Press Release issued: 13 December 2012.
Scotland's leading sight loss charity has given a tentative welcome to Government welfare concessions, but says it remains concerned about how these will play out once introduced.
John Legg, director of the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland, said: ""We welcome some significant changes to the new Personal independence Payment assessment criteria laid in Parliament today, but have serious concerns about how the daily living component will be interpreted."
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a welfare benefit designed to help cover the additional costs of living with a disability such as sight loss.
"The changes to the mobility component of PIP are a great campaign success for RNIB," said Legg. "We have been pressing the Government to recognise the use of a white cane on a par with using a guide dog as an aid to getting around, when assessing a person's eligibility for the additional support the benefit is supposed to provide. This means that people currently on the higher rate of DLA should now get the enhanced mobility rate on PIP. Thousands of blind and partially sighted campaigners have worked hard with us to achieve this.
"However, the daily living component, which includes criteria on communicating and reading, is much less clear-cut and more worrying for partially sighted people.
"There is a risk that some partially sighted people who are currently on the lower rate care component of DLA will not qualify for the standard daily living rate under the new benefit, PIP - potentially losing out on more than £1,000 per year. Severely visually impaired people should qualify for at least the standard rate of PIP in this category.
"We are calling for the Government to clarify how the reading criteria will be applied to partially sighted people who might be able to read text in the home by using technology, but cannot read fixed signs outside the home."