Release date: 30 June 2010
Changes to benefit rules have been laid before Parliament that will allow people with severe visual impairment to claim additional support to get out and about independently and safely. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is delighted that, despite reductions in welfare budgets, the Government has recognised the importance of the higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to those with severe visual impairment.
RNIB campaigned for over two and a half years to change unfair benefit rules that denied people with the most severe sight loss from claiming the higher rate mobility component of DLA. In March 2009, with cross party support, the former Government agreed to change the rules. Today the Coalition Government has fulfilled this promise. Approval of the new regulations is anticipated before the summer recess, with the new rules allowing around 22,000 people in the UK with severe visual impairment to receive an extra £30.90 a week from April 2011 to travel independently and safely.
Maria Miller MP, Minister for Disabled People told RNIB's radio station, Insight Radio, about the changes yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 29 June) saying: "We will be making sure that people who are severely visually impaired get the higher mobility rate of DLA for the first time."
Lesley-Anne Alexander, Chief Executive of RNIB says: "We are celebrating another vital step towards ensuring that people with severe visual impairment have greater opportunities for employment, further education and social activities previous denied to them. The extra £30.90 a week really will change lives and we are delighted that this has been recognised, despite the difficult fiscal environment.
"It is a fantastic victory for people with severe visual impairment and for everybody who supported RNIB's campaign, including the MPs who supported their blind constituents to end this long standing injustice.
"RNIB thanks the Government for honouring the commitment of the previous administration and making this much needed change."
The re-assessment of visually impaired claimants on the lower rate of the mobility component will start in the autumn, with those eligible able to claim the additional benefit from April 2011. The Department of Work and Pensions stress that visually impaired people currently receiving the lower rate mobility component of DLA do not need to contact them or take any action now.
The additional support will help people with the cost of travelling safely to do things independently that many people take for granted - like getting to medical appointments, attending training courses and interviews, shopping, meeting friends or relatives, and joining in local activities.
End of media release
For further media information, or to interview an RNIB spokesperson or case study, please contact RNIB Media Relations Team on 020 7391 2223. Out of hours mobile 07968 482812.
Notes to editors
Entitlement
Someone will be taken as having a "severe visual impairment" if they have been certified as severely visually impaired by a consultant ophthalmologist AND have a visual acuity of less than 3/60 OR if they have a visual acuity of 3/60 or more, but less than 6/60, a complete loss of peripheral field and a central visual field restricted to no more than 10 degrees in total. These two routes to entitlement encompass all those people who come within the following categories of sight impairment:
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no perception of light
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perception of light only
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perception of hand movement: and
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a visual acuity of 3/60 with a total or extensive loss of field.
Visually impaired people already in receipt of the lower rate mobility component of DLA will not, at this stage, need to contact DWP. The Pensions, Disability and Carers Service will be contacting current claimants from around November onwards.
RNIB Campaign
During the campaign over 300 MPs agreed with RNIB's call that blind people, who obviously cannot drive, had been treated unfairly by DLA rules in only being allowed to receive £17.75 a week, when other disabled people who can drive receive £46.75.
In 2006, 1,200 people attended a lobby of Parliament on this issue and in 2008 over 1,500 people marched on Parliament generating the biggest lobby of Parliament ever by blind and partially sighted people.
About RNIB
Every day another 100 people in the UK will start to lose their sight. There are around two million people in the UK with sight problems. RNIB is the leading charity working in the UK offering practical support, advice and information for anyone with sight difficulties. If you, or someone you know, has a sight problem RNIB can help. Call the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999.
Insight Radio is broadcasting on Sky channel 0188, freesat channel 777 and on 101 FM in Glasgow.
RNIB is a partner in the UK Vision Strategy, a ground-breaking UK-wide initiative which seeks a major transformation in the UK's eye health, eye care and sight loss services. The strategy was launched in April 2008 in response to a World Health Assembly global resolution to reduce avoidable blindness by the year 2020 and to improve support and services for blind and partially sighted people.