Attendance Allowance and the social care White Paper - some good news
In July 2009, the Government published a Green Paper, Shaping the future of care together, to address the challenge of growing demands on England's social care system. The Green Paper had its pluses and minuses and RNIB submitted a full response.
One proposal opposed by RNIB was that Attendance Allowance (AA) (and the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) care component for people aged 65 and over) should be abolished for new claimants and the money used to help plug the gap in funding for social care.
RNIB agreed that this gap needed to be plugged - but not at the expense of these important benefits.
Now - some good news. On 30 March, the White Paper appeared, with the Government's latest proposals (see http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/ ). It had this to say about disability benefits:
"This White Paper... rules out any changes to Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance in the next Parliament... We know that AA and DLA are extremely valued by those who receive them. Through their provision of flexible cash support, these benefits give severely disabled people choice and control over their support needs. They enable individuals to make use of the vital networks of families and unpaid carers, and so live independently for longer, thereby reducing the need for higher level interventions and care. In many ways AA and DLA are the original personal budgets".
This is a considerable victory for the campaign to save these benefits, in which RNIB has played a leading role.
The Government also says there is a need to "align referral processes between social care and the benefit system" - which could be either helpful or problematic, depending on how it is done - so we will engage closely with the continuing discussions, whoever wins the Election (as the Conservatives have said something similar).
Meanwhile, a big thank-you to all of you who made your voices heard.
You can let us have any further comments by e-mailing gfimister@rnib.org.uk or writing to Geoff Fimister, Campaigns Team, RNIB, 105 Judd St., London, WC1H 9NE.