will continue our efforts through the tax and benefits system to reduce poverty, including child poverty.”
Other than that they have little to say to claimants, except that they will “reduce the number of reassessments a disabled person must go through” and “publish a National Strategy for Disabled People before the end of 2020”.

Will the manifestos influence your vote?

Post a comment in our manifesto round-up (see Benefits News below) and let us know what you think.

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BENEFITS NEWS
Only 40% of universal credit claimants get their full entitlement
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that only 40% of universal credit (UC) claimants get the full amount they are entitled to.
Fight to outlaw mandatory reconsiderations has begun – can you help?
The fight to outlaw mandatory reconsiderations has begun, thanks to Benefits and Work members, but more help is needed.
The manifestos are out, but will they influence your vote?
Well, with the exception of the SNP, all the party manifestos are out now. Will their offers to claimants make a difference to how you vote?
BBC and Channel 4 both to air Jobcentre friendly documentaries
Campaigners have criticised the BBC and Channel 4 for airing similar ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentaries based inside jobcentres, which are likely to cover-up the misery caused by Universal Credit (UC).
UC fraudsters becoming bolder in targeting claimants
A housing association in Teesside has issued a warning to tenants about universal credit fraud scammers who are going door-to-door offering bogus loans to tenants.
Bedroom tax supreme court defeat for DWP
The supreme court has ruled that, for a small number of cases, the bedroom tax is a breach of human rights and should be ignored by tribunals.