The Welfare Reform Bill, which was a key campaign focus for RNIB and blind and partially sighted people across the country, has now become law and is known as the Welfare Reform Act 2012.
Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16-64 from April 2013, and changes to contributory Employment and Support Allowance (cESA) were two of the key areas of concern during the passage of the bill.
What you have changed
There were campaigning successes during the course of the bill's passage through Parliament, as a result of sustained pressure by campaigners, changing proposals that would have had a serious negative effect on the lives of disabled people. These changes included:
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Overturning plans to cut disability benefits from people living in care homes
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Reversing the proposal to increase the time people must wait before they qualify for PIP, the successor to Disability Living Allowance
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Some important concessions on the implementation of PIP.
Campaigners also succeeded in persuading the House of Lords to vote down plans to limit the length of time someone in the Work Ready Activity Group can claim cESA to just 12 months. Unfortunately, the House of Commons reinstated this arbitrary time limit and this came into effect in April 2012.
What next?
There is more parliamentary campaigning to be done, on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in particular. The Welfare Reform Act confirmed that PIP will replace DLA from April 2013, but the detail of how PIP assessments will work is still being worked out.
A government consultation on the PIP assessment criteria closed in April 2012 and the final regulations that will confirm who is eligible and at which rates will be laid in Parliament in autumn 2012.
The current draft of the criteria does not properly recognise the needs of blind and partially sighted people and for information about what you can do now to make sure the final regulations are better please visit our PIP campaign page: